Music fest gives students a taste of local hip-hop, hard core music

By Robert Deckert
Around the Campus Editor

Bands from the local area as well as out of state provided a variety of musical entertainment for all audiences at an ACE-sponsored concert which took place on the weekend of Sept. 8.

Music fest was held on the UC center lawn and the featured acts included: Kyler and Ben, J Dacypher, the Rogue Nations, Lyrically Equipped, Reckless Youth, Postmortem Disembowelment, West of Arcadia, Your Chance to Die and The Dead Arcs.

The concert began at 5 p.m. and students were provided with free food and refreshments.

The styles of music ranged from hip-hop to variations of rock.

“We try to have something for everybody,” said Symphony Oxendine, associate director of Student Life and ACE advisor.

“The purpose is to provide students with a good time on Saturday night,” Oxendine continued.

Lyrically Equipped was a hip-hop group that also played at the last music fest.

“We’re here for the quality of the event, not the quantity,” said Jesse Dobbin III, ACE Coordinator. “We cover all genres.”

The bands were allowed to sell their merchandise, which consisted of T-shirts, CDs, and posters in order to pay for their expenses, because they fronted all the costs of traveling to Pembroke.

The bands were not paid, but were able to publicize themselves, Oxendine said.

A makeshift mosh pit formed during the performance of Your Chance to Die, a band from S.C.

Campus police were in attendance to ensure the peace and safety of the students and guests.

“There should be more music like this,” freshman Liane McCullough said, in reference to Your Chance to Die.

Styles in music varied from the two-man band, West Arcadia, which featured a drum machine, to Your Chance to Die, which sported three guitarists.

Songs reflected various issues in life from politics to drug abuse.

Reckless Youth, a band from Wingate, N.C., played, “I hate Heroin,” a song about Douglas Colvin.

Colvin, also known as Dee Dee Ramone, was the bass player of The Ramones.


From Charlotte, N.C., the Rogue Nations performed, “You’re Blowing Smoke.”

The song was dedicated to an acquaintance of the band who developed respiratory illnesses after 9/11.

It is beautiful, free expression, said Pembroke resident Mike McDowell who was a spectator.

The event, which was supposed to conclude at 1 a.m., ended around 11 p.m. because three bands did not show and some did not play to the fullest extent of time allotted to them.

Although it was an estimated 40 people who attended the concert, the numbers dwindled to around 15 as the concert was concluded two hours earlier than expected.

Several of the bands that performed last were disapointed at the turn-out of the crowd.

“We are all the people at?” asked Nick Way, vocalist of West of Arcadia.

For more information, visit MySpace.com under Music.