Attic Wolves light up Student Center Ballroom

Photo courtesy of Attic Wolves

The ballroom was impressive upon entering; the normally bright and cheery room had been transformed into a dark open space, fitting for a concert. Haphazardly strewn Christmas light strands along the walls and pillars gave the room the right feel for the folk rock band. Had it been any other genre, the strange wiring would have been out of place and a bit disconcerting, but for the Attic Wolves, the carefree attitude towards electrical conventions seemed to be somehow fitting. While there were chairs towards the back of the room, for the most part, they were ignored in preference of the space directly in front of the stage, where the audience, dwarfed by the oversized room, enjoyed the entertainment up close.

The Quarks gave a short opening for the real attraction of Attic Wolves. The band was, at the very least, humorous. At one point, the Quarks introduced themselves then asked the audience for their names. Upon everyone’s unintelligible shouting, the band picked one name that had been louder than the rest and decided that everyone in the audience was, henceforth, named Monica. Unfortunately, their humor was the best quality of the Quarks, as they have not particularly improved since last appearing for an SCPC event.

Once the Quarks finished their performance, an SCPC member came onstage and directed the audience’s attention passed the ignored chairs to the refreshments at the very back of the room, asking all present to “take a break with your ears and just drink some water.” Near the refreshments was a table selling CDs and shirts from the Attic Wolves, a table that was more or less ignored until after the concert had ended.

After this short break, the audience was officially introduced to the Kansas City folk rock band, the Attic Wolves. While initially the band started off uncertainly and with not particularly enjoyable songs, after a few minutes as well as encouragement from the audience, Attic Wolves hit their stride and went on to hold a rather pleasant concert.

Since the room was unlit aside from the strings of Christmas lights, the band was able to use their stage lighting for a more unique show. Most of the time, these lights served only to illuminate the band or were off entirely, lending the room to the ambiance of the yellowed strands looped randomly along the walls. When the Attic Wolves did choose to do something more creative with the lighting, however, it was impressive; the lights danced and swayed over the audience, creating interesting patterns and jerking or swaying in time to the music.

The audience was pleased with the combination of lights, instruments and singing, and several started to dance, causing others to hurriedly disappear into the shadows or join in. The lighthearted atmosphere was encouraged by the band, of course, and the lead singer, Nate Heavilin, at one point during a song joyously proclaimed “if you want to sing along, that part is really easy, is goes “ah.”

The band, after finishing their concert, decided to keep company in the back of the ballroom, answering questions, talking to those in attendance and attempting to sell their newest EP, Volume and Boldness, having played several of its featured songs as part of their concert. Many of the audience members gathered around the back of the room. But whether this was for the food, music or conversation was rather hard to tell. One of the greatest benefits of staying for the very end of a concert and then some is that everyone who remains is either there to clean up or is really enthusiastic about being there, so the conversation afterwards were quite lively.

Advertising