Four bands rock the IMU

Last year, the Indiana Memorial Union's "Rock Explosion" was held outdoors and Bloomington's best were rained upon. This year, Laborius Clef, Blue Moon Review, Three Minute Mile and Jeremy Radway featuring SPRED are holding court indoors tomorrow night in the IMU to give their current fans and first-year students a chance to sample the Bloomington music scene.\n "The bands playing here are usually playing in the bars, where people under 21 can't see them and be exposed to their music," says Brian Balta, Union Board's Live From Bloomington director.\n Students who frequent the bars should be familiar with these bands, but students who haven't yet reached the magic age of 21 may not know too much about the bands playing. There is, besides the obvious age requirement, a reason why bands don't really play outside the bars too often. Balta, who set the concert up, sees the Bloomington Police Department's Quiet Nights Initiative as the culprit.\n In an effort to shed the perception that IU is a major party school, the BPD has set up the Quiet Nights Initiative to bust loud parties. When the police pass a loud party and can clearly hear the music and noise from the street, they can approach the house and give a noise citation, which can lead to arrests for other violations, such as underage drinking. Bands playing at the party could produce the requisite noise to solicit a knock from the local authorities. \n "It hurts local music because it can even affect (bands') practice," laments Balta. "Whereas younger people used to be able to hear bands at parties, now the only place to hear good bands is at the bars, and the younger students miss out." \n Tonight's concert, dubbed "Rock Explosion," is an effort to increase exposure for local bands, showcasing them for people who wouldn't usually get the chance to see them. Union Board also puts on other local music programs, including the "Live from Bloomington" CD each year, which features bands that submit their works to the Union Board. UB then conducts a "blind selection" of the music.\n "What they do," starts Balta, "is play the band's song without any of them having any knowledge of what band it is for an unbiased representation of the local scene." \n When putting the "Rock Explosion" together, Balta wanted a nice sampling of the different types of music represented in Bloomington. Balta saw Jeremy Radway featuring SPRED at Second Story on Club Night during last year's Live From Bloomington project. \n "I was impressed with Jeremy Radway and SPRED, and it was only their first show," says Balta.\n Jeremy Radway's band, playing alongside SPRED, a local MC, was only supposed to be a one time deal. \n "SPRED and myself did a 'Live from Bloomington' song that was pretty good," Radway says. "Then the LFB people told us that they were having this concert, so we've reunited." Jeremy Radway featuring SPRED have many different styles that make them work, citing Sly and the Family Stone and OutKast as their inspirations, among others.\n "We don't want to be pigeon-holed into one type of music," says Radway, "we have many different styles thatinfluence and come out in our music." \n Also playing tonight are Three Minute Mile, Blue Moon Revue and Laborious Clef, who won the battle-of-the-bands at Uncle Fester's House of Blooze last May. Not only do these three bands play together at various shows, but they are also good friends.\n "We're all on the same page on what we want to do with music," says Blue Moon Revue's Matt Marshall.\nBalta's ultimate goal is to get Bloomington music some exposure.\n "Bloomington has a great music community," he says, "and people who don't usually get to see bar bands can get an opportunity."\n While the main attraction is obviously the bands playing, there will also be Comedy Caravan in the IMU Gallery, free food, psychic readings and wax hands. It's a night-long event highlighted by the bands and the music. This event gives students a chance to check them out for free with a student ID.