South Jordan to broadcast for online-streaming concert

When most students hear the phrase “intensive writing” they think of the dreadful degree requirement, adding hours of essay time onto any number of classes.

When former IU students, and members of pop-rock group South Jordan were told they would be spending the next few months doing intensive writing, the connotation was completely different.

“When you prepare for releasing an album, the first thing you have to do is have songs ready,” drummer Jesse Feister said. “We’ve been having intensive writing sessions almost every day, and we’ve had a couple songs come out of that we are really pretty excited about.”

IU’s own South Jordan packed up and shipped off to New York for the summer where they were signed to Island Def Jam/Mercury Records, producers of artists including Justin Bieber, Kanye West and Rihanna. It was then that they set to work on their first full-length album, set to release in spring 2011.

“The last couple months have been fairly crazy to be quite honest,” guitarist and 2010 graduate Mike Chan said. “One week before graduation we were like, ‘Oh crap, we have no jobs, what the hell are we going to do?’ Pretty much two weeks later we landed the record deal and are now employed by a major label. That doesn’t happen everyday.”

The group will be returning to Bloomington Thursday to perform a live broadcasted acoustic set at Farm Fresh Studios. The concert, promoted by Stickam, a live video streaming site, will be available for viewers around the world.

“I think the main thing is online shows are becoming more popular,” Chan said. “It’s still a new avenue, you see a lot of bigger bands doing it, but I think it’s something that is great and could really catch on right now.”

South Jordan chose this particular recording studio because of its previous support for the group.

“This is a studio that is pretty important to the bands development,” Feister said. “The studio owner, Jake, was really the first person to believe in the band. He was a teacher in IU’s audio recording program, and he heard a couple demos that the guys were working on through school, and he allowed the band to come in and record the first album.”

Chan and pianist and guitarist Bobby Campbell both graduated from the recording arts program this past May. It was their project demos that inspired them to create South Jordan, adding members Michael Hall for vocals, David Witucki on bass, Feister, and Eric Brengle on lead guitar.

Witucki and Hall were still attending IU as of last May but have currently decided to take time off to focus on the career of the group.

“This is a once in a lifetime shot,” Chan said. “School will always be there, and they can go back to school 10 years down the road and still finish the remaining one or two years that they have left at IU.”