Seven two-month-old bands performed for the first, and potentially only time, in Band in a Hat’s showcase Sunday night at the Banneker Community Center.
Bloomington’s diverse community was represented in the basketball gymnasium turned concert space. The audience filled the bleachers and spilled out into folding chairs, while others stood and danced along with the bands as they performed.
Event organizer Em Beck said that Band in a Hat’s showcase premiered seven bands whose members were randomly paired from a pool of approximately 50 applicants. Band in a Hat organizers collected information regarding music taste and instrument preference.
After being paired, the bands had two months to meet each other and craft a set for the one-time-only showcase.
The music started around 5:04 p.m. with Daddy Long Legs and the Cut Corners performing with their first song, a cover of “I’m Waiting for the Man” by the Velvet Underground. The group consisted of four members, who donned coordinating purple outfits. The other bands included Context Clues, Dulce De Leche, Band-Ties, Spectrophobia, The Proximates and Datura.
This is the second-year Beck has put on this event, with the help of their friends. But the concert series has been rocking Bloomington since 2007 and has a history with the city’s local punk scene, according to Beck.
Dev Montanez, who was working at the door, said that Band in a Hat’s intention is to combine music with community, in hopes of forming lasting bonds through performing and having fun.
“The main goal is really just to get people together who wouldn’t otherwise talk to each other,” Montanez said. “The point is to build our community up so that we all remember that we have each other.”
Montanez organizes Band in a Hat alongside their friends, including Beck. They also develop other music-related projects together in Bloomington, with the same community-oriented goals.
The lead singer and bassist of Daddy Long Legs and the Cut Corners, Lazuli Davis, found that Band in a Hat was the perfect medium for turning discomfort into inspiration. Davis was grateful to be put outside of her comfort zone.
“I really value finding productive ways to make myself uncomfortable on stage,” Davis said. “As far as playing live, it’s a different beast.”
Band in a Hat was Davis’s first time performing live, and two of the band’s three songs were originals written by her.
Many families and friends occupied the audience, supporting all of the performers. In the middle of Context Clues’ set, at the heart of the dance floor, a young child clutching a unicorn toy cheered for their sibling, who was playing the drums.
Shayli Epperhart and Zara Shipley were sitting on the gymnasium floor, watching the show and waiting in anticipation for their friend, who sang vocals in Datura, set to perform last.
“I just think this really rocks, getting musicians together from the community and encouraging and getting to make art,” Shipley said.
Each band was allotted two to four songs in their set, but there were no rules regarding genre or style choice. The music varied, with punk-rock wailing intermingled with mellow acoustic guitars and poetic spoken word lyricism. While Band in a Hat is over until next summer, the bands can choose for themselves if they want to stay together and continue performing.
The song choices included many originals, alongside well-known covers like “Sk8er Boi” by Avril Lavigne, performed by Context Clues, and “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath, performed by Spectrophobia.
The show was brought to a close by Datura, who shocked the room with high pitch screams combined with emotional spoken word lyrics. The remaining attendees cheered after the finale, and Datura’s band members embraced each other in congratulations.
