Student band Splatter has made its name known by playing shows across campus for the past year.
KSC junior Max Orio started the band last year after meeting music ensemble members who shared a similar interest in music with him.
“First we started trying to create an extra school ensemble,” Orio said. “We tried to make a rock ensemble, but that didn’t work out because the school didn’t really want to take any new classes or clubs on.”
Instead, the students formed what is now Splatter.
“We’ve performed at [22 Blake Street] twice now,” said Orio. “We’ve also performed in front of the student center twice, and we’ve done a couple other small festivals.”
Orio said Splatter plays a lot of classic rock, mixed in with popular songs, hair metal, funk and some disco.
“We won’t play a song we don’t enjoy,” he said. “We come from gigs where we are replacing a DJ, so we try to play a vast array of different songs that get people moving as much as possible.”
Orio, a music education major, said his favorite part of being in Splatter was the unique opportunity it gave him.
“I don’t often get a lot of chances to play contemporary music,” he said. “At this school, we play a lot of jazz, we play a lot of classical music. We don’t get too much of a chance to play what we’re listening to on Spotify, what we have on our headphones while we’re walking around.”
Orio said he came up with the name Splatter for the band.
“I think I was just trying to find good band names, and I thought of it,” he said. “I hadn’t heard of a band named Splatter ever, so that’s probably the biggest reason why I went with it.”
Orio said the band was looking to work with new establishment Birdies in downtown Keene.
Band member and junior Julia Baer said Splatter is also working on an original song.
“We’ll see when that happens,” Baer said. “We’re just trying to get some time to record a live version.”
Baer said her favorite gig was Domefest, a festival the band played at last summer.
“It was a lot of fun,” she said. “It was just a bunch of different bands, and it was really fun to play. It was a cool venue that had this cool dome house.”
Baer added she had fun listening to the other bands who performed at Domefest.
“There was a lot of really talented people there,” Baer said.
Baer said her favorite part of Splatter is the opportunity to perform.
“It’s come with a lot of really fun performance opportunities,” she said. “We get to play a lot of the songs that we really love. It’s a good outlet for that.”
Social Activities Council (SAC) President Ashleigh Moroni said she worked with Splatter during this year’s Rocktoberfest event.
“I’ve been familiar with Splatter since last year,” she said. “Many of us [SAC] were familiar with the band based on performances they had done at WKNH events and at various off-campus events.”
Moroni said she had a good experience with the band, describing their Rocktoberfest performance as “a show that fit the vibes of the event we were hosting.”
“They picked songs that were suited to our headliner and the vibe that we were putting on for the show while still having their own unique sound,” Moroni said. “It was just a great opportunity.”
WKNH Event Coordinator Ryan Stone spoke about the importance of student performers to the community. WKNH held an event last spring where Splatter performed.
“One of my favorite things about my job is getting to give student bands a space for that kind of stuff where they maybe wouldn’t usually have that,” Stone said. “It shows that we care about our Keene community and our student performers and not just hiring people to come and play that have more of a following.”
Stone also described how significant on-campus performances can be for student performers.
“It gives them a platform to perform in a space where their peers are … for people to recognize, ‘Hey, there’s bands on campus. These guys are cool. Maybe I want to hire them for a party,’” Stone added.
Stone described Splatter as “really responsive” referring to their collaboration for the spring performance.
“I hope to see more of them performing, even if it’s just like a couple of kids jamming out in front of The Commons or whatever,” Stone added. “I wish I knew of more on-campus bands like Splatter.”
Emily Sloane can be contacted at
esloane@kscequinox.com
