The greatest irony of this weekend’s Canopy Dance was its lack of a performance by Canopy, perhaps the hippest and raddest of the current MOBROC bands. A self-proclaimed “world famous band,” Canopy has played shows all over campus, including Cro, Earth House, Coffee Grounds, the Barn and at several open mic nights.
The band, formerly known as Ginger Hat for one open mic night, was formed when Connor Storms ’15 and Julia Hooker ’15 met Haley Gowland ’17 and Shiwei Li ’17 at the first MOBROC meeting last semester, and then asked Mike Amato ’16 to join them. Their current name is a reference to Good Old War’s “Loud Love,” one of their most-played covers last semester.
“That song was a lot of fun to play because we changed it pretty drastically from the original version and Haley, Julia and I all split the lead vocals,” said Storms.
I first learned of Canopy’s existence when they played a show in Coffee Grounds last semester, and then watched them rock out at several Saturday night Earth House gigs with songs from Weezer and The Airborne Toxic Event, packing quite a crowd into the colorfully crunchy living room.
With Storms and Hooker abroad this semester in London and Li in China, Amato (guitar) and Gowland (vocals and guitar) have recruited three new talented members: Katherine McDonald ’16 (vocals), Cory Scarola ’16 (bass) and Nathan Giaccone ’17 (drums).
Current Canopy plays covers of both mainstream and under the radar songs, including “Magic” and “Fix You” by Coldplay, Death Cab’s “You Are a Tourist” and the crowd-pleasing, clap-and-sing-along “Wagon Wheel.” Last semester’s Canopy had an interesting mix of folk and punk, while this semester’s group has evolved into a mellower, more acoustic sound.
“It’s different that we’re acoustic,” Gowland said. “When you lose two people and gain two people, things naturally shift.”
McDonald describes their current sound as chill “easy alt rock,” while Gowland goes for “indie pop rock.” Scarola settles the issue by naming it “chill indie alternative pop rock with subtle punk influences.” Simple enough.
Collectively, Canopy has been influenced by bands such as Guster, City and Color, Kings of Leon, Coldplay, Kodaline and Death Cab — Amato might be their biggest fan. Scarola added that he enjoys Rush, but he’s alone in that sentiment, as Amato quickly responded “Nope” as soon as he mentioned the classic rock group.
Last semester, Canopy performed two original songs, which Storms said they had the opportunity to record. “I cannot wait to release them,” he said. “The songs are quite different from each other in style and lyrical content, so it will be interesting to release them side by side.”
This semester, the band has performed all covers thus far. Scarola admits that they do want to incorporate more original work in the future. Right now “Magic” is the closest the band has to an original. After listening to it for 30 seconds, McDonald informed the group that they needed to perform it.
“We wrote the main structure for it in only two run-through jams,” Amato said.
“It just kind of fell into place,” Gowland added. “We didn’t stress it. It’s my favorite right now.” McDonald and Scarola agree. Amato is still attached to Death Cab.
As part of Canopy bonding, the members meet every Wednesday for Harris dinner before walking over to band practice together. Over dinner, Amato and Scarola generally engage in some kind of philosophical debate, as McDonald and Gowland nod along and whisper questions of confusion and concern back and forth. Crashing a Canopy dinner affords an intimate look into the interactions — and banter — among band members, as well as insight into their creative processes. Ideas of songs to cover and possible events to host are bounced around, and talk of legendary MOBROC bands (like Shake the Baron) and musical domination of campus are mentioned. Amato is also the recipient of much well-intentioned sass.
Joking that they should rename the band “Angry Mike” (or “Angry Mic” — take your pick), it’s easy to see the playful relationship among band members. And during mic checks, McDonald said they like to repeat, “Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, guess what day is it?” referencing every Camel’s favorite Geico commercial.
Canopy, in popular demand, has played a gig or two almost every weekend this semester, and is opening for fellow MOBROC-ers Mollusk this Thursday at their EP release show. As of yesterday, they received news that they will be performing in the MOBROC set at Floralia.
While complaints have been voiced surrounding the underfunding of MOBROC, it is an important student collective unique to Conn. Perhaps under President Bergeron’s term, the organization will begin to receive more attention and visibility on campus. While student support of MOBROC has seemed to decrease since my freshman year, individual groups definitely have their own fan bases.
All MOBROC bands are responsible for organizing shows and bringing in the big crowds. McDonald enjoys the “support between the groups,” adding, “It’s really cool that [MOBROC] is student-run. It’s student-supported, too.”
Canopy might not be a “blood-pumping band,” as McDonald points out, but these talented individuals know how to work a crowd, even during an acoustic set. The concert on the eve of President Bergeron’s inauguration was one of Canopy’s best shows. It’s no secret that Bergeron’s favorite band is Death Cab for Cutie, so Canopy learned some songs for her. “And for us,” said Amato.
“The energy that night was so fun,” McDonald said. “We got to play a lot of songs, and [Bergeron] even showed up at midnight before her inauguration the next morning.”
When Canopy closed the show with “Wagon Wheel,” it was difficult to hear McDonald on vocals as everyone belted along with the first verse.
“For having an acoustic set up, we had a lot of people standing and dancing and moving,” said Gowland. “That was really great, and is hard to do with an acoustic group.”
With Amato and Scarola abroad next fall and Hooker and Storms returning, some changes are inevitable for the band. “There will be music next year in some form,” McDonald and Gowland promise.
All past and current members will be on campus next spring, so it will be interesting to see what future arrangements are in store.
“I’m really excited to start playing again when we get back,” Hooker said, adding that she’s glad Amato and Gowland kept the band alive while she and Storms went abroad.
“One of the features of Canopy that I appreciate the most,” Storms said, “is that several different graduating classes are represented in the band: freshmen, sophomores and juniors…I think our spread across classes is what makes our shows great.”
All members agree that they want Canopy to pick up new members each year with the ultimate goal of creating a lasting “umbrella for Conn students to perform under.”
