It is seven thirty in the evening. Saturday, September 9, 2023. The sun is setting. Dusk is upon us. Sullivan Proctor, known by most as “Sully,” is clad in cow print denim cutoff shorts and brown cowboy boots. He directs Covenant College students on where to park their cars as he shows them the way to the Skeleton House, occupied by him and his Catacombs brethren.
Daniel Holdridge rounds the bases in a large and colorful squid hat, with tentacles falling down around his face.
Charlie Green, Nathan Barnard, Tucker Russell, and Charlie Curtis pose for a photo after their house concert featuring musicians, “Lightpriest Charity Gang,” “phxlxp,” “Boyhiram,” “Oracal,” “we buried a seagull,” and “GMORK.” Saturday, September 9th, 2023.
This evening, there will be live music performed by past and present Covenant College students: Proctor, Charlie Green, Holdridge, Tucker Russel, Charlie Curtis, Matthew Duncan, Bobby Lowe and Jude Michael.
Outside of the house, students gather and chat about the events to follow. Some of the students have heavy metal makeup on their eyes and faces. Some freshmen gathered are discussing how they have never experienced anything like this before. While it might seem like this is a disadvantage, this is exactly what Sullivan is hoping for.
Sullivan started his musical venture at 12 years old, starting on the banjo playing old time music. On Saturday, there were performances from Light Priest Charity Gang, We Buried A Seagull and Gmork.
Sullivan said of Gmork,“according to Charlie [Green], according to us, it is hillbilly hick hardcore.” He elaborates that the first group was “Light Priest Charity Gang, which was three music producers on the ‘Combs. It is their hyperpop bubblegum bass electronica dance project.” This group includes Green, Russell and Curtis.
This opening act highlighted the music from Russel and Green.
The second group is “We Buried a Seagull, which is Charlie [Green]'s more emo centric noise shoegaze” project, according to Proctor. This group is full of energy and was the climax of the show in terms of movement from the audience. This group featured music from Proctor, Green, Holderidge and Duncan.
The last group is Gmork, a hardcore punk act. This group includes Green, Sullivan, Michael and Lowe. Proctor says their goals for this event were “to stretch [thir] legs, introduce freshmen into things that they wouldn’t expect at Covenant.”
Green expanded on his inspiration for a broader music scene here within the Covenant student body when he said that when he was a senior in high school, he was invited to a show put on by Catacombs. He was inspired by the performances, and it gave him something specific to look forward to after having already committed to Covenant. Proctor and Russel were among the performers at this music festival.
Green is looking to continue this tradition here on campus once again. His goal is to make music groups more accessible to musicians on campus and to provide opportunities beyond Mountain Affair.
These groups played a show at the Skeleton House last year, and they have more shows coming up for those who were not able to attend this Saturday. They have a show at the Dark Roast on Wednesday, October 4, and more shows later that will be advertised.