It’s back-to-school season, and Gainesville is meeting the moment with a music festival.
With the Fall semester in full swing, Swamp Records and Indie Live will host Back to School Fest Aug. 23 at Heartwood Soundstage. The open air concert will feature a mix of local Gainesville acts and out-of-towners.
Get to know three of the bands performing at Back to School Fest as they discuss their origin, their feelings heading up to the concert and their plans for the future.
Noise Next Door
Joseph Davi, a 22-year-old UF behavioral analysis junior and the lead singer for Noise Next Door, remembers the exact moment his band got its name from a run-in with a neighbor.
“I love hearing you guys practice,” Davi recalled his neighbor saying. “But whenever I have guests over, I have to warn them about the noise next door.”
Originally started as a jam band with Davi and his roommate, Noise Next Door is an eclectic mix of various musical influences. From bluesy lead guitar, grungy drums, jazzy basslines and lyrical influences from rapper Mac Miller, the group has a sound that is uniquely its own.
With its members all being students at UF or Santa Fe College, Noise Next Door is a product of Gainesville through and through.
“We're your friends, we're in your classes,” 20-year-old UF accounting junior and drummer Max Goldberg said. “I'm very prideful of Gainesville. I feel oddly attached to the city and the surrounding area.”
The band’s debut single “Sunday Confessions” is a high-energy track about something many college students go through: the “situationship.” On the track, Davi looks into the awkward space between being just friends and being in a relationship and recounts his experience of being with someone — or rather, not being with them — that led to him feeling “uneasy.”
The song started as a single line: “The pit in my stomach, I can’t get it out.” But it wasn’t until the song’s bridge, created by Goldberg and 20-year-old UF statistics junior and bassist Aaron Gallego, that the song clicked.
Prior to the creation of the bridge, Davi found the song “kind of basic.” The bridge changed the entire feel of the song, and Davi called it “too jammy for me not to play” after that.
Noise Next Door is looking forward to finding new fans by playing to a broader audience at Back to School Fest, said rhythm guitarist Jess Chisholm. The 20-year old UF political science and economics junior hopes the crowd plays off of their energy.
“I want the crowd to see that we are having fun on stage,” Chisholm said. “I think that's probably, as of right now, our best attribute, and I hope we showcase that.”
The group’s debut single “Sunday Confessions” is on all major streaming services, and fans can look forward to the upcoming release of the song “Bittersweet.”
Stellus
Stellus has gone through its share of phases. Twenty-four-year-old lead singer Luis Perez and his ex-girlfriend founded the group, while the rest of the band’s members have rotated through the years. Their current lineup consists of Perez, 19-year-old UF electrical engineering sophomore and drummer Ky Ngo, 20-year-old lead guitarist Juan “JJ” Jaimes and 23-year-old UCF kinesiology junior and bassist Joshua Wright.
Though its personnel has evolved, Stellus’ sound stayed consistent. What’s the secret? Perez’s careful and consistent writing, treating the band “like [his] own baby.”
To say Perez is focused on Stellus would be an understatement. He thinks of it as his future.
“There's no start or end,” Perez said. “It's not just a project to me or anything like that. It's everything that I want to work for.”
This attention to detail is reflected in everything the band makes. From clean electric guitar riffs to the precise and pointed visuals of the band’s music video for their song “9-5,” everything is cleanly and carefully produced.
Fusing influences from Boy Pablo, Arctic Monkeys and Rex Orange County, Stellus has created a sound that recently made its musicians guests on NBC6’s show South Florida Live.
When asked what fans of Stellus can look forward to, Perez simply had one word to say: “progress.”
My Favorite Animal
For anyone wondering, 23-year-old lead singer Jackie Rodriguez’s favorite animal is a possum. She and her bandmates wanted to incorporate an animal into their band’s name, but they couldn’t figure out which one. Instead, they tried to include all of them, and My Favorite Animal was born.
The group started as a cover band for garage-punk band Bass Drum of Death. Now, Rodriguez and 23-year-old drummer Tobin Wagstaff have performed shows across Gainesville, adding guitarist Daniel Klohr, bassist Nadya Nguyen and guitarist Tyler Fales as they went. Today, the band fuses sounds from The White Stripes all the way to Block Party.
The group’s debut single, “If Only,” came out on all major streaming services on Aug. 22. It’s the product of meticulous tweaking with the band’s producer Jordan Burchel, who has also worked on the song “Sweet” by The Nancys. The Gainesville indie group will also be performing at Back to School Fest.
Rodriguez and Burchel worked together to create a “dirtier” sound. My Favorite Animal, band members said, is a reaction to the current indie sound they think of as “clean.”
When it comes to Back to School Fest, My Favorite Animal is ready. The band has been doing shows all summer, including a set at Loosey’s Recording Grant Showcase, which they received in April. Their set is locked in.
“We've really gotten to the essence of each of the songs, so I'm just excited for the people that have never heard of us before.” said Rodriguez.
My Favorite Animal plans to release new music, including songs produced by Burchel. But for now, their debut single “If Only” is available on all major streaming services.
Contact Christopher Rodriguez at crodriguez@alligator.org. Follow him on X @ChrisRodri29386
