Indie Bands Carry On Christmas Spectacular-thon Tradition

By Abigail Wisniewski

A week after the ringing notes of Christmas at Concordia subsided, independent Concordia bands pulled out their guitars, fiddles, drums and holiday spirit to keep the music alive with the fourth annual Christmas Spectacular-thon.

The Christmas Spectacular-thon is a concert by student bands and individual musicians with music to share. Freshman Patrick Schneeberger, senior Jeramy Willis, and bands Evan and the Cashless Kids and Search for Seven highlighted this year’s concert with original songs and familiar Christmas tunes on Saturday, Dec. 9.

The Spectacular-thon began in 2013 with The Starters, a former independent Concordia band.

“It’s exciting that some goofy event (especially (with a) goofy name) that we started as friends has continued on with some new friends,” The Starters bass player and vocalist Paul Nelson said in an email interview. “I don’t think when we started it we really thought that this would continue on or were worried about that, but we definitely were hoping to do something that would allow people to hear Christmas music in a different way and to spend time together, just take a break and enjoy music and each other.”

Junior David Schrampfer has played in the Christmas Spectacular-thon the past two years with his band, Push to Exit. He decided to continue the tradition The Starters began with his new band, Search for Seven.  

“It was super fun to do it in the past,” Schrampfer said. “(The Starters) were awesome with getting bands (that were) coming up and going. We thought it would be a cool opportunity to give other bands the chance to play for people.”

Schneeberger opened the show with a set of original songs, including one that he wrote at only ten years old called ‘Whoa, What Are You Doing, Are You Trying to Suffocate Me?’ He brought holiday cheer to the audience with his own “spicy” version of ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel.’

Schneeberger took the opportunity to share the Gospel with the audience, reminding them, “The reason we celebrate Christ’s coming is the reason He came.”

Willis stepped in as a last minute addition to the show, serenading the audience with his personal takes on Christmas classics, and entertaining them with Christmas jokes from readersdigest.com.

Evan Carter and the Cashless Kids took the stage next, bringing their country folk feel to hits like ‘Daddy Looks A Lot Like Santa,’ and some original songs. The band is entirely freshman, except for senior drummer Matthew Kortze.

Search for Seven closed the show with a set of originals and Christmas songs, entertaining the crowd with their upbeat punk rock feel.

“I hope (people) got some Christmas spirit from it,” Schrampfer said.

Schrampfer also hoped the audience went away with an appreciation for the talent students have.

“(There are) a lot of people where you don’t necessarily know everything they can do so it’s a cool opportunity to show how awesome Concordia’s people are because it’s about the people.”