Every semester, the Applied Music Industry class markets and produces a compilation album featuring artists from all over Monmouth University’s campus. Last Wednesday, Feb. 1 in Lauren K. Woods Theatre from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., over 15 acts auditioned for Blue Hawk Records 10th compilation album. Acts who auditioned varied from local Rap star, Tyler Robinson (aka Teddy) to acoustic acts like Oliver’s Wanderers (who are senior music industry student, Dylan Hoski and junior communications student, Kristina Caliendo) and even full band acts like Hunter’s Run who features sophomore music industry student, Tommy Allen, on the drums.
Jess McGovern, a sophomore music industry student and one of the General Managers for the project, had explained how it was really tough to pick from all the acts who auditioned, but the class settled on 5 acts. The acts that will be a part of Blue Hawk Records 10th compilation album are The Nooks, Incolor, Society Hill, Antonio Gonzalez, and Nicolette Pezza.
Society Hill is a four-piece alternative rock band who are made up of music industry student, Liam Frank; communications student Matt Mendez, Zack Everson, and Dave Hays. Society Hill is currently recording an EP in Bridgewater and is excited to record the song “Soft Eyes” with Blue Hawk Records to include on the later LP. Pezza is a senior communications student who is recording her acoustic song, “Feels like Home” for the compilation album. Another act and a name you are probably familiar with because he was on BHR’s 9 Lives album last semester, freshman music industry student, Antonio Gonzalez, will be recording again with his acoustic song “Can’t Keep Us Down” for this album.
Both other general managers of the record, Eva Michaylin and Olivia Rohlfs, are recording with their bands for this album. The Nooks are a female acoustic trio that formed while they were studying abroad in Florence, Italy. The members are junior music industry students Olivia Rohlfs and Amanda McTigue and music education student, Briana Musco.
Rohlfs commented on their song “Arno,” a song about their experiences in Italy and named after the famous river Arno. She explains what they are looking forward to and said, “We were over the moon when we heard that our band had been selected for the 10th Blue Hawk Records album. Together as ‘The Nooks,’ we just want to see our song, ‘Arno,’ be enjoyed by our friends, families, and maybe even a few strangers.” She continued to say, “It’s always stuck in our own heads, and hopefully soon it will be stuck in everyone else’s heads too! We can’t wait to get in the studio and start playing shows!”
Incolor describes themselves as a “five-piece progressive rock band,” and they will be recording their song “Broken” for this semester’s album. The members include music industry students Eva Michaylin, Alex Peragine, Craig Smith, Mark Rodriguez, and Connor Hastings.
Michaylin explains how their band formed and what they are hoping to get out of this experience, saying, “After forming this band pretty much out of the blue we are all extremely excited to be on BHR 10. At first, we really didn’t know how to describe our sound, but after the audition we were happy that our mix of progressive rock, punk and alternative was something others enjoyed.” She continued, “We are definitely looking forward to recording, growing our fanbase and hopefully getting involved in some local shows around Monmouth!”
Ryan Andersen, a member of the A&R board and artist management for this project, comments, “I believe that the 10th Compilation album is going to be very unique and I am blessed to be a part of it. From Indie to Pop, we have covered a wide variety of sounds from awesome artists. I see this album exceeding expectations.”
The 10th compilation album is set to release in late April. Recording should be starting with in the next few weeks at Lakehouse Recording Studio in Asbury Park. For this special 10th album there may be a surprise sixth act. Stay tunes for more Blue Hawk Updates.