While more than halfway through the semester is kind of an odd time to shed some light on a new RSO, the new RSO, Students for Alternative Music (or SALT for short) has been making huge waves within the span of a few weeks. Their goal is to help create a music scene on this campus and to help make the general student body more aware of what talent that we have on and around campus. It’s also been a sort of reaction to the music conglomerates on campus and the University-sponsored musical events in an effort to bring back a DIY spirit to music on campus.
Founders Mark Hillier, Liam Cregan, and Lenny Schwartz, of the band Shakusky, thought that the music scene at UMass was lacking, so they took matters into their own hands and formed an RSO in order to put on events. For their first show, they brought Michigan band Brave Bird to Amherst barely a week after they had formed, and by all accounts the show was a rousing success.
SALT is not done yet, though, as they have three more concerts planned for April. One is on April 10 in the Agricultural Engineering Building at 7pm, with area bands Wydyde, Sexy Girls, Watts’ Closet, and headliners Who’da Funk It. This show is a benefit concert for the club so they could promote the shows and get some more money for the club, and having these shows is a good way to raise some money. There’s another one on April 19, featuring Kid’s Choice, Derive, Permiscuah, and Another Musician in the same place. Finally, they’re looking at having one on the 24th, but there will be more details to follow about what that actually entails.
UMass used to be a hotbed for musical groups to form. A lot of artists that have come out of this school have done really well for themselves and influenced tons of other bands, such as Dinosaur Jr., the Pixies, and Buffy St. Marie. Other lesser-known artists have also come out of here, such as Les Racquet, Buffalo Tom, the Scud Mountain Boys, and Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, but they’ve done really well in their own right. SALT intends to get that ball rolling again through putting on some sweet shows, and if you like live music for a good price, as the shows are usually only $5 a ticket for more music than you can shake a stick at, definitely come to any of the upcoming SALT events. They’re all going to be sweet and pretty different from one another, so you’d be doing yourself a huge disservice if you miss these events.
Photo credit: Juliette Sandleitner