You may have caught Plainview a quintet of Drexel students who have just begun making music together, recently at Late Night Series. Frontman Jeremy Berkin was tired of making acoustic music on his own, so he gathered some friends to create some full band jams. The members include Lauren Altman on bass, Martin Black on guitar, mandolin and harmonica, Joshua Lieb on guitar and trombone, and Danny Siper on drums.
Jeremy has been playing the drums for fourteen years when he wanted to start writing songs. It can be tricky to write melodies on a drum kit, so Jeremy borrowed his brother’s guitar and taught himself a few chords. “I learned a C, G, A minor, and F chord, the only chords you actually need to write a song. From then on I was golden,” Jeremy said.
With influences like Death Cab for Cutie, Bad Books, and the Front Bottoms, Plainview’s sound engineer believes they are all sorts of punk, but Berkin describes their sound as “folk punk.” After only four months of playing together, Plainview already has three shows under their belt.
Other than playing on campus at Flux, they played at Rock Bottom XX January 10 and 17. Though they have are no shows booked in the near future, they have many more scheduled in the next several months.
“We got great crowd response [at Late Night Series]. Everyone was really enjoying the tunes and we are extremely excited to release our single. We hope to become an integral part of the Philly music scene at Drexel,” Berkin said.
There shows have an intimate basement vibe where dancing is not optional. All the members agree that one of the best experiences a band could have is playing for a crowd of people that reciprocate their energy.
Altman has also recently started her own company, M6 Merchandise. Backed by her passion for music, she supplies bands with custom made merchandise like t-shirts, hats, and bags. She even made t-shirts for the Homecoming Dance Party.
In the next few weeks, Plainview’s first single titled “Breathe,” will be up for streaming on weareplainview.bandcamp.com In the meantime, they will be posting information about upcoming shows and music on their personal Facebook pages and encourage friend requests. The band is currently in the studio working on their debut EP that will drop early this spring.