While classical operas, concert bands, choirs and musical theater performances attract most of the attention on campus, some forms of student-produced pop and rock music are developing a presence.
The following three bands feature at least one Otterbein student who has found his or her way of balancing homework, athletics and rocking out.
Yours For The Taking
Yours For The Taking started about six years ago with two brothers and their two friends, who were all Pickerington Central Tiger athletes.
While driving down Refugee Road in Pickerington, Tom Hammond got off the phone with a friend, turned to his little brother, Tyler Hammond, and told him their friend wanted to start a band.
Tyler, now a sophomore at Otterbein and a running back for the football team, transferred here from Ohio Dominican after his freshman year.
Originally, the vibe was punk/pop and the band was called Zero Times Tardy. Tyler laughs about how the band “sucked” when they were Zero Times Tardy because they were all just learning how to play.
After one of the band members, Trae Myers, had left, a couple different people joined and left the band. About two years ago, Myers joined the band again. They then changed the style of the band and became Yours for the Taking.
According to Tyler, the band’s style is currently a mixture of Kings of Leon, Maroon 5 and Black Keys.
The four members are Nathan Lawler, lead guitar and vocals; Trae Myers, playing bass and vocals; Tyler, playing rhythm guitar and vocals and Tom Hammond on the drums.
The band members write all of the songs for Yours For The Taking. Tyler’s favorite song by the band is “She Wants to Rock,” which the whole band collaborated on.
A lot of Tyler’s inspiration for music comes from his dad who has been playing music his entire life. When Tyler’s dad was his age, his dad played bass in a band called Fantasy. Tyler explained that his dad is a huge Beatles fan and has a room dedicated to his Beatles memorabilia.
Tyler said the band’s goal is to make it big. Tyler said the first album is coming out this spring. They hope that their new CD gets into the right hands. He also said he hopes for his band to open for someone big like Twenty One Pilots at the LC Pavilion so they could get their name out there.
However, he said being a student-athlete while being in a band has, at times, been difficult.
“I told Coach Doup that I treat this like a job,” Tyler said. “I do not want him to look at it like, ‘Oh, rockstar, let’s party.’ Everyone has their job and this is mine.”
As of now, the band has performed at Zeta Phi fraternity twice, once during the fall and another time in February.
They have also performed at a couple places around Pickerington, such as a Mexican restaurant called Don Patron. In Tyler’s opinion, the band’s best performance was last summer at Pickerington’s Violet Festival.
Yours For The Taking will have their next show at Park Street Patio April 20 in downtown Columbus.
Dusty Kiaski
A guitar for Christmas and an idea from a friend to start a band ignited Dusty Kiaski’s musical fire.
Senior accounting major and former Otterbein soccer player, Kiaski has been making music since he was in middle school.
“It was difficult to find time for music while playing soccer and being a full-time student, but since I’ve been done with soccer, I have definitely been getting back into the game,” Kiaski said.
Kiaski and a couple of his hometown friends from Jackson Township started to round up band members and write songs, later forming a band called The Pursuit. Kiaski’s band played at sweet sixteen parties and a few other shows throughout high school.
The Pursuit recorded and released a full-length CD they sold around their school and community.
Kiaski writes his own music with inspirations stemming from people and relationships.
“I’ve always loved music, and I’ve always loved writing my own songs,” he said. “I think it’s just something in my bones.”
As for musical inspirations, Kiaski’s top choices are All Time Low, We the Kings and Cartel.
Since college, Kiaski has settled in with his own self-named alternative band with former Otterbein student Zach Earhart, who transferred schools, and friends Kyle Washburn, Derek Rassmussen and Steve Profit.
The band is on the route of recording a five-song extended play called “First Things First.” The band has released two singles from the EP called “Secrets” and “Part of Me.”
“We have gotten a lot of great feedback from the two songs we put out and are developing a solid fan base,” Kiaski said.
Kiaski’s favorite song he has written is “Part of Me,” which is in loving memory of his late grandparents.
“I had created a video to go along with the song that I had a lot of Otterbein students in,” he said.
A friend and teammate, sophomore art major Andrew Beers, filmed all the footage for the video. Kiaski said he devoted a lot of time to putting the video together on his own.
Kiaski has performed at a handful of places including Otterbein’s Card Stock during his sophomore year. He has also played at Twinstock in Twinsburg, Ohio and several other places in his hometown. Kiaski’s band will begin to play at multiple venues around Columbus this summer.
The band released a third song last Sunday called “Patiently Waiting” where senior BA general studies in music major Martine Tyus sings with Kiaski.
Tyus’s friendship with Earhart helped spark the collaboration. Earhart called her stressing the need for a female singer for a song.
Tyus writes her own music for both pop music and ballads with piano. Since Tyus has had a lot of opera work for the past two or three years, she, at first, had difficulty reminding herself how to sing in the different-styled voice required for pop.
Tyus said it was great working with Kiaski because he is very open to what other people with different styles have to offer.
“We bounced ideas off of each other and ended up making something that we both are happy with,” Tyus said.
“Dusty has a unique sound to his voice,” she added. “You would not expect that from first impression.”
As for Kiaski’s musical future, he sees himself continuing to write for the rest of his life.
“I plan to start performing again this summer and see where it goes,” he said.
Kiaski’s music can be found on iTunes and Spotify.
The Anticipations
The Anticipations are part of a one credit hour course at Otterbein advised by Eric Van Wagner.
The group offers the Music Department students the liberty to play more mainstream music instead of classical music like Bach and Beethoven.
The band consists of vocalists Hannah Brooks, Eric Wolff, Tasha Thompson; keyboardist T. C. Kincer; lead guitarist Paul Baker; drummer Alex Hayes; rhythm and electric guitarist Ben Canton and the occasional feature of trumpet player Matt Hogue.
All of these members make up the musically-diverse band, The Anticipations.
The band plays songs such as “All The Things That I Have Done” by the Killers, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and a song created by the band, “Don’t Sweat.”
The song “Don’t Sweat” was a collaboration between the band members inspired by the saying, “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”
Wolff, a junior music and business major, wrote the chorus and a couple verses.
Thompson, a communication major, wrote a couple of the verses as well, while senior BM piano performance major Kincer created the chords to the song.
According to Wolff, he finds his inspirations from life while writing music.
“I find a sense of satisfaction from making original music,” Wolff said.
The band has an array of musical inspirations ranging from Train, The Beatles, The Killers and Rush.
The band has a wide taste in music, and they find ways to explore a variety of styles.
“We are getting used to each other and are all pulling together to create the best sound,” Wolff said.
The band is trying a new, collaborative challenge by writing and producing more of their own music.
As of two weeks ago, the band is in the process of making an album, which they plan to release by the end of the school year or summer.
The Anticipations have performed at Old Bag of Nails, Embassy Suites and the Music and Romance dance this year.
The band is not just limited to students in the Music Department. Anyone can register, but an audition is required to become a part of the band.
