On Saturday, April 23rd, an innovative new band will make their debut in the band room of Daniel Music Building. Comprised of four members who are all heavily involved in Furman’s music department, “The Daily Havoc” was established by guitarist Rohan Halloran, who wanted to bridge the musical education he has received at Furman with what he feels is a more accessible mode of performance. The band also includes Isaiah Ives on drums, Austin Krigbaum on bass, and Andrew Cooter on lead vocals. The band officially introduced themselves to Furman’s campus via promotional photos on their Instagram on April 8th, and sat down with me this week to give me the scoop and an inside peak into their music and their upcoming show.
I was first intrigued by the name of the band, which Ives told me came from “nothing more and nothing less than the madness within [his] mind palace.”He arrived at the title by simply exploring combinations of different words. The band itself was Halloran’s project. After playing with Krigbaum and Ives in Furman’s jazz ensemble and being impressed by Cooter’s performance in Pauper Players shows, he knew he wanted to recruit them to perform songs that he had been working on over the past year.
Halloran describes the music that the band will perform on Saturday as “indie rock that is high energy with applications of jazz and music theory principles.” He says that he wanted to find a way to incorporate his compositional studies into a style that will be more familiar to people outside the music department. “I want to push the entire Furman community toward a culture of live music,” he said, citing how most of the live performances at Furman feature classical or jazz music which often appeal most to other musicians.
“So many people have never experienced the music department at Furman,” said Cooter, echoing Halloran’s sentiments. He also hopes that “The Daily Havoc” will bring the talents of the music department to the attention of a wider audience. Cooter says that he has “always thought it would be cool to be in a band.” A classically trained singer, Cooter says that singing in this style has been an interesting challenge in that the band had to collaborate to make sure the music fit healthily into his range. Now as a member of “The Daily Havoc”, he will add this indie rock style to his already versatile performance experience, which includes both classical and musical theatre.
The band agrees that the songs that they are performing are not centered around a specific theme or message. For Halloran, the songs that he has written are purely “reflections” about ideas that he has been struggling with – mental health highs and lows represented through “manic” energy in the music and lyrics that reflect religious and philosophical questions. In addition to original songs, the band will perform covers like “R U Mine” by The Arctic Monkeys and “The Adults are Talking” by The Strokes.
The Daily Havoc’s debut show will begin at 9:30 P.M. in the band room, downstairs in Daniel Music Building. The Balconies, another band, will also perform as an opening act. I hope to see you there!
