Andrew Gutman
Contributing Writer
At 10:30 p.m. on a Friday night, students begin to gather at the Richard B. Flynn Campus Union waiting for the Cover Up to begin their 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. show. Members of the band rush around the stage, making sure that everything is set up properly for their show.
The Cover Up is a student band made up of six artists: lead singers Rob Kearney and Jillian Funk, lead guitarist Trevor Marcotte, keyboardist Andrew DeCusati, bass player and the band’s manager Jeff Richard and drummer Chris Jost. The band, which was originally called “Waking the Neighbors,” started up in early 2012 in an unusual way.
“We were doing a recording, and we actually heard Chris and Andrew playing. We walked into the room to ask them to stop playing,” Funk recalled.
What started out as a plea for silence turned into something a lot different.
“Whatever song we were playing they jumped in with us, and it just kind of worked, and we kept going from there,” Jost said.
Originally, Marcotte was not a member of the band. Later on in the year, the band decided to add a new lead guitarist to the mix, and that’s when they found Marcotte. Ever since that happy accident and the addition of a new lead guitarist, the six have become good friends and love to jam together, at least when they can that is. All of the band members are upperclassmen and have extremely busy schedules.
“I think just because all of us are student leaders on campus, somehow we are all just so busy,” Funk said.
Despite their busy schedules and campus involvement, they try and practice whenever they can.
“Yesterday was our first practice in two weeks,” Marcotte said chuckling.
He also added that all of the band members practice on their own time to get better, even when they can’t practice as a group. Bringing a laidback and fun atmosphere to their shows, the Cover Up has no problem pleasing the crowd with a variety of music, bringing a solid mix between covers of well-known songs such as Nicki Minaj’s “Starships,” and self-written songs including “Sleep with the Moon” and “Seven Nations of Improv.”
“We have a couple of little surprises here and there. We like to keep the audience on their toes,” Richard said, elaborating on the band’s different styles of music, which range from country to punk and even the blues.
The band hopes to branch out into the surrounding Springfield area outside of the college to receive more exposure. Even with most of the band graduating at the end of this school year, all of the members still have high hopes about keeping their weekly jam sessions going.
“Even next year, after some of us graduate and we’re not here, we can still get together,” DeCusati said.
Currently, the Cover Up play many shows in the Union on the weekends. Be sure to catch them Friday, Oct. 26 for their Halloween concert at 11:30 p.m. in the Union.