Augustana student performers played acoustic tunes Friday at the biweekly Live on Campus.
Hosted in the Brew by the Slough, 4 students performed original songs and covers to a crowd of 25 people.
Sophomore Paige Pierson, an Office of Student Life and Leadership board member, explained that students opening up for the main act drew a larger crowd than normal.
“We actually thought that having student performers could get a huge crowd because students want to support their own friends and come to watch the whole performance,” Pierson said.
Student performers included solo acoustic guitar acts from junior Alli Strtak and sophomore John Stenger. Strtak played original soft-rock songs, while Stenger performed classic rock covers and one original song.
Stenger, who sings and plays guitar, bass, keyboard, piano and percussion, describes his original music as “psychedelic blue grunge.”
“All higher energy music I write is on the electric guitar and the acoustic music I write is more mellow,” Stenger said.
Stenger also played drums with The Naughty Triceratops, the third act of the night, which included Teodoro Alonso-Emanuel on vocals and guitar and AJ Boucek on vocals and bass.
The Naughty Triceratops played a combination of covers, including Violent Femmes’s “Kiss Off,” and original melodies.
The band borrowed a drum set and sound equipment for the performance from the Ascension Chapel.
“We don’t have a real drum set,” said Stenger. “We actually practice with Rock Band equipment.”
Rachel Brown performed her acoustic songs after the students. A New York City native, Brown combines pop, Caribbean, Hawaiian, country and hip-hop sounds, according to her website.
Brown received the ASCAP Foundation Robert Allen Award for songwriting in 2010 and the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame Abe Olman Award for Excellence in Songwriting in 2011.
Brown played her signature ukulele with original songs Friday.
“She just had a voice that was different than what (OSL) had heard before,” said Pierson. “Her voice was very soulful.”
OSL board members attend the National Association for Campus Activities Conference twice a year to select artists to play on campus. Pierson said OSL books artists who have “a spunk or a spark about them.”