1960’s inspired band prepares to perform at Young Alumni Band Party.
To students, Homecoming means an exciting football game, a king and queen and a week full of events. To others, it means coming back home to their alma mater years after they graduated. Just like the band Dead 27s, who will be playing at the USC Young Alumni Band Party and includes three band members who are USC alumni.
Despite their hard rock name, the band gets their sound from the inspiring musicians of the 1960s and ’70s and created their name from the musicians who have died at the age of 27, like Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain.
Since vocalist Trey Francis, guitarists Wallace Mullinax and Will Evans, bassists Oliver Goldstein and drummer Daniel Crider kick-started their career with a Jimi Hendrix tribute performance in Charleston, the band has become a popular favorite in South Carolina. Dead 27s has built a large fan base and have won a Best of Charleston award and Song of the Year for their single “Don’t Want to Live My Life Without You,” as well as Rock Band of the Year and Up and Coming Artist of the Year from the Charleston City Paper Music Awards.
Although the band plays mostly in the Charleston area, they enjoy touring the rest of the state, and they especially enjoy performing in Columbia.
He also wrote that the band plans to play in Greenville, Charlotte and Asheville in the near future, before the release of their seven-song EP in early 2014.
Crider wrote that Friday’s show will include both original songs as well as covers from a wide array of genres like classic rock and blues. As many of the members are former Gamecocks, the band’s excitement for Friday’s performance is bigger than usual.
“All of us but one graduated from USC, so it feels great to come back to play for our alma mater’s Homecoming,” Crider wrote. “There will be a lot of excitement and positive energy coming off a win against Missouri too. People are going to be pumped up.”
Once students themselves, the band remembers the work and determination it took to build themselves into a band and hopes that current USC students with the same dream can be successful.
“Be determined, focused, patient and driven. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Don’t be above getting a day job to supplement your income while you build your career as a musician,” Crider wrote. “Develop a local fan base in your hometown and think outside the box, not only in your music, but how to get your stuff out there through all the clutter.”
Check out Dead 27 at Tin Roof tonight at 7 p.m., as well as on their website, dead27s.com.