The musical group CHVRCHES will be headlining the spring 2016 Lawnparties, Undergraduate Student Government President Aleksandra Czulak ’17 announced in the Lawnparties website Thursday.
USG Social Committee Chair Rachel Park ’18 noted that the Social Committee has not yet determined the performer for the opening act, and she added that the committee plans to determine the opening act performer within the next few days.
CHVRCHES is a Scottish electronic band that was formed in 2011 by lead singer Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty. Their most recent album, “Every Open Eye,” was released on Sept. 25, 2015. The group will be headlining at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Governors Ball Music Festival and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival this spring and summer.
The Glasgow-based band received fifth place in theBBC Sound of 2013 listof promising new talent and was recently nominated as the British Breakthrough Act of the 2015 Brit Awards.
Cook and Doherty attended University of Strathclyde together, and both have been involved in film and music before. Mayberry received an undergraduate law degree and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Strathclyde. She was a member of two local bands prior to joining the group.
Mayberry hasspoken outagainst misogynist messages she has received online, emphasizing that women should not acquiesce to objectification.
While past main act performers have been mostly hip hop and pop artists, the Social Committee wanted to focus on another genre of music, Park explained.
Social Committee solicited ideas from students through tabling at Frist about what genres of artists they wanted to see at Lawnparties, Czulak and Park explained. This feedback also helped inform their decision.
Czulak noted that the committee then decided to hire CHVRCHES sometime in the fall, although she added that there was no exact date, given the nature of the negotiations.
“We wanted to change things up, [and] we were definitely looking for a female artist. I don’t think we’ve really done something electronic in the past,” Park said. “This was something different that was feasible for us to do, so we just took the chance.”
Park and Czulak declined to comment on other candidates that were placed on the short list for the performance.
Park noted Lawnparties will be a longer day this year. Usually the event begins around 3 or4 p.m., but as the group is flying in from a concert the night before, CHVRCHES will begin their performance at5 p.m.Because of the schedule change, there will be more food vendors and activities at the event, she explained.
There will be also be merchandise available for pre-order, Park said.
This year’s spring Lawnparties will focus on student participation, Park added, noting that a battle of the bands student competition eligible for student DJs, rappers, singers and bands will select a student opener for the main act, in addition to an opening act performer.
Park said that the battle of the bands will be judged by a panel consisting of past Social Committee members.
There will also be a poster competition for students to submit their designs, she noted.
“CHVRCHES is really into student art, and they wanted to see if there are any students that would want to make a poster using their logos for Lawnparties’ advertising poster,” Park said.
The group will look at the final selections made by the Social Committee and will pick a winning selection to be signed and endorsed by the band, according to Park.
“I think overall CHVRCHES puts on a really good live show for everyone,” Park said. “We really wanted them, and they trumped everyone else that we were looking at.” She added that she found the band to be the most relevant and up-and-coming of Lawnparties’ groups in the recent past.
“This is one of the biggest bands we’ve had come before, just over the last few years and especially during my time here,” Czulak said.
Mayberry will also be returning to campus to give a talk at a later date, Park said, adding the date for the talk has not been determined yet.
Czulak noted that the overall budget for spring 2016 Lawnparties is $82,000, including food vendors.
Lawnparties will take place onMay 1, 2016.
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