One of Saint Ignatius’ very own bands, Pluto Reinstatement Committee, performed at the House of Blues last Saturday in the Tri-C Rock-Off. Before the concert, PRC had sold over 70 tickets, and they had a solid crowd there for the second rock-off show in a row. The competition consisted of 63 bands, and one preliminary round before the band made it into the finals. During the finals they played songs from their demo, including ‘Innocence is Bliss’, ‘Girl’, and ‘Into the Light’. In a full night of 17 other bands playing and competing, including Where Forever Dies, with Adam Kallibjian ‘14 and Eliot Pacella ‘13, PRC came on at 6:55. Their solid performance rocked the House, and really got the crowd going.
You don’t hear too many high school students being in a band. “I just love playing music and playing with my best friends”, said Tyler. Pluto Reinstatement Committee, whose members include: vocalist and bass guitarist Mike Avdey ‘13, lead guitarist Zach Dubyoski ‘13, and drummer Tyler Anderson ‘13, who formed a couple of years ago after Tyler got inspired by a Foo Fighters documentary. “I approached Duby on the mall excitedly the next day and was like ‘Duby you’re in my band,’ and he said ‘Alright who else is in it and when do we practice?’,” said Tyler. Obviously a moment of inspiration was all that was needed for these guys. Music is composed by all three as they equally bare the weight of composing the sound behind the lyrics, but Avdey writes these lyrics.
After signing up for the rock-off, PRC practiced together once or twice a week for three hours each practice. Three-hour practices may seem like a lot to some people, but for PRC, according to Mike Avdey ’13, “Playing music isn’t even considered practice to us, it’s just fun.” Practice may have made them well prepared, but one would think they still get nervous before every performance, especially a big performance in front of over 150 people to determine who would win the competition. But this is actually not the case, as when asked, Zach said, “Nervous? If anything we are excited!” and Mike told us, “I don’t even get nervous anymore. With this huge crowd, playing for them just gets me pumped.”
With the stage set at 6:55, PRC was given a warm welcome. You can definitely tell the guys enjoyed themselves out there. They frequently looked at their fellow band mates with wide grins as they played the music they love. The Ignatius crowd jumped up and down and sang along at times as Mike’s singing filled the House. Even a couple mosh pits broke out on their last song, “Into the Light,” which always means that the crowd is having a good time. When asked about their performance, they described it in only positive terms. Zach said, “Fun. So much fun. It was exhilarating.” Mike told us he was “high on adrenaline,” and Tyler said, “I was just so excited to play the music I love, and to play in front of all my friends. It was just awesome.”
Unfortunately, PRC did not place in the finals. But that didn’t seem to bother them much, because they just enjoyed playing at the House of Blues for their friends. Mike explained the feeling of playing on that stage: “So fun. It is such a cool venue. I go to shows here, and now I am playing here. It just feels so professional.” And Tyler told us about a cool experience from the preliminaries: “Last time when we played here and won we were able to go to the ‘Green Room,’ which is where the real musicians go when they do their shows. It was surreal. It felt like we meant something.” The band loved the crowd, and Tyler gave a shout-out to them: “Thank you for being awesome, especially those kids who always come out to support us.”
On behalf of The Eye, I want to congratulate PRC for their great performance, and if anyone wants to further support PRC, their next gig is at Peabody’s on Saturday, February 16. They’re selling tickets now, and they said that they will reveal a new song at the show.
