Jonathon Liedtke – ourWindsor.ca – Jan. 8, 2013
The University of Windsor Students’ Alliance (UWSA) – the same group which has brought Benny Benassi and Avicii to the riverfront – held their first 2013 Frost Week event as a means of welcoming both new and returning students to campus for the second semester.
The night featured local Windsor group the Walkervilles, and Canadian touring group the Arkells. Both bands performed their sets on a raised stage which was assembled in the CAW student centre to an audience of roughly 400 university and college students, and community members alike.
Stephen Hargreaves is the Managing Editor of the University of Windsor Lance Newspaper, and he explained that the UWSA approached the Lance to see if they’d be interested in “partnering to help them organize a rock show for frost week, and we thought no better local act to excite local university audience than the Walkervilles.”
“When you think about the Walkervilles and you think about big national acts that are really making a lot of noise, the Arkells immediately come to mind,” explained Hargreaves, adding, “We paired the two of them together and I think it was a really good choice.”
University of Windsor Business alumni Sydney Taylor enjoyed her time at the concert. Having first started listening to The Arkells when she entered university, Taylor found it to be ironic that the band was performing on campus after she had graduated.
“[The show] was awesome! They brought so much energy, and they were amazing live.” commented Taylor, adding, “I think [The UWSA] did awesome. It was very well organized, [and] there were no problems with fighting.”
Michael Hargreaves plays guitar in the Walkervilles and he thought that the show went very well. “It was fantastic, [it’s] so much fun to be playing with the Arkells, a band that’s been playing for a long time, I feel like I learn so much every time I see them.”
While Hargreaves hasn’t played at the university in a long time, he did play there once before and found it “cool to be playing [to] a hometown crowd.”
“We’re really solidifying our team [and] we’ve established a ton of connections through our previous band [Michou] and Pat Robitaille, so we’re just getting the chance now to use all these connections we’ve made.” commented The Walkervilles’ drummer Stefan Cvetkovic, adding, “It feels like everybody we’re working with right now is just as excited as we are, so it makes it this great driving force.”
Cvetkovic explained that the band is attempting to break into the US market. “We love Canada, we love touring Canada, it’s a beautiful country, but the drives are 30 hours between a city sometimes. Hopefully by the spring we’ll be doing Chicago, Detroit, New York and the idea is to move in, go abroad, and try expanding a little.” he said.
Lance Managing Editor Stephen Hargreaves found the show to be calm compared to ones which feature alcohol – the University of Windsor pub recently shut down, effectively stopping the flow of alcohol on campus.
“Although, a lot of students enjoy to have a drink when they go out…I think one night isn’t that difficult to spend a good two hours without having a drink.” commented Hargreaves, adding, “I’m sure a lot of them went out for a pint afterwards.”
Taylor drove to the concert and as such wasn’t interested in drinking if it were available, however, she did concede that had there been alcohol “I definitely wouldn’t have been driving. [Having the show in the pub] would have been a nice added touch, but without the alcohol it was still a blast, and personally I don’t need it to have fun.”
The Arkells and The Walkervilles Perform for UWindsor Frost Week (ourwindsor.ca)
Jonathon Liedtke is the Features & Opinion Editor for the University of Windsor Lance Campus/Community Newspaper and a reporter for ourWindsor.ca. As a founding member and current Co-Chair of the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Committee, he is committed to representing, connecting, engaging with and advocating for local youth. He is also a member of Windsor’s “Punk with Horns” band The Nefidovs, and as such, is committed to enhancing and sustaining the arts community.
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