Shows Across The Street: What’s Going On At Providence College

Words: Pete Peterson
December 8, 2023

There I was, behind enemy lines, dressed in my foolproof Halloween disguise, I was on a mission: to get the inside scoop on the music scene of the university just across the street. The show, held at Pawtucket’s The Met, featured three of Providence College’s student bands whom I had the pleasure of interviewing after their show.
All three of the bands (The Grapes, The Hopeless Romantics, and St. Joe & the Dorms), being formed by now seniors of PC, had to deal with the lull in the rock scene during and in the aftermath of the pandemic:

“Four years ago when I was a freshman, there really was no Providence College music scene,” Reid Kieper, guitarist for The Hopeless Romantics explained, “and just the culmination of all the bands on campus now causes major creation and community of people who want to see live music and don't wanna go to the disco and club. They wanna see real bands play, and that has created a wonderful beautiful atmosphere here, and we are just one part to play in it.”

Jack Wilmot, the lead singer of The Grapes, echoed Kieper, “The rock scene is up and rising, with the Dorms starting it off when we were younger, progressing throughout our college years, and now we have the Romantics and the Grapes – there are other bands on campus as well. The bands and the music scene in Providence have grown immensely since my time here.”

Griffin May, guitarist and singer for St. Joe & the Dorms, recalls the origin of the Dorms, and the post-pandemic revival of the Providence College rock scene: “We’ve been a member of the scene coming up on three years, and I don't know if there was much else going on with rock when we were around, but Jack hooked us up with a gig as a sort of last-ditch effort in 2021, and that's what formed the band. It was supposed to be a one-off, but we’ve stuck around since.”

“There was not a lot going on with rock at the time, especially because of the pandemic, I think that killed a lot of the momentum for people who wanted to form bands,” Jack Downey, guitarist for The Dorms, added on, “I think part of what we contributed to the scene was that we showed people that you could do that, and people would listen to it if you did it. We got on stage, jumped around, played songs we liked, and people got into this. And I think people in the crowd, at that show and at subsequent shows, I think they all realized like hey we wanted to do this for a while, people were doing it, it was fun, and now we’re tryna get in on it. And now we have this really cool scene to have shows like we just had.”

Providence College’s music scene has come a long way since its nonexistence during the pandemic. These days the bands jam out to classics and originals alike, playing to a thrilled and energetic costumed Halloween crowd. I loved getting the opportunity to get to know the bands after the show, and am hopeful to see them perform again before they graduate. Roll Bruno, though! Check out the bands on Instagram at @thisisthegrapes, @officialhopelessromantics, and @st.joeandthedorms.












 

INDIE

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WBRU RADIO (Alternative)

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