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Brian Hendricks, Brian Eberhardt, and Ryan Irby performs a song in Common Grounds, Corban’s on campus coffee shop. Submitted Photo.
Brian Hendricks, Brian Eberhardt, and Ryan Irby performs a song in Common Grounds, Corban’s on campus coffee shop. Submitted Photo.
Another year at Corban College another coffee shop showdown.
As a senior I have been to many concerts Corban has featured, fromthe band at Christmas, the Choir at the Capitol, to the Psalm Center, where the college has featured several recording artists. But recently, I experienced a performance from a different genre in a different setting.
Brian Eberhardt and The Firing Squad performed Sept. 17 at Common Grounds, Corban’s coffee shop, bringing in various students and alumni to their musical debut. As the band’s fourth show together, they are just in the beginning stages of their performances, although from the quality and sound of their music, you would not be able to tell.
Eberhardt formed Brian Eberhardt and The Firing Squad this past year, after a few of years of playing, writing and performing on his own since high school. The music has an acoustic-indie-rock sond, that Corban alumnus Nathan Furumasu says, “manages to retain their ‘coffee shop’ sound, even amongst the bluesy guitar riffs and drum fills.”
Furumasu, a fellow musician who has performed with Eberhardt in previous years, continues to praise Eberhardt’s new music and band, saying they are “a far cry from the six-string symphonies that so often stereotype the Indie and Folk genre. The new full-band sound cleverly warms Eberhardt’s previously bare acoustic set while still preserving the reverent quality of his past renditions.”
The Corban crowd seemed to agree that the band was hardly indie, as the drummer rocked out, and several students sang aloud to Eberhardt’s “token song,” “Q-Cafe,” my personal favorite. As Eberhardt encouraged everyone to sing along, I found myself wishing I knew the words to the upbeat and clever lyrics.
While the band’s verses are typically optimistic and joyful, Eberhart also explores personal loss, distance and separation. His self-produced five song EP, titled “Moon, Earth,” studies the interdependence of relationships, the pursuits of love and the purpose of belief.
The band also includes Matt Haide, Ryan Irby and Brian Hendricks.
Brian Eberhardt and The Firing Squad’s next show is 8 pm, Oct. 9 at the 2nd Street Beanery in Corvallis, Ore.