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The North Wind

The North Wind

The North Wind

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Chloe Everson
Chloe Everson
Sports Editor

Hi! My name is Chloe and I am a fourth-year senior here at NMU. I am a Public Relations major and have always enjoyed sports. I love being outdoors, shopping, and drinking coffee at all hours of the...

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The North Wind is an independent student publication serving the Northern Michigan University community. It is partially funded by the Student Activity Fee. The North Wind digital paper is published daily during the fall and winter semesters except on university holidays and during exam weeks. The North Wind Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the student body, faculty, administration and area media.

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Indie band Mates of State to perform in Great Lakes Rooms

on Thursday, Oct. 16, NMU will play host to a concert by husband and wife indie duo Mates of State.

The concert, being hosted by First Aid Productions, is being held in the Great Lakes Rooms of the University Center and is free to Northern students.

Mates of State is an indie rock band that has been playing since 1997. The band is composed of Kori Gardner on vocals, electric organs, microKORG and Casio synthesizers, electric pianos, piano and guitar, and Jason Hammel on vocals, drums, glockenspiel, Casio synthesizer and miscellaneous percussion instruments.

First Aid Productions president Lindsey Archambeau said that the group decided to move in a more indie direction with its choice for a performer for this show.

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“They are different than anything we have done before,” she said. “We decided that we needed to take a risk and go in a different direction.”

She added that the feeling amongst the members of the student group is enthusiastic about the choice of bands.

“We have a lot of members of our group that are very excited about this. We pick our bands based on the recommendations given to us by our members, and this was a band that we had a lot of interest in,” she said.

Mates of State has shared the stage with a number of big name indie acts in the past five years, including tours with bands such as The Anniversary, Spoon and Death Cab for Cutie. In addition they performed at the Lollapalooza music festival in 2008 on the Myspace.com stage.

In 11 years, the band has put out five full length CDs and two EPs. In addition they have produced seven 7″ singles or split recordings.

Their most recent recording, “Re-Arrange Us,” was released in May of this year on Barsuk Records. The album peaked at #140 on the Bilboard’s chart of the top 200 current albums. It also ranked #11 among indie musicians and #6 among “heatseakers.” The heatseakers chart is an index of up-and-coming music.

In addition to Mates of State, the show will also feature a regional band and a local band. Archambeau said, the group will be deciding on the two bands at their meeting this week.

This is the first year that First Aid has been granted earmarked funds status to use funds directly from the student activity fee. The group received the earmarked status at an SFC meeting last April. Archambeau said that there was added pressure for the group to put on a bigger concert.

“We definitely were feeling the pressure to put on a good show,” she said. “Anytime that you are given an increase in money there is a pressure there to use that money wisely and show that a good decision was made in granting it.”

First Aid is a student group that brings alternative music to campus. Last year, they hosted bands such as Lucky Boys Confusion, MxPx and Ben Kweller as well as numerous smaller shows in the dorm basements.

Archambeau said that students, whether they have heard of Mates of State or not, should come to the concert.

“It’s free music. So why the hell wouldn’t you come?” she said.

The concert is on Oct. 16 in the Great Lakes Rooms of the University Center. The doors open at 6:00 p.m. with the show starting at 7:00. The event is free to NMU students with a student I.D. The cost for non-students will be determined at a later date.

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