3OH!3 will come to the Berry Events Center tonight and HelloGoodbye, Down with Webster and Southern Belle are also scheduled to perform.
Northern Arts and Entertainment put together this event. Stacy Milbourn, president of NAE, said that after reviewing the results of a survey taken by students at orientation and on Facebook, 3OH!3 was the most popular choice of bands touring this time of year.
“We saw that 3OH!3 was touring with HelloGoodbye, and we were really confident with that line-up,” Milbourn said. “3OH!3 came out on top.”
Dave Bonsall, director of the Center for Student Enrichment and faculty advisor of NAE, said he is proud of the work the students have done pulling this all together.
“They do a good job. They know it’s not about bringing (their) favorite bands, it’s about bringing bands that a lot of students would want to see,” Bonsall said.
Bonsall said NAE makes sure to put students’ opinions and interests first, and that is evident in students’ enthusiasm about the events NAE offers on campus. He said they try to have at least one large concert a year like this one. In previous years, they brought Third Eye Blind and Hinder.
“This year’s show will be a whole other kind of experience,” Milbourn said.
NAE put posters up all over campus and advertised on the radio as well as television in hopes of selling out the show. Milbourn said everyone in NAE stepped up and that the group is well supported.
Members of NAE are not only responsible for bringing 3OH!3 to Northern, but they will be running the event as well.
“They take care of everything from sound to lights to security,” Bonsall said.
Milbourn said NAE members will be taking tickets and stamping hands, and about 15 minutes into 3OH!3 they will get to go in and watch the show.
Tickets went fast and Milbourn is expecting a great turnout.
“We’ve been selling a couple hundred tickets a week, and we’re out of floor tickets,” Milbourn said. “As of (last) Wednesday, we had sold over 1,500 tickets.”
Tickets purchased today will be $24. The show is from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. tonight, Nov. 4, at the Berry Events Center.
Q and A with Nat Motte of 3OH!3
Q: How did 3OH!3 originate?
A: We actually met at the University of Colorado when we were both students there, like five or six years ago. We just started messing around with music and eventually got into producing music. We both started singing over it and we had a lot of friends and bands locally.
Q: 303 is the area code of your hometown, but how did you decide on this as the name of your band?
A: When it was time to name our band, we thought it’d be cool to do something that was kind of homage to where we were from, and also Sean actually had it tattooed on his leg.
Q: What message or ideals are you looking to convey through your music?
A: I think overall we try to make music that’s fun. It’s always fun to listen to, fun to perform, something fun to make for us. And also we want to present something new artistically and hopefully explore new avenues musically and lyrically, and at the same time put a smile on peoples’ faces.
Q: What influences your music? Where do your ideas come from?
A: They come from a lot of places. We draw a lot of inspiration from being in a lot of places and meeting a lot of people. Sometimes it’s from actual life experiences and then other times it’s writing in the third person, and you put yourself in different situations, but it varies a lot.
Q: Do you write all of your own music and lyrics?
A: We do, yes.
Q: Did you expect this level of fame when you started out? What did you expect to come of 3OH!3?
A: No, I don’t think it was even a remote possibility. Our progress has been really fast when it started out but at the same time pretty gradual in a sense but as things open up, you see more and more opportunities. Initially, we just wanted to make a studio album. When we first started playing, we just wanted to play our local venue.
Q: You’re involved in a few charities, such as the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and the Children’s Hospital. What kinds of things do you do to support these organizations?
A: We try to raise awareness. We’ve done charity shows for the Colorado Coalition and the Summer Festival in Denver. Sean actually just ran the Chicago Marathon in October and raised money for cancer studies at the Children’s Hospital. I think it’s something we’re doing that we want to do a lot more of because once you’re given the opportunity to raise awareness about things, a lot of good things can come out of it. It’s exciting to be able to do that.
Q: How did it feel to be nominated for “Best New Artist” in 2009’s Video Music Awards?
A: It felt awesome. MTV has always been very supportive of us, and obviously that’s kind of a central music forum. It was really cool and performing at it as well.
Q: Do you play at many colleges? How are college shows different from others?
A: Yeah, we do. It’s a lot of fun playing college shows. Sometimes they’re at the school gymnasium as opposed to like a dark venue and a little bit different atmosphere, but honestly they’re usually a lot of fun. People come, students come, they’re excited, it’s usually the weekend, and it’s usually a lot of fun. It’s like an event whereas sometimes a concert can seem like another night.
Q: What do you hope to bring to Northern Michigan University?
A: The biggest party that Northern Michigan has ever seen. That’s what we hope; I don’t know if we’re going to succeed, but we’re going to try.
