Though you would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t enjoy live music, many Rowan students are completely unaware of Glassboro’s thriving underground music scene.

On Saturday, Oct. 26, Rowan Alternative Music (RALT) hosted a show at an off-campus venue. Rowan Alternative Music is a student organization dedicated to fostering and supporting the Rowan live music scene, a mission that prompted them to host the Halloween weekend show.

Set to perform that night were three local bands: Red Panda Retreat, Goofy at Night, and Redwood. While Red Panda Retreat and Goofy at Night are both Philadelphia-based acts, Redwood is a Glassboro-based band formed by three Rowan students, drawing particular excitement from an audience that would prove to be almost entirely composed of fellow Rowan students.

With this anticipation, the venue opened its doors that evening for a 7:30 p.m. show, and as show time drew nearer, the crowd poured into the venue ready to tune in to the performance.

Redwood played first, coming out with a bang as they played a cover of Shellac’s “Prayer to God.” The band kept that adrenaline going through the rest of their set, continuing to hammer out loud and intense numbers throughout the rest of their performance.

The band’s set consisted of a couple more covers and notably included two originals. “Cowboy,” a fast-moving number that flowed with a fervent rhythm, and “Sun Tzu’s Pesadilla,” an intense punk anthem whose fiery vocals and intense beat earned it a spot as a crowd favorite.

“You can say post-rock experimental, a little noisy, would be a good umbrella term if you had to define us,” said Redwood bassist Magnus Bennett. “We try and do new sounds, … we wanna sound kind of unique, and at times that’s difficult for us to do, but we try and have our own thing.”

Comprising Bennett, Ron Kosek, and Liam Casey, (the latter two switching off between playing drums and guitar throughout the set), Redwood was formed as the trio’s passion project. After attending school together for many years, and graduating from Kingsway Regional High School before coming to Rowan, the friends formed the band to explore their interest in music together. 

“We’re still trying to find our place and figure out the crowd we want to play for, but we’re looking to play other gigs in Philly and hopefully put out music soon,” said Kosek. 

“We have to test the waters a little bit, but we really appreciate the kind of community that goes on here,” said Casey on the Rowan crowd. “Playing locally around here has just been really great, it’s just a really good culture.”

Redwood was followed by performances from Goofy at Night, who continued with the loud-and-fast tone through their set, and later by Red Panda Retreat, who closed out the night with a series of numbers just as noisy and lively as what the rest of the night had to offer – and, enjoyably, performed in fun and flashy Halloween costumes.

“Rowan Alt is here to support the local Glassboro and South Jersey music scene by hosting shows and putting on events that help educate the community,” said RALT President Andy Ciardella.

Ciardella went on to speak on RALT’s growth, noting that they hoped not only to put on more shows but also to host club meetings with informative guest speakers as a resource for the Glassboro music community.

“We try to draw in people who are purely passionate about the music,” Ciardella said. “Supporting independent artists, independent creatives, that’s what it obviously all boils down to, that’s why we’re here and that’s why we love to do it.”

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