With Rowan’s blossoming music scene only getting stronger by the day, another band has begun making a name for themselves in Glassboro.

Introducing Turtles in Plaid, a jam band that formed in Glassboro in November 2023. The band’s current lineup consists of bassist Evan Swider, drummer Dylan Walkowicz, guitarist Joe Shields, and keyboard player and singer Anthony Shields.

Turtles in Plaid was created through jam sessions that Anthony and Joe Shields would have in their basement back at home. Joe Shields then met Walkowicz in Computer Technology 1 at Rowan and, upon finding out that Walkowicz was a drummer who had a similar taste in music as them, invited him to join the band. Swider, who graduated from Rowan last year and has since moved back to his hometown of Hillsborough where he first met the Shields brothers, would take over the role of bassist despite having very little experience with the instrument beforehand. 

The band name was coined by Joe Shields, taking inspiration from other jam bands, who typically have some kind of animal in their band names.

“The jam band scene is super into having an animal in front of the name,” said Joe Shields. “There’s Dogs In A Pile, there’s Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, there’s a few bands like that. I mean, I figured we should stick with the trope. I went with turtles because every day that I went to class with Dylan, I would see this massive snapping turtle over by the engineering building, and he was the homie. I’d see him every day and it was just subconscious. And Dylan was wearing plaid all the time, we’re from the Northeast, a lot of jam bands are from the West Coast, so I figured, ‘we’re plaid.’ That’s a Northeast kind of thing, you know? It’s us, and I feel like it separated us from the West Coast vibe of most jam bands.”

When it comes to the band’s signature sound, they’re perfectly content with not having one. With everyone in the group having different musical backgrounds, Turtles in Plaid ultimately wants to be a mix of everything, whether that be rock, folk, funk, Americana, or even jazz.

“It’s a unique sound, it’s definitely lighter than the sound that usually comes out of Glassboro,” said Anthony Shields. “I would consider the Rowan music scene pretty punk and hardcore, and our style is a little different from that, but it flows. It’s cool. We don’t really write down charts or write down setlists, we kind of just call it out and go as we go, and rely on how much we’ve rehearsed together and how much time we’ve spent together to really just pull it all together and get the job done.”

The rest of the band felt a similar way to their singer.

“I think our sound is not having a sound, because we have a song pretty much in all of the main genres except for metal so far,” Walkowicz said.

When writing music, everybody in Turtles in Plaid writes their own parts, and in every song they write the band tries to make sure that everybody has their moment to shine.

“No one ever really talks bad on what you put out, too. If there ever is a problem with the sound, maybe we’ll have a suggestion, but we’re not going to try and change what you created. So it’s pretty lenient, the way we just allow each other to do whatever. Which is nice, too, because it works,” said Swider.

With Joe Shields and Walkowicz still attending Rowan, Anthony Shields taking online courses, and Swider having graduated, it’s been a little bit tough for the band. Despite everybody’s personal lives, the band still makes sure to get together most weekends, with Swider making the sacrifice to drive back to Glassboro if they have to get together on a weekday.

As for new music, Turtles in Plaid have a new single mastered and ready to go, titled “All Roads Lead To Plaid,” which just so happens to also be the name of their sole EP that they released back in October 2024. Produced by John Fachet at Sweet Creek Studios, the EP was put together in about two sessions, as the five songs on it had been written and rehearsed for months prior to recording. The new track was written and recorded in a single eight-hour session, though the band has yet to announce a release date.

The title “All Roads Lead To Plaid” happens to be quite ironic as well. While discussing the goals each Turtle had for themselves with their music, all roads lead back to the band. All four members of the band look to continue playing music for as long as they continue to enjoy doing so, while along the way getting to express themselves creatively and become masters of their craft.

Turtles in Plaid most recently played a show at the Chamberlain Student Center Expansion Stage this past Thursday, which was in large part put together by Ü Matter, a production group created by junior music technology student Andrew Bechara.

Though they’ve already played venues such as the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, the band’s favorite show they’ve played so far took place back at the start of the month at Landmark Americana in Glassboro.

“The energy was so high. And I mean, it was so high at Stone Pony, and I’ll never get that experience again, but there was something so much more personal and close with Landmark,” said Anthony Shields.

Turtles in Plaid’s EP can be found on streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.

The band’s next gig will be held at The Fallser Club in Philadelphia on Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 p.m.

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email arts@thewhitonline.com