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‘Badverb’ ready to rock Richter lot on Spring Weekend

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  By Emma Zaremba

Features Editor

      After a long year, it’s time to pump up the volume and let loose.

    Spring Weekend, the highly anticipated end-of-the-year celebration, will arrive in just a couple weeks. The kickball tournament and weekend-long festivities are usually enough to get students amped up, but this year, the two-man DJ team, Badverb, hopes to bring the crowd to an entirely new level.

      Mike Connery and Dylan Beyer, Badverb members, will take the stage on Saturday, April 26 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

   Sophomore journalism and mass communication major and Campus Activities Board (CAB) member Jasmine Foster explained where she met Badverb and why they were selected to perform.

    “We found them at the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) festival,” Foster said. “We thought they would be a great addition to Spring Weekend because of the way they captured the audience.”

Foster said she believes Badverb should be a suitable fit for Spring Weekend and all students at Bonaventure.

    “They are a great compromise because they’re a DJ duo, but they’re interactive,” Foster said. “I think students will enjoy their music because it appeals to a wide range of people.

     Although CAB has a restricted budget, the two-man duo has experience that is sure to impress the audience, according to Foster.

    “They have opened for artists like Big Sean and Drake,” she said. “We (CAB) felt that Badverb would ultimately be our best bet for a performance at spring weekend.”

    Connery explained that college performances are nothing new for the duo.

“We have played numerous college shows ranging from large concerts to fraternities and off-campus parties,” Connery said. “Some we have played at includes University of Florida, Syracuse University, SUNY Brockport, Bard College, Stony Brook University and the University of Vermont.”
The colleges they have performed for have ranged from groups as small as 50 people to groups as large as 4,000, according to Connery.
“We love college shows,” Connery said. “The crowd is generally really into it, and we all have a good time.”
Connery shared that this type of venue is typical for the two DJs.
“Our primary venues are colleges and clubs,” Connery said. “Those two generally are the best fit for our genre of music and where we can really get the crowd going.”
While Jersey City is home to Badverb now, Connery and Beyer are originally from Westchester, N.Y. where they started their careers together at a young age, according to Connery.
“We started a punk band together back in the eighth grade that continued throughout high school,” he said. “Once we went off to separate colleges, dance music became the best way to keep producing from a distance.”
The name Badverb has a few different meanings to Connery, all of which represent the image the DJs strive to create.
“One reason (we chose Badverb) is that the word represents something you probably shouldn’t do,” Connery said. “Bad verb could mean a bad action or saying a bad word.
It is open to interpretation, but it is about doing what we want. Also, (it was chosen for its) search engine optimization.”
While they enjoy the venues and crowds they play for, Badverb hopes to expand their touring experience in the future.
“We want to continue playing colleges and clubs on the East Coast and then get on the festival circuit in a few years,” Connery said. “We are also looking to do a track with a major hip-hop artist.”
The Badverb members, previously in a hardcore band, pride themselves on their high-energy performances.
“We like jumping around in excessive amounts,” Connery said. “You will be shocked how much we move around. We like to see how much we can get the crowd into what we are doing. We also like using the words ‘bacon, egg and cheese’ during sound checks.”
 Rick Ross, Bring Me the Horizon, Nero, Dada Life and Raffi influence the pair, according to Connery, but most of their inspiration stems from somewhere else.
“Living life to the fullest (inspires us to perform),” Connery said. “The goal and dream is that as we keep going, we will get to share our music and meet more and more people. To us, there is nothing cooler than having your music be the party starter.”
When asked what they hope people take away from their performances, Connery responded quickly.
“(We hope people take away) sweaty clothes, exhaustion and good memories,” he said.

zarembek11@bonaventure.edu 

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