By Liz Turner
SGA

Being involved with the SGA is an opportunity to be a part of the change that’s happening at Berklee. Members have the opportunity to help organize and run student events, connect with the administration, represent Berklee students on and off campus, and be a part of a high-energy group of motivated Berklee students. SGA members are also asked to represent the students by sitting on Berklee committees with staff and faculty dealing with issues about classes, orientation, events, and how tuition dollars are spent.

Executive Vice President
Preside over SGA meetings if the President cannot be present. Keep us aligned with the SGA constitution. Act as Berklee Club Liaison and oversee Ambassadors and other non-exec SGA members.

VP of Communications
Responsible for communications between the SGA and the students. In charge of Facebook, Twitter, Campus Cruiser, Groove, etc. Should also be aware of promotional methods around campus.

Ambassadors
Ambassadors for instrumental and major departments act as liaisons between the students and faculty/chair(s) of their respective department. They are tasked with staying connected with the students within that department as well as moderate a Town Hall meeting each semester facilitating an open discussion between the students and the administration regarding their major or instrumental department.

Positions Available:
Music Business Ambassador
Film Scoring Ambassador
Pro Music Ambassador
Jazz Composition
MP&E Ambassador 
Voice Ambassador
Piano Ambassador
Bass Ambassador
Guitar Ambassador
Brass Ambassador
Woodwinds Ambassador
Percussion Ambassador
Strings Ambassador      

Elections will take place on Campus Cruiser on Thursday Feb 25, any students running for one of the listed positions must fill out an application in the Student Activities Center by Monday Feb 22 by 5:00PM to be in the elections.

Here’s a handful of noteworthy artists and bands that have appeared on previous Heavy Rotation compilations.

Annie & The Beekeepers The Beekeepers and front woman Annie Lynch wowed the audience at the Dorm Sessions 5 release show in 2008, and has since made the move to New York building a strong fan base in the hip folk venues of the east coast. With two releases under their belt and having signed with Kate Landau Management, they have received much press and are to tour with “The Low Anthem” this spring.

Nathan Reich Nathan Reich’s elegant and poignant music has captivated audiences in Boston and New York. 2009 saw the release of his first full-length album, Arms Around a Ghost, and performances at New York’s CMJ festival. Currently, Nathan has been journeying through India and has been keeping up with friends and fans via Facebook.

Passion Pit (the Peasantry) Three members of the Peasantry (Vol. 5) went on to form electro-pop band Passion Pit which has become once of the biggest up and coming bands out of Boston going from the Great Scott to the House of Blues in the same year. Their songs have been used in television shows Big Love and Gossip Girl. The 2009 Boston Music Awards gave them with Best Act of the Year and Best Song of the Year awards.

Big D & The Kids Table A staple in the diet of Ska-Punk fans across the nation, Big D and the Kids Table rocked HRR’s Dorm Sessions 4 release. Playing on average 200 shows a year, they have made their home in venues such as the Paradise Rock Club and the Vans Warped Tour. They have also released six full-length albums and five EPs and have appeared on dozens of compilations.

The Click Five Appearing on Dorm Sessions Vol. 1, alternative rock band the Click Five has sold more than 350,000 copies of their debut album Greetings from the Imrie House which also took fifteenth place on the Billboard charts. They have been an opening act for artists such as Ashlee Simpson, The Backstreet Boys, and Alanis Morrissette. In 2008, they received the ‘knockout award’ at the MTV Asia Awards.

Nini+Ben Going strong with the release of their debut LP The Reasons We Try and a sold out album release show, Nini+Ben have been steadily building a loyal following. This elegant band formed just before last year’s Dorm Sessions show and from then on has been a strong staple in the Boston and New York music scene. Their album was produced by Rich Mendelson (The Cars, Boston, Paul Simon) at renowned Avatar Studio in Manhattan. They continue to tour the northeast and will be appearing at SXSW this spring.

WhiteShoeBrownShoe After shaking up the Heavy Rotation Records showcase last year, WhiteShoeBrownShoe went on a tear, playing show after dynamite show from NYC to Connecticut, to New Hampshire and back down.  Around November 2009 they decided to immortalize a few of their new hot licks on cold vinyl, so they shimmied up to Headroom Studios and had local legend Jason Laine guide the crafting of their new album, set to be released this spring.

Shea Rose After the Heavy Rotation show last year (literally days later),  Rose flew to Naples, Italy to record an album with Cindy Blackman and her production team. This soul-rocker woman is gearing up to release her self-produced EP Rock’n'Rose this spring and is featured in the February issue of Performer Magazine. She’s also the president of The Movement @ Berklee, a student-led volunteer initiative managed by the Office of Community & Governmental Affairs, which enables her to give back to her native Boston community.

Every band and artist on the new roster of Heavy Rotation Records sat down with BerkleeGroove.com to talk about their lives, music and dreams of success. Click on their name and picture to read their full interviews.

Danny, Elizabeth, and Pete. Photo by Peter Van Hattem.

By Zac Taylor
Managing Editor

 In the wake of Heavy Rotation’s 10^th Anniversary, it’s nice to know that indie-pop songsters Elizabeth and the Catapult, whose debut LP Taller Children is now a featured item at Barnes & Noble across the country, first appeared on Dorm Sessions Vol. 3. Elizabeth Ziman (keys and vocals), Pete Lalish (guitars) and Danny Molad (drums), have really been making a name for themselves with fans and critics alike. Not only has the record been getting rave reviews, so have their music videos for the record’s title track and the second single, “Race You.” The Catapult sat down with The Groove before their most recent Red Room appearance to talk shop on their record, creative mindsets, and making the big metropolis of New York feel like a Mr. Roger’s neighborhood.

Zac Taylor: Welcome back to Boston. You guys came from Brooklyn today?

Elizabeth Ziman: Yes. Yesterday we had a really eventful day. We did this really funny late night show for Fox, and then we did NPR, and Iggy Pop was on the same program. Then we had a show for housing work and raised $1,500 for homeless people with HIV. So that was literally a 24-hour period.

ZT: Wow, that’s quite a day in the life. How was Iggy Pop?

EZ: He was so sophisticated and sweet. He was the absolute opposite of how you would expect Iggy Pop to be like. He was like, ‘How are you? I’m so happy that you brought a string section—that’s so lovely!’

Danny Molad: I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Danny,’ and he was like, ‘Hi, I’m Iggy.’ And that was my exchange with him. He’s 62 years old, did you know that?

ZT: He looks good for 62. He must hit the gym. And the hair stylist probably. Did he have highlights?

Pete Lalish: He had beautiful highlights. A beautiful mane.

ZT: So you guys are back at Berklee—your home turf. How long has it been since you were here?

PL: We were here in 2004.

ZT: Is it fun coming back? Do you feel like hometown heroes at the alma mater?

PL: I’ve actually only been back to come here now and it’s a whole new school. It looks great.

DM: We definitely kept in touch with a lot of our classmates, play music with them, and we live in the same apartment complex.

EZ: We live with Via Audio, the Prigs, St. Vincent—everyone is in the same building. It’s like a Berklee dorm in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

ZT: How is rent there?

DM: Amazing.

EZ: It’s going to go up once we get it out on the Groove.

DM: The Groove is going to expose us and our secrets!

ZT: If you could go back in time and tell the Elizabeth, Pete and Dan from 2004 who were eating lunch at Crazy Dough’s and cramming for Ear Training tests some advice about the music industry, moving to New York, and some things to watch out for, what would you tell those youngsters?

EZ: In all seriousness, it would be to really trust your instinct as much as possible, because it’s going to be tested a lot. And the more of any kind of success you have, the more people are going to try to tell you what to do—the more you’re going to have to trust yourself. And even though it sounds like a self-help book, I think that’s the biggest thing.

PL: I’ll give advice that someone gave me in regards to New York. When I was a Berklee student, I told a teacher, ‘I think I’m going to leave school early and move to New York.’ He said, ‘Great. So what do you want, my blessing?’ But then he said, ‘So you’re going to move to New York? Well, there’s going to be a bunch of great musicians around. And there’s going to be a bunch of really bad musicians around. There you go.’

ZT: Ha!

PL: When you’re in school, you feel like you’re part of this group of amazing people. At the same time, you don’t have to be technically amazing or be in school forever to go and play music anywhere.

EZ: So Pete, you’re basically telling people to drop out of Berklee?

PL: Well, it really works for some people to stay, and it really works for some people to go. Either way, whether it’s two or four years, it’s a great time. But the best advice I had was that everyone outside of the school is doing it, good or bad, it’s still the same thing.

EZ: Yeah, just set your own rules.

DM: So much has happened in the industry in eight years, it’s insane. Coming to Berklee my freshman year, I would be going through a library of CDs, and then mp3s were sort of happening, but slowly. Then record stores started closing, and all of a sudden playing these summer festivals was like the thing to do.  Festivals have become this insane thing, where 40 amazing bands will be in this one city, and then they’ll be in this other city. And all these things adding up, and…I’m not sure where I’m going with this.

EZ: I think what you’re saying is that we started off with music being made for joy, and then it turned into a business, and then the business went out of business, and now we’re making music for joy again. Is that it?

DM: I guess it’s really you have to make your own path. Don’t listen to what anybody tells you. If you think you know what you’re doing, trust yourself, like Elizabeth said.

Read the full story

Design by Silvi Naci.

By Tommy Bohlen

HRR Director

 Heavy Rotation Records is bar none the coolest experience I’ve had at Berklee in regards to my Music Business major. One of the reasons Berklee is such an amazing place to be is that we may split our time between music and the trades that go along with it, giving us a strong potential to succeed in the music industry. For many of us music is our passion, our gift and our sanity in this world of immense possibility. When we enter the halls of Berklee we are making a strong commitment that this is going to be the road we set out on and follow through wherever it may lead. Taking our passion to the gates of reality is no easy feat in a world of survival, but from here on we shall be well equipped.

“Heavy Rotation Records is an established student run record label at Berklee.” But what is it really about? For over 10 years now, HRR has been giving students a two semester crash course on the fundamental aspects of a major recording company covering departments like A&R, Marketing, Touring/Promotion, and New Media. Members of the class get to take on roles in these departments and gain real experience for whatever field they may get into in the real world. The departments are overseen by two student co-directors and faculty advisor Jeffrey Dorenfeld to make sure things run smoothly and professionally.

 The main focus of the HRR staff is to release a compilation album of current Berklee artists entitled Dorm Sessions. 2010 marks the 7th installment of the album, which has previously featured notable artists such as Annie Clark (St. Vincent), the Click Five and Apollo Sunshine. The process starts every fall as the A&R teams brings in over 300 submissions from the Berklee community to be considered for the release. Usually only 6-9 spots are available on the album, which makes the selection process very difficult, but the listening is fun and hearing all the great music coming out of the school is a real treat. Once the finalists have been selected we create the album artwork, master the tracks and then prepare for the CD release concert at the BPC, which is held on February 10 this year. Running around town, yapping on the phone, attending countless meetings can run you dry, but the excitement around this project keeps us going strong with the mindset to do the best.

The BPC release show is an epic event. Every year it has been sold out and has recently showcased some incredible performances from groups like Nini+Ben, Re-Up, and Annie & the Beekeepers. The audience gets a solid and unique performance each time as the bands are put to the test in the 1,200 + seat venue. Every year gets a little more fun, and this year will be no exception.

The HRR staff’s job doesn’t end with the CD Release show. The marketing and new media groups help ensure the bands stay well known in the music community, and the touring group helps book shows for the bands. Often we get our artists to perform for industry giants, or as an act in a large festival. Each year HRR also sends their artists to perform at the renowned CMJ and SXSW music festivals. Keep an eye out for HRR in the musical world outside of Berklee, we get our name out there and this year will be no exception as great things are in store. 

See you at the BPC on Wednesday! 

Jeff Martineau 
Publicity Coordinator
Berklee Ice Cats

Due to losing some players to graduation and other reasons, the Ice Cats will be holding mid-season tryouts on Tuesday, January 26.

WHERE: SIMONI ICE RINK, 155 GORE ST. CAMBRIDGE, MA. (go to Lechemere stop on Green Line)

TIME: 10:30PM

CONTACT:
Jimmy Gately 781-710-1310:
Jeff Martineau 401-744-0553
icehockey@berklee.net

In order to tryout, you must contact someone above and give your name, semester level, position, and experience.

For more information, visit: http://www.berkleehockeyteam.com

Press Release Courtesy of Tommy Bohlen

The following artists will appear on Heavy Rotation Records’ Dorm Sessions: Volume 7. They will also perform at the BPC on February 10, 2010.

Ann Driscoll
Julia Easterlin
Liz Longely
KR
Black Kettle
Lip Tease
Tin Soldier
Jordan Tarrant
Tais Alvarenga