BandSoc @ FAB Fest 2022

On the 20th of May, Warwick hosted FAB fest – a fun, family-oriented event that took place to celebrate the opening of the Faculty of Arts Building. If you haven’t seen the building yet, it’s worth having a look – it’s beautifully designed and I really enjoy taking all my classes there. There were many different activities you could take part in during the day, and it seemed like  a lot of people in the community enjoyed the festival. 

Mine Oweh already wrote a great blog post about her experiences at the festival, and you can read it here: https://our.warwick.ac.uk/fab-fest-flashbacks/

But in this post, I wanted to talk specifically about the stage run by Warwick Band Society, where I played with my band.

While all the various activities were taking place (here is a list) https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/news/fabfest/activityschedule/, the University’s very own bands were playing from around 12:30pm until 9pm. There were performances by Lemongrass, Sunny Side Down, Femicide, Feed the Mammoth, Mortis, Red Lamp, Juliet’s Control, Deadlinescape, and Ed Webster. You can find all of these bands on various social media; they are all really talented and there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Each band has varying levels of experience (some do more gigs than others, some have only recently formed), but they all sounded amazing, and it’s really nice to see how much more confident everyone is becoming. 

In my opinion, it’s very important to give local bands a platform, and celebrate their connection with the University, and so FAB fest was a fantastic opportunity to showcase Warwick’s musical talent. It’s also really helpful as a band to be able to get more experience playing gigs without the pressure and stress of huge crowds, or impatient venues who expect perfection from a set and won’t give unknown artists a chance. 

My band, Femicide, formed early this year. We competed in Battle of the Bands and have a couple of gigs lined up in the next few days. If you would be interested in coming along, check our Instagram page: @femicideband 

Our name refers to the global problem of violence against women, also spreading awareness of this issue through our lyrics. All of us in the band are in different years, do different courses, and are from different places, but music is what brings us together. Playing music is a fantastic way to connect with people and express yourself. Many artists have commented on real world issues through protest songs like Zombie by the Cranberries, This is America by Childish Gambino, and Nelson Mandela by The Specials (Coventry’s own!). 

If you play an instrument, I’d really recommend joining Band Society and finding people to play music with. You can do covers, originals, any style you want. Everyone is really welcoming and there are plenty of opportunities to perform. Even if you don’t play an instrument, it’s the perfect time to learn, because there are other beginners as well. When I first joined the society, I wasn’t that good at bass guitar, but practising with my friends gave me more motivation to get better. 

Despite the heavens opening just after Femicide played, the last few bands were able to keep the crowd entertained with some really exciting and polished performances. I was very pleased because my grandma, mum, and brothers also came to watch, and it felt really good to show them what I’ve been working on these past six months or so. It was a great day and I felt very proud to represent Bandsoc and Warwick, and hopefully there will be similar opportunities in the future.

Challenge: Do you play a musical instrument? If not, which instrument would you like to learn?