For the Love of Rock
The thumping of drums. Lyrics carrying through the air. Bodies moving to the rhythm. The gig of AUBG’s Rock Jamming Club (RJC) took place in Bar All Stars on Nov. 28. It is one of the three main events that this music club has organized so far. The bands within the club were there to perform in front of a packed bar, full of their loyal fans, as well as those who want to get a taste of the university rock experience.
According to the official AUBG website, the Rock Jamming Club is a student club with amateur musicians and students willing to learn music and perform together. “I think this is a club where you can come with just the enthusiasm, without any knowledge,” says Oraz Kereibayev, a new member to the RJC club. “People around will teach you how to do it, just because they have been the same enthusiastic people. If you know how to play guitar, you can learn to play drums. If you know how to play drums, you can learn how to sing. There is always somebody who’s ready to teach you and practice with you.” The RJC also organizes annual concerts and gigs, as well as host collaborations with other clubs, such as the AUBG Dance Crew.
Despite the difficulties they faced throughout the organization process, RJC managed to stick to their musical madness and deliver what their loyal fans expected of them. “It turned out pretty nice,” says Lyuben Zarev, the president of the RJC club. “Even though there were three more events happening at the same time, at the same day, we managed to get our usual audience, who, pretty much, always come and support us.”
Much like any other event, this one had its ups and downs as well. However, despite the difficulties they faced, the RJC still managed to fight through them and perform smoothly. “There were a few major issues with the organizing of the event,” said Zarev, explaining that the event was originally supposed to take place in Club Underground that Thursday, on Thanksgiving. He continued by saying how they had spoken to one of the managers and got the green light for the event. However, not long after, they were contacted again and their organization process had to start all over again, after being informed that the other owners had already planned something else. “It was kind of a bummer because we’ve done Underground gigs for four or five semesters already, so it’s a thing. And it always end up fun, people hang around and we play.”
Then the club began thinking of alternative venues to not have to cancel their event altogether. That is how they came to the decision of doing it in bar All Stars. “We spoke to the owners there and it ended up pretty cool, we still got the audience.” Zarev finished by saying how he had never seen the bar so full of people before.
This gig was one of the many yet to come. One of their upcoming events, expected at the end of February, will be another gig, in which the freshmen who joined the club will have the chance to perform the songs they had complied, which had not been performed during this gig. Their biggest performance would be the Spring Festival, in the middle of April. That will combine everything that the club has done, with performances of all the bands within RJC. Just like the year prior, this event will be outside, about two and a half hours long, as planned for the moment.
…..
Emili Timcheva is a sophomore at AUBG, studying political science. She’s always had a love for rock music and plays the guitar.
