Tom Rothgery, vice president of AROUSE and Alea Doronsky, president. Credit: Juliana Hilton | Lantern Reporter
AROUSE, the student radio club at Ohio State, will host a Welcome Back Show Saturday night, showcasing local Columbus-based bands and welcoming students to the local music scene.
Located at 103 E. Patterson Ave., the Welcome Back Show doors will open at 7 p.m. and music will begin at 8 p.m., according to AROUSE’s Instagram. The club will feature local bands — such as A Band Called Dreamland, Ran in on Annie, Cellar Dwellar, Andy Sipe & the Squeeze and MUDD.
Tom Rothgery, a fifth-year in plant management and vice president of AROUSE, said the show will spotlight both well-known and newer bands in the Columbus music scene.
“We figured we want to draw people in that have been around a while because it is a Welcome Back Show,” Rothgery said. “But, we also wanted to have younger bands that I hadn’t heard of that approached us at our first meeting or at the involvement fair.”
Alea Doronsky, a fourth-year in fashion and retail studies and president of AROUSE, said she expects this show to have a fairly large turnout, as the club sold 500-600 tickets for last year’s Welcome Back Show.
“Most people there I didn’t even know — I’ve never seen in my life — it’s fantastic,” Doronsky said. “I feel like with promotion, and the bands are doing a lot of that as well, and so we’re expecting it to be pretty big this year.”
Doronsky said there is only a cover fee of $5 that goes toward the venue host, party supplies and the bands.
“I think it’s important, especially with artists in general, to try to pay them for their time and energy because, it’s just, I don’t think it’s done enough,” Doronsky said. “I feel like that’s, you know, we take for granted, and you want to support your friends, and we’re all students.”
Rothgery said when he played in bands, AROUSE provided him a space to meet potential bandmates in a welcoming and safe environment. He said he wanted to provide the same energy to up-and-coming artists by giving them the same opportunities he had.
“The first band that I really took seriously formed through AROUSE, and AROUSE shows are pretty much the only ones that I could get at first because it’s such a welcoming space, and it’s geared towards people that are just starting out and are new to the scene,” Rothgery said. “I wanted to pay that forward as well because I could fill the lineup with my friends, but I want some people I’ve never heard of to be a part of it too, so they can get established and seen.”
Vince Thompson, a fourth-year in marketing and lead singer for MUDD, said he has a few friends involved in AROUSE, which is how he got MUDD in the Welcome Back Show. Thompson said MUDD was created four months ago, and their first show was July 29.
“They kind of brought us up in the meeting and kind of got us in on it, and then Tom reached out to us. He was like, ‘Yo, if you guys want to be in this show, here’s the details,’ and then we were in,” Thompson said.
Nick Grover, a 2022 Ohio State graduate and drummer for MUDD, said he is excited for the band to play in the show because it gives them a chance to get feedback on some of their original music.
“We come, we play it, it’s not on Spotify yet, and we are playing it, and we’re seeing how they react because, you know, people there are avid enjoyers of local music,” Grover said. “So, when we show them our original, it’s an opportunity to see how they take it and also build a little bit of hype.”
Thompson said the band is excited to play this show, as it will have the biggest crowd they’ve performed for, and they are planning on playing two new songs.
Rothgery said he hopes everyone that attends the show gets something out of the experience because he wants it to be a place where people form new connections.
“I hope the bands make some money and have fun, I hope the attendees have some fun and I hope there’s new, younger people or just people that haven’t been aware of any of this, find something new that they like and want to stick around,” Rothgery said.
