ARTS FISHING CLUB RETURNS TO CAMPUS, LARGE EVENT ANNOUNCED

ABIGAIL DENAULT, KNIGHT WIRE STUDENT MANAGER

The campus lawn was filled Sept. 9 with the indie folk rock musical stylings of Arts Fishing Club, which made their third appearance at Wartburg College.

Over forty students who were in attendance saw several sets of the band, including a surprise new single.

As one of the year’s first by Entertainment ToKnight, the event introduced incoming students to the campus programming they can expect from the organization.

Sidney Gerlach, a first-year student attended the event.

“To be honest, for our IS 101 class, we have a passport thing that we have to do. I figured tonight would be a good night to do it,” Gerlach said.

For other more seasoned students, the performance was not their first-time hearing Arts Fishing Club. Arinda Barthel, a fourth-year and vice president of ETK, said she enjoyed the times the group has been on campus.

“They’re just the best. They are super easy to work with, and their music is a great outdoor show. We’re all just obsessed with them, they are so fun to work with,” Barthel said.

Barthel said she would love to see 200 students come for the event.

The show that followed involved a variety of songs by the band. Arts Fishing Club interacted with the crowd and created a show with influences of folk, indie, and alt-rock.

There were popular songs like “Tupelo Honey,” where the crowd sang along with the direction of lead singer Christopher Kessenich.

Audience members were surprised at the end of the set with the new song from the band’s upcoming album called “bad=woman=bad.” The song was released on Spotify, where the band has 52,383 monthly listeners as of Sept. 9.

After the concert, Kessenich talked about the new release and the inspiration for the song.

“We are releasing a whole record right now, so we only have one song that is already out from the whole record. It is a break-up and kind of life record about the ups and downs of a relationship. That song, ‘bad=woman=bad,’ is about a moment where I got a call from her, and I just had a moment after hanging up where I was like, ‘man she’s such a bada**.’ I just love when you are really kind of fired up about a person, and that is what that song is all about. It is kind of like a love song, but an aggressive passionate love song in a way,” Kessenich said.

“Honestly, we’re just making the music that comes out, not even necessarily that we were trying to do something crazy different. It is just a different energy that came out,” Kessenich said.

He said the band would return to Wartburg.

“Yeah, we love it here! You keep inviting us back. We’ll definitely keep coming back. It’s amazing. Everyone here is so kind, and it is a blast every time,” Kessenich said.

The singer also had advice for the students.

“Pursue whatever the hell they want to do. You all are so young. Like very, very young. I know parents lots of times are putting a lot of pressure to figure s*** out quick, and I’ll just say you got a lot of time.”

Students had the opportunity to meet the band, and among those were Ally Onstad and Abi O’Dell, both second-years.

“It was so good. I saw that on Spotify as I was checking it. I was like ‘Oh, they have a new song.’ I didn’t realize it was today. I think it might have been my favorite one, too,” Onstad said.

The pair also shared their experience at the concert.

“The music was a lot better than I had expected. They were really fun to watch, and they, you know, slayed,” O’Dell said.

“It was a lot of fun. I didn’t want to come because I was having a bad day, but then I came and I was having a great day,” Onstad said.

ETK also announced their large event artist for the year Tai Verdes. He will be performing in Levick Arena on Saturday, Oct. 8. Doors will open at 7 p.m., with opening act Running Lights taking the stage at 8 p.m. Verdes, singer of “A-O-K” and “Stuck in the Middle,” will begin at 9 p.m. Students can purchase tickets now for $5.