Ski Haus had an event Wednesday in which friends and supporters watched a screening of band, Blast Radius, with Tim Beaty on the drums performing his last show at Studio A. The screening ended with an interview with the band. 

While aggressively animated on stage, Beaty sat on the couch quietly and motionless throughout the interview. Fellow band members John Carvell and Ygak spoke for most of the interview, describing their style as influenced by guitarists like Jimi Hendrix, band MC5 and The Stooges.

Their performance resonated a more traditional rock structure which contrasts the typical rugged punk song. Yet, the band effectively produces the same energy of even the most intense punk show.

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After the screening, local and national bands played an ensemble of music. Performers included Oliver Priddy, Lonely Suit, Sister Helen, Mukdukn and Pigeon. 

Sister Helen, a nationally touring band visiting from Brooklyn, New York, was one of the more experienced performers. Their most recent lineup has been playing together for seven years. Carbondale is one of their stops on their 12-town tour. 

“We played in places like St. Louis, Cincinnati and, when we mentioned we were also playing in Carbondale, I was surprised that people from all over really knew about the music scene down here.” said singer Nathan Campbell.

Priddy, also member of the band Pigeon, provided a tranquil transition from Blast Radius’ performance. He played a short ensemble of acoustic and vocal music.

After four songs, electronic one-man band, Lonely Suit, took the stage. Equipped with an electric guitar, a keyboard, MacBook, an unidentifiable mixing box, his own warped voice, and a touch screen synthesizer that looks more like a video game than music equipment, Lonely Suit completely changed the tone with his unexplainable style of music.

Lonely Suit, originally from Marion, considers Tim Beaty as one of his main influences in pursuing music in southern Illinois. While playing music extensively for over fifteen years he simply describes it as “mostly improvised experimental pop,” said Lonely Suit.

His use of live instrumentation to create such a unique electronic sound provided for a more personal show since every set list is different than the last, further pushing not only his boundaries through improvisation, but the boundaries of music as a whole.

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“I love that they play more than just punk and that ends up introducing all people to a whole variety of music,” said an anonymous attendee. 

Jose Perez can be reached at [email protected] or 618-536-3325.