Student Bands Rock The U

By: Andrew Alquesta

Posted: 2/18/08

The Student Union crowds got a break from their regularly scheduled Late Night with a concert from student artists, hosted by on-campus label Husky Entertainment. Fallen Hero, The Supertones, and Mike Horn and the Method brought the rock in three separate ways, and by the end of the night, the audience was roaring with approval.

The show kicked off with Fallen Hero, a punk rock band from New Jersey. Their hard-rock style resonated with fans of the genre, and proved a pleasant surprise for everyone else. They played a number of songs off their new album, Tales of Mianus, including "Vacancy," "Full Circle," and "Iron Rain." Their cover of the Backstreet Boys "Larger than Life" was a crowd pleaser, given new life by an extended guitar solo. Another surprise was their rendition of a song from the TV show "Spongebob Squarepants."

Though the band continually apologized to the audience, there was no need, as their set attracted more and more spectators as the show continued.

The Supertones, who have developed a reputation and a following, as a rock/blues band, were up next. Their set included some original tunes as well as some covers of blues masters, including Howlin' Wolf and Elvis Presley. The set spanned The Spertones' existence, from their first song written, "Gone Tomorrow," and their most recent, "Takes One to Know One," which featured a riff from the blues classic "Green Onions."

The set started off in typical blues style with "Done Bein' Nice" and closed with their signature crowd pleaser "Hot Sauce."

The final band of the night was "Mike Horn and the Method," whose performance was the climax of the show. Their set was mostly comprised of songs from their album "Between the Borders", including "Love Go Down," "Time Stolen," and "Don't Let the Words Leave This Room," played as a blues dedication to The Supertones.

Horn promised to "bring the good," and that he did with his final song "Champagne Supernova," originally by Oasis, which garnered a final standing ovation from the crowd.

The following night, Horn traveled to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to represent UConn in a battle of the bands competition. Though they did not win the grand prize, "We sold a ton of CDs and continue to make a name for ourselves," said Horn.

Audience reaction to the concert was all smiles and cheers. "The amount of talent on stage during this show was amazing. I've seen The Supertones before, and they're always great. I was really impressed with how good the other bands were too."

According to Husky Entertainment Vice President Molly Sardella, the three bands in the concert were chosen for their variety. "The bands are all very different, but they should mesh well and really showcase the talent of UConn students," Sardella said.

Husky Entertainment is a student-headed UConn record label that promotes student artists in different genres of music. Two of the bands, Fallen Hero and Mike Horn and the Method, have cut CDs with Husky Entertainment.

The label was located on the UConn Stamford campus for two years before moving to Storrs. To date, they have released four albums, and are looking to put on more concerts like this one in the future.

"Our next step is to become a company, that is, our own entity within the university," said president and CEO Gonzalo Magan. "It's a difficult step because the organization is all student-run, but I have faith."

Contact Andrew Alquesta at

Andrew.Alquesta@UConn.edu.