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MSU alumni return to play Homecoming show

October 17, 2011

On Friday, a former MSU football player will return to East Lansing for the Homecoming weekend — but not to watch the sport he spent four years playing. Matthew Haughey is coming back to play some rock ‘n’ roll.

“It’s going to be fun because it’s going to give me the cool opportunity to have everybody back (with me in the Lansing area) but to show them a different side of me they never really saw at school,” the MSU alumnus said.

Haughey’s band, Hero Jr. — which he describes as sounding like Kings of Leon meets Nirvana — will be performing at 9 p.m. at Mac’s Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing. The group will share the stage with punk rock act Dryvel, which also has two MSU alumni in its makeup.

“(You) can’t go wrong with having a show in a college town with all your friends there,” said MSU alumnus Robert Grupido, who sings and plays guitar in Dryvel. “People come back and try to relive the college experience for a night.”

Dryvel was formed while its members were in high school, but it wasn’t until they were students at MSU in 2004 that they seriously started playing shows, said Dryvel drummer and booking agent Matt Marriott, who also is an MSU alumnus. And this weekend, when they return for their performance at Mac’s Bar, Dryvel is returning to its roots.

“Mac’s Bar was one of the first bars to give us the chance to play live,” Marriott said.

Creating music while attending school added to the enjoyment of the college experience, Marriott said.

“Having fun going to classes, getting your degree, going to sports (events),” he said, “It’s fun to go to shows, but the view from the stage is more fun.”

Since graduating in 2006 and moving back home to members’ hometown of Lake Orion, Mich., Marriott and the band have been working on writing songs, creating an album and touring the Midwest.

Hero Jr. was formed in 2010, after Haughey graduated from MSU with a degree in kinesiology.
Before attending college, Haughey had a history of playing music. While in high school, he and his brother, who now performs lead guitar and vocals in Hero Jr., were part of another band.

But after becoming a place kicker on MSU’s football team, it already was hard to balance being a student and an athlete, so Haughey said he put his passion for playing the drums on hold.

“During college I was doing the whole football thing, and I would tell people about my past music career,” he said. “Now playing in a band, I tell people I played football at Michigan State, and they don’t believe me.”

Upon graduation, Haughey realized he wanted to play music again and try his hand at a career in performing. So he moved to Indianapolis, Ind., and soon helped to form Hero Jr., for which he is the drummer and backup vocalist.

Haughey said he is excited to return to the Lansing area on Friday to show his college friends his other passion.

“Obviously they saw me playing a lot of football,” he said. “Now (I) will be on a stage instead. It’s just a different type of stage, you could say.”

Dryvel also performed a show at Mac’s Bar on the day of 2010’s Homecoming game. Like last year, during this year’s homecoming weekend, members of Dryvel said they will be doing the things they did so often as MSU students — tailgating and participating in the homecoming festivities, in addition to playing a show.

Members of Dryvel and Hero Jr. promise Friday’s show will be high-energy and include a variety of sounds.

“Any place we can play and just bring people (together) is always a good time,” Grupido said. “We’re hoping to make (this show) a tradition.”

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