On Friday night, downtown Lansing was alive with the passion and thumping beats of the finalists in the tenth annual Homegrown Throwdown event, hosted this year by The Loft. The six finalists, who began their journey with 18 other bands, each played a 25-minute set that consisted of original songs and one cover song.
Local judges gave live feedback to each band after their performances, American Idol style.
“We try to pick bands that are local, talented and will bring a diverse sound to the event,” The Loft’s booking and promotions coordinator Lauren Godlesky said.
The sounds thumping through The Loft certainly didn’t lack for any diversity. The Jonestown Crows, who took home first place, describe themselves as “Progressive Doom-Grass/Gothic Americana.” Second place winners were Damn Van Cannibals, a rock-blues band. Funk rock band Chief Larson and the Fire Puppets grabbed third place.
The Fire Puppets was the only band of these final six made up primarily of MSU students. Band members include lead singer Daniel Birkholz, media and information senior Colin Knighton on guitar and vocals, philosophy senior Timothy Matsamakis on bass and vocals, mechanical engineering senior Daniel Seiderman on drums, keyboards, guitar and auxiliary vocals and no preference sophomore Niko Matsamakis on guitar and vocals.
Matsamakis said the Fire Puppets began their musical journey several years ago with Knighton, Seiderman and himself just by hanging out and “jamming for fun.”
“I asked Dan if he wanted to try singing and rapping and dancing with us, and it clicked even deeper,” Matsamakis said. “Then we added Niko to the mix, and ever since, we’ve been clicking left and right and all over the place.”
Since their christening as Chief Larson and the Fire Puppets, the band has become more and more theatrical. Birkholz said he is always looking for unique ways to excite the crowd, ranging from goofy costumes to using props. For their Homegrown Throwdown performance, the band chose to throw bananas into the audience, with Birkholz even gnawing on one as he sang.
“I think about performing every day and get little ideas of things we can do at certain moments to make our show more theatrical, dramatic, comedic and memorable,” he said.
The band felt especially confident about their performance Friday night.
“We really funked it up,” Birkholz said. “We felt our chances of winning were pretty good since we play tight, have a dynamic sound, and do wild shit on stage.”
Although third place wasn’t exactly the prize they were hoping for, Birkholz said the band hasn’t been discouraged.
“We put all our faith in the Chief and find the best in everything,” he said.
