Sweet Talk opens for Magic!
Student band wows USD at Homecoming concert this past weekend
TAYLER REVIERE VERNINAS
CONTRIBUTOR
The 2014 Torero Homecoming Weekend was a memorable event as always for USD students and their families this past weekend. The Torero Program Board put their best foot forward in making the Spirit Week events leading up to the anticipated Homecoming Weekend a success.
The annual on-campus concert featured the headlining band, Magic! with a guest appearance from Us the Duo. However, these two groups of talented musicians were not the only artists on stage impressing the audience at the Big Blue Bash.
There was much talk about the talented, young artists in the band who opened up for Magic!. The band members included current USD students Miles Mitchell, Aaron Miller, Julian Carmichael, and Holiday Coles as well as fellow San Diego musicians Julian Vaklinov and Noah Sherwin.
The band, Sweet Talk, rocked out to original songs About Me About You and Phantom City, both created by lead singer, Miles Mitchell, as well as Life at Sea which was co-written by Mitchell and Carmichael.
They also played a few covers of songs, such as “Snow (Hey Oh)” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Yellow” by Coldplay, “High and Dry” by Radiohead, and “Wicked Games” by The Weeknd, adding a unique style of their own.
Hundreds of USD students and family members danced, clapped, and sang along to the catchy, indie rock musical performance. Freshman, Ian Cruz was one of the many excited members of the audience who enjoyed every aspect of the Big Blue Bash concert.
“The band was very interactive with the crowd and brought a lot of energy,” Cruz said. “It was such a professional performance that I think Magic! should have been the opening band for Sweet Talk.”
The months leading up to the performance were filled with hard-work and dedication from the band, Sweet Talk. The group first came together around the beginning of the school year.
Mitchell was given the opportunity to perform for Homecoming and sought out help from his fellow friends and roommates, hoping they would be interested in playing for the gig. Guitarist, Aaron Miller, was at first hesitant to agree to the performance because of the immense amount of school work he would have that week before.
“Of course I agreed to it because it was such a cool opportunity,” Miller said. “To be in the same show as a band that is as widely known as Magic! is pretty awesome!”
However, it was a struggle for the band to find time in their schedules for practice and when they did, they were constantly restricted by police intervention as a result of noise complaints. This caused unease amongst the band members especially Mitchell, who was concerned for the upcoming concert.
“Majority of our productive practices took place within the two weeks prior to the event,” Mitchell said. “There was a lot of improvisation that occurred during the set, but we still managed to impress the crowd with our spontaneity!”
Although Sweet Talk has only been practicing together as a group for the last several weeks, the phenomenal performance did not show it. Mitchell shares his excitement for his most memorable musical experience yet.
“It was the biggest production I have ever performed for and the biggest stage I have ever performed on,” Mitchell said. “As the opening band, I did not expect the crowd to be so energetic and participate as much as they did.”
The electrifying feeling of the crowd’s energy made all of those long hours and difficult nights worth every moment of the live performance.
Although live performance as a collective group will be scarce in the near future, the band hopes to record some of the original songs they performed that night.