This past Saturday, the Lyon’s Den came alive with the help of the Boston based feminist punk band Tomboy. Matched with a tab for students to enjoy and an appearance from Wheaton’s own student band, Mike’s Bakery, the night was a huge success.
Over the summer, Jordan Wolfe ’15, the President of Music Co-op, received an intriguing Facebook notification from Lena Sawyer ’15. The band Tomboy had posted a status that shared their interest in completing a college tour in the coming months and to contact them if interested. Sawyer tagged Wolfe in a comment that asked him to book the band for Wheaton. Wolfe emailed back and forth with the band to set up a performance at the Den.
“Because Tomboy is a feminist punk rock band, the Music Co-Op club and I decided it would be great to collaborate with the Feminist Association (FAW) of Wheaton to make it into an even bigger event,” Wolfe said.
Kate Gannon ’16, Co-President of FAW, remarked that everyone in FAW was very excited about Wolfe’s proposition and jumped on board by creating flyers and posting the event on social media. FAW also handed out condoms at the door. “FAW has been trying to explore other avenues of feminism through performance, art, and music. Last year, we brought Sister Outsider, which is a spoken word duo. We thought this band would be a great way to explore feminist messages in a really fun way. This is an easy and fun introduction to FAW that will hopefully allow new people to take something positive from feminism.”
Wolfe commented that this event is outside what the Music Co-Op club usually does, as they mostly focus on supporting student bands on campus. They dedicate their club time to providing rehearsal space for student musicians and putting on concerts.
As a member of a student band, Wolfe understands how important it is for students to explore their musical ability. Wolfe’s own band, Mike’s Bakery, certainly felt this on Saturday night. Wolfe formed the band in November of 2011 with Ryan Lloyd ’15 and Jeff Horn ’16, and in their fourth year together has rounded out the roster with Nick Elliot ’15. “This year, in particular, we are really strong. We’ve played on campus a bunch and at other schools, like UMass Amherst and Salem State University, so this is shaping to be a really big year for us.”
In the future, look forward to more events from both FAW and Music Co-Op. Their collaboration on this event was a great way to bring the campus together to celebrate good music and new forms of feminism, for as Gannon said, “feminism is about collaboration.”