Ella Mitchell, Photography Editor
Despite the rainy weather overtaking the sky during this year’s Sewaneroo, the event was still quite a hit. For student Mohana Buckley (C ‘27), playing Sewaneroo has been an item on her bucket list that is finally coming to fruition this year.
Holed up in a practice room in the basement of Guerry Hall, Buckley has built both a group and a sound unique to Sewanee. In a cramped corner of the tiny practice room, The Sewanee Purple had the opportunity to sit in on one of the group’s final rehearsals before the big day. In true rockstar fashion, each band member was progressively running later and later as the time ticked on, which offered up some one-on-one time to ask Buckley a few questions. As she tuned up her acoustic guitar from an app on her phone, she took the time to talk about how her band came to be.
Because the band was created solely for the purpose of performing at Sewaneroo, The Sewanee Purple had to know why this dream was so big for the budding artist, and she was happy to explain why: “I watched it my first two years here as a freshman and sophomore and thought it was a great excuse to get together with friends and listen to a bunch of live music. That doesn’t really happen at Sewanee, you know? Yes, there are bands at the frats but it was just nice to hear from people in the community, as well as artists that we wouldn’t normally get exposed to as the headliner. I just thought it would be so much fun to do that as well.
Buckley continued, “I started thinking about when I was abroad: if I had the opportunity, what could I put together? What songs would be fun to play that people would like? Some songs people would know, others would just be cool to put together on stage, and some of my originals. Then I got back here and just hit the ground running and started reaching out to my people and figuring out how to get the show on the road.”
As Buckley’s bandmates slowly started to trickle in and set up in the other corners of the small room, she gave a quick run down of how she was able to recruit her band. She started with a humble brag that emphasizes just how interconnected the music department is at Sewanee: “Well, I happen to be friends with quite a few musicians at Sewanee. So I started by talking to the people I’m already connected to.”
Buckley then introduced Pete Haight (C ‘24), an alumni and member of previously covered band Jettison. Obviously a big personality within the group, he brought in his equipment and the energetic banter between Buckley and Haight began. The connection between the pair was evident as Buckley mentioned how one of her originals drew on an uncomfortable situation with a guy and Haight jokingly sang a poor rendition of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild.”
“Pete is a graduate, but he lives in the area and is currently in Nashville ‘gigging out,’ so I figured he would be a great person to contact for lead guitar,” she explained. “I also play guitar, but I want someone who’s more so holding down the fort with the guitar parts and the riffs and everything.”
Buckley then talked about Graham Nystrom (C ‘26) who plays keys for the band: “I reached out to Graham, who’s a music major and a talented jazz musician. I asked if he would be willing to play the set and he very graciously was like, ‘yeah for sure.’ So I got him to learn the music.”
Drummer Rob Adams (C ‘29) brought in a calm, kind energy to the rehearsal that helped to balance out the personalities within the group. Buckley introduced him as a classmate of hers, “Rob is in one of my music classes—shout out music theory 160. So I asked him as well if he could play drums on the set.”
Lastly, Buckley introduced her background vocalist Natalie Turnage (C ‘27) who also brought in a serene presence to the group: “Natalie and I were in the musical together last fall and I adore her voice. That’s why I asked her to sing background vocals with me. She was the first person that I asked, I think. I was abroad and asked her to do Sewaneroo together, and she said yes. And then when I got back here, I got the rest of the band.”
Before the band started up their rehearsal, Buckley was asked if she was nervous, excited, or all of the above for the group’s first live performance at Sewanaroo the upcoming weekend. She looked up from her guitar with a smile and said, “Yes, all of the above. I’m really excited because I’ve been looking forward to it for so long. I’m also a little nervous because obviously anytime you perform publicly as an artist you worry about how you’re perceived, so I’m just hoping that the people here like the songs I chose and that I get some good feedback from the crowd.”
When the band was finally settled and tuned up, they started the familiar sounds of the iconic Cranberries hit “Dreams,” the opener for their set. All incredibly talented musicians–“The Arc Angels” as Buckley has named them–created a sound reminiscent of a coming-of-age movie, complete with the trope of a budding rock band rehearsing in a basement.
The set list progressed on to another cover song, “The Hand” by Annabelle Dinda, and then to one of Buckley’s original pieces, “One of Those Things” which has a sound mixed between indie and pop that fits in nicely with the rest of her set list that also includes covers like “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse, and “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac.
With rain clouds threatening to dash Buckley’s Sewaneroo dreams, she continued to hold her head up high throughout the ever changing schedules of Sewaneroo Saturday in hopes that the band’s hard work would be rewarded by performing on the Georgia Avenue stage.
Unfortunately the event was cancelled as the band grabbed their instruments to set up, so the group will never know what it felt like to play Sewanee’s spin off of Bonnaroo, at least not this time. Here’s to hoping “The Arc Angels” will have the chance to make their debut on Sewanee’s campus elsewhere in the coming weeks.