Written by Kellee A Dejbakhsh
The stage was set, the lights were on, and the band was getting ready to go on when a Public Safety officer walked in to the Reynolds Recital Hall Friday night to inform everyone they would need to take cover in the halls of the building because a tornado warning had been issued.
Some bands may have been detoured by this turn of events, but Giraffe Attack, a student band, rolled with the stormy punches. They took advantage of the time in the hallway and decided to carry on with the concert.
“Public Safety had alerted us about the weather right before UFO Reel (another student band) went on stage, so we had some time to prepare a plan,” band member Ben Cormier said. “When it came time to evacuate, we made sure everyone was in a safe place, and then performed a small acoustic set in the hallway.”
Giraffe Attack has been together since October 2009. The band is comprised of Nick Dean on saxophone; Taylor Morse on trumpet; Lane Kirkham on drums; Ben Adams of bass guitar; and Cormier, a singer, songwriter, and guitarist.
“Nick, Tyler, Lane and Ben are some of the best musicians at this school, and I am the luckiest man at Harding because I get to create music with them,” Cormier said of his band mates.
The band’s goal, he said, is to create music that makes people feel good no matter what they might be going through at the time. Cormier and his band mates met by chance on Harding’s campus.
One day, Cormier and Dean played together, and then Dean called some of his friends who eventually completed the band. For the last several months they have been creating music and playing small gigs.
Friday’s performance in the Reynolds auditorium was the big show they hoped to perform for their friends, Cormier said. But the weather had other plans.
Giraffe Attack has rescheduled their concert and will open for Midnight Trio Tuesday at 9 p.m. at Midnight Oil.
So far, Tuesday’s forecast is clear.
