To investigate Kansas City’s music scene, the Dart decided to talk to a few local bands who shared some information about themselves, their music and their hometown. Here’s what these local music artists want you to know about them. Be sure to check the performance listings–some of them are performing around the area soon!

Band: She’s A Keeper [Fritz Hutchinson]

Members:

Colin Nelson: guitar and vocals

Zac Jurden: guitar and vocals

Fritz Hutchinson: drums, bass, banjo, vocals

Kate Sopcich: cello, keyboards

Genre: folk rock

Relation to STA: She’s A Keeper is made up of local teens and has a large following of STA students.

Q&A:

1. When did you start the band and why?

Zac and Colin have been playing together since like 7th grade. I joined up with them a little over a year ago and Kate joined a few months after. Why? Why not?

2. Have you had any performances? When and where? How was crowd response?

We’ve played at several area bars over the past year, such as the Gaf in Waldo and Mike’s Tavern on Troost. Crowd responses have been great. we have a decent following of young high school kids but have also appealed to an older audience lately as well.

3. Are you performing any time in the next couple of months?

We’re playing at the RecordBar sometime next month. It’s grad party season, so we’re doing a bunch of private events and such. We’re also playing at the St. Julian hotel in Boulder, Colorado in July.

4. What is your favorite part of being in a band? Do you have a favorite song or album that you have produced?

My favorite part of being in this band is the way that we can collaborate with our different individual styles and create something seamless and whole with them.

5. Has living in Kansas City affected your music?

Kansas City has been a great town for us, both because we are lucky enough to have been brought up in such a supportive community and also for the great musical tradition of the area. For me, the combination of jazz/blues and Irish folk history was a great environment for a musical upbringing that in my opinion definitely comes out in our music.

6. Where do you see yourselves in the future?

We all definitely want to pursue a career in music in some way or another, mostly because we don’t care about much of anything else.

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Band: Ssion [Cody Critcheloe]

Members: Cody Critcheloe and rotating cast

Genre: punk

Relation to STA: The band moved to Kansas City after it started and performs locally.

Student opinion: Senior Katie McCalla: Ssion! Pronounced “shun.” I love them! I think they’re a very unique band. Their music is different and really fun to dance to. They’re local so I’ve met them a few times, and they’re really chill people, which makes me enjoy the music even more.

Q&A

1. Give a brief description of Ssion and its members.

Ssion is a spearheaded collective that consists of a rotating cast of musicians, artists and performers. It’s constantly mutating.

2. What is Ssion’s history?

I started the the band when I was 16 in Kentucky, which is where I’m from. It began as a typical punk rock band and has morphed into what it is now. The name comes from “pa-ssion,” “mi-ssion,” “transgre-ssion” etc. I liked the way it looked and how confusing it was.

3. Have you had any performances?

Ssion has been performing since the day it began. We have toured a lot and will continue to do so.

4. How would you describe your music?

Pop music that is punk at heart. Hole is my biggest musical inspiration.

5. What is your favorite part of being in SSION?

Ssion is just what i do. I love it and live it 100 percent.

My favorite album is the one I just finished. It’s called “BENT.”

My new favorite song is called “listen to the GRRRLS.”

8. Where do you see yourselves in the future?

Doing this but with more money and a better body.

Band: The Grisly Hand [Lauren Krum]

Members: Jimmy Fitzner, John Nichols, Chas Snyder, Ben Summers, Kian Byrne, Mike Tuley, Lauren Krum

Genre: Americana folk

Relation to STA: The band practices and performs locally, and member Lauren Krum is an STA alumna.

Student opinion: Junior Lorraine Sands: I have seen them play multiple times and I have their album, and I love their music. They are really unique and they stand out in the local KC music community. They could probably be categorized as kind of folky with country roots, or kind of Americana, but they are definitely one of a kind. They always play really fun and lively shows, and I’m always in the mood to listen to their music.

Upcoming performances:

Saturday Apr 23, 10 p.m., Ferenczi’s Bottomfeeder Bay (Warrensburg)

Friday May 6, 9:30 p.m., Davey’s Uptown Ramblers Club (KC)

Wednesday Jun 8, 6:10 p.m., Kauffman Stadium (KC)

Band: Evalyn Awake [Tyler Lyon]

Members:

Tyler Lyon: vocals and guitar

Josh Barber : bass

Rory Siercks: guitar and vocal harmonies

Nick Marshall: guitar and vocal harmonies

Trent Bickel: drums

Genre: rock

Relation to STA: The band is local and and performs in Kansas City.

Student opinion: Junior Miranda Green: “I really like their music, and I think they have great potential. I like the fact that they’re from Kansas City, and since I like rock music, I like their style. I’ve seen them in concert, and they’re really cool.”

Band: The Republic Tigers [Kenn Jankowski]

Members:

Kenn Jankowski: vocals, guitar

Adam McGill: guitar, vocals

Ryan Pinkston: guitar, piano

Marc Pepperman: bass

Justin Tricomi: drums

Genre: alternative rock

Relation to STA: started in Kansas City, music featured on Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Chuck, Supernatural, appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman

Band: InLike [Carly Atwood]

Members:

Casi McCall: Vocals

Wes Nelson: Guitar

Carly Atwood: Bass

Alec Nicholas: Drums

Genre: pop rock

Musical influences: Guns N’ Roses, Underoath, Pat Benatar, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Brand New

Relation to STA: The band is made up of local teens who know STA students. They opened for Arcade Fire at Starlight Theater yesterday.

Band: Cimino [Kyle Cimino]

Members:

Kyle Cimino: lead vocals, lead guitar

Trevor Brown: bass, background vocals

Sebastian Anderson: drums

Genre: rock

Relation to STA: The band members attend local high schools and perform around the area.

Q&A:

1. When did you begin your music career and why?

I suppose my music career started when I was nine years old. That year I was given an acoustic guitar as a gift from my dad. I had been heavily influenced by Bon Jovi, and my dad, who had played guitar for decades himself, taught me how to play “Wanted Dead or Alive.” I have been playing music ever since.

2. What are your musical skills?

I started out as a guitarist. I practiced for hours until I was good enough to play with other people from my school in talent shows, etc. I soon realized that music was so much more rewarding when playing it onstage, so I became very serious in pursuing it as a career. In order to be successful in a rock band, you must have a singer and you must write your own songs. Once I figured out no one was going to do that for me, I began learning to sing and write my own songs.

3. Have you had any performances? When and where? How was crowd response?

I have had a great deal of performances over the last five years or so since I began playing out. I started out in my school talent shows, and the response was fantastic even back then. The feeling of being cheered and applauded kept me coming back for more. My most recent shows have been at the Starlight Theater at the Red White and Boom concert presented by 93.3, The Uptown Theater, The Beaumont Club, and the Voodoo Lounge.

4. How would you describe your music? Do you have any musical inspirations?

Music is a very difficult thing to describe, but on the surface, CIMINO is a melodic hard rock band. All of us in the band are huge fans of 80’s rock music, like Bon Jovi, Van Halen and Motley Crue. We try to take the best aspects of that era and blend them into the modern scene. In the 80’s, there were guitar solos, Eddie Van Halen being my greatest influence as a guitarist, and music that wasn’t necessarily the same three chords over and over again. They also had a good way of making hard rock appealing to women. Today’s rock bands like Shinedown have important lyrical and pop structure that is key to making a song that isn’t indulgent. They also feature great singers, Brent Smith from Shinedown being one of my greatest influences as a vocalist.

5. What is your favorite part of being a musician?

I don’t know if I can answer this question. There are so many aspects to being a musician that are great, it’s hard to narrow down to one. It’s cooler to be a rockstar than a football star because music is a creative outlet and your work is art which can last forever as opposed to an athlete’s finite career length. It’s cooler to be a rockstar than just about anything, the big ones get whatever they want, there’s fame, there’s fortune, and most of all there’s great music driving the entire experience.

6. How has living in Kansas City affected your music?

Kansas City has greatly affected my life as well as my music. The people I’ve met here have become my friends, enemies, love interests and even bandmates, all of which impact what ends up on my songs. I think that Kansas City is a great place to grow up and the music scene has been very kind to me so far.

7. Where do you see yourself in the future? Do you want to continue with a career in music?

I see myself as either the biggest rockstar in the world or someone still trying to achieve that goal. I’ve been pursuing this dream since I had it as a gradeschooler and nothing could ever get in my way. I’m already famous, it’s just that everyone else has to figure it out.