Without its live music scene, the University of Maine in Orono would be missing an absolutely vital element of what makes this campus feel alive. In my time here, many great bands have come out of the woodwork and built up an audience. Yet four years is rarely enough time for a band to come together, find its sound and make an impact. Most musicians don’t find their group or their groove until they’ve spent some time getting the lay of the land. That’s what makes the Somerset Hall Band an exciting exception. Formed by first-year Somerset residents Ben Redfield, Nate Lee, Evan Cummings and Harlow Keener, and second-year student Declan Nichols, the Somerset Hall Band is trying to alleviate concerns about the fading music scene.
Many people fret about the future of Orono’s live music scene as some of the great names from the past couple of years prepare to walk the commencement stage and start their lives. I had the pleasure of seeing the Somerset folk play this past week, and they offer a promising rebuttal to this fear. Playing a variety of grunge, punk and contemporary covers, the Somerset Hall Band performs with an engaging energy.
Shortly after seeing their show, I interviewed the Somerset Hall Band to get a sense of how this group came to be and what the future holds for them.
When asked about their origins, Ben had this to say: “It was orientation. Oh yeah, it was orientation. I just started talking to [Evan Cummings]. I was like, ‘You play any music? I’m looking for some people to play with.’ And he’s like, ‘Yeah.’”
Nate and Ben, the co-founders, met through the UMaine roommate search portal.
“I met Nate online in March. It was like the, ‘to meet a roommate’ app, yeah, you know what I’m talking about? I met him on that, and then we’re just like, ‘Yo, you want to start a band?’ And then it was just like history.”
Harlow found her way into the band through an equally quintessential freshman experience.
“Two friends of Nate and Ben were with me when I sang karaoke on the quad one night, and they thought that they should introduce me to Ben and Nate because they play music. And so I knocked on their door, their dorm, and they accepted me.”
The Somerset Hall Band embraces the elements of being a freshman ensemble. There is a hard-to-capture energy that comes with being a first-year student on campus, and it’s great to see elements of that coming through in the music scene, with the band even adopting the freshman dorm hall as its namesake. Though Ben explained it wasn’t their first pick.
“That was like, the eighth idea. Yeah, that was an awfully nice idea. Yeah, I don’t even know what the thought process was. I think we just liked the name, and yeah, we chose it for the band.”
You can keep an eye out for any upcoming shows through their Instagram, @somersethall.band.
