AggieTV is looking for musicians to appear in a series that will showcase local musical talent through performances recorded live in a studio.
The auditions will be held from Friday to Sunday.
The series, which hasn’t been done before by AggieTV, plans to record artists in an intimate, acoustic context. They plan to release one performance a week online.
It can potentially feature bands, solo and a cappella performers.
The idea came into fruition when fourth-year clinical nutrition major Timothy Tran, the entertainment director for AggieTV, was browsing YouTube.
“I was thinking about how YouTube serves as an outlet for artists to show off their talent and how this is what people tend to watch,” Tran said. “I stumbled upon this series called AOL Live Music Sessions and it gave me this huge idea. We could have these intimate performances where we record Davis performers with high quality video and sound. We could show it to the world.”
Anna Oh, a third-year film studies major and the executive producer at AggieTV, is working with Tran on this project.
“There’s a lot of talent in Davis that is not easily seen or heard. There are a lot of students here who can show this talent off,” said Oh. “I feel passionately about music, and so we decided it was a good opportunity to start a series, reach out to people and to collaborate.”
Despite the fact that this hasn’t been done before by AggieTV, the staff feels prepared for the task.
“There’s always a challenge with a new series, but it doesn’t mean that we’re not up for it. There may be some difficulties, they’re nothing we can’t handle,” Tran said.
In addition to feeling prepared to take on this project, the staff is also excited to be challenged.
“It’s a new series and a new field of interest. Our staff is excited to do this. It will require a lot of commitment on their part but it should be more exciting than challenging,” Oh said.
The audition process will allow Tran to determine what the performers can offer as well as if they’ll have audience appeal. Despite this, Tran and Oh encourage anyone interested to apply.
“I would love to see more musicians sign up, even if they weren’t confident about their ability. The auditions will be super casual. It won’t be like ‘American Idol,’” Oh said.
Tran also offered encouraging remarks.
“If they can perform live at a reasonable talent rate, we will film them,” Tran said.
Jason Phillips, a second-year psychology major, plans to audition for the series.
“I heard about AggieTV Live Sessions from a friend and instantly gained an interest based on the idea of being able to share my style of music and passion for it with other students,” Phillips said. “This is a great opportunity to showcase myself and also see the other talent out there. There are not many opportunities to do so, so it’s exciting that one has come up.”
Stephen McKone, a third-year technocultural studies major and the creative director for AggieTV, designed a promotional flier which was posted on Facebook and on bulletin boards all over campus.
“I am really excited to see how the series will turn out,” McKone said. “I had to put a face to the concept, so I chose to have a faceless person performing on the flier. This emphasizes that it could be anyone on the show. It could be you.”
People who are interested in auditioning can sign up at bit.ly/aggietvmusic. For more information on this series and AggieTV, find them on Facebook at facebook.com/aggietvfan.
JOHN KESLER can be reached at arts@theaggie.org.XXX
