The amps are dialed up, condensation drips from cups and cans and the crowd squints against the sun to see student band Tavern take the stage. The stage –– in the case of the band’s first performance as freshmen –– being an elevated wooden platform in the backyard of an off-campus frat house.
As the opening chords of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” reverberated through the crowd, few would’ve guessed that Communication senior and lead singer Annie Wallach suffers from stage fright.
“The party was happening, and now everything’s gotten real quiet,” Wallach said. “I was like, ‘This is super awkward.’ But once it picked up, people got really into it.”
After their first performance, the band became a staple at off-campus parties in the musicians’ sophomore and junior years, expanding their set list to include both new arrangements and original songs. Now, with graduation on the horizon, the band prepares to play its final set in May.
In Spring 2023, the group achieved perhaps the greatest feat for a student band. After winning Mayfest’s Battle of the Bands, they played the main stage on Dillo Day — the nation’s largest student-run music festival.
The idea for the band began when Wallach and Communication senior and guitarist Phoebe Feldman struck up a conversation outside of the Ridgeville Tavern when discussing their shared interest in music.
After a few duet jam sessions of Feldman playing guitar and Wallach singing, Wallach said they started to throw out ideas to create their own arrangements of songs with drums, bass and brass.
“Slowly we were like, ‘Why don’t we just find other people to play with who have those things so that this could sound as good as it can?’” Wallach said.
The pair began reaching out to other freshmen musicians, many of whom were also already hosting jam sessions in Bobb Hall.
Weinberg senior and guitarist Coby Grant-Krenz recalled that the band began rehearsing in the basement of Lindgren Hall –– an old frat house that became a dorm –– where another student band had been storing their drum kit. Grant-Krenz said the other band let them use the drums and space to practice for their first performance.
“It was a (Zeta Beta Tau) darty, and I’m sure that the sound quality was just awful, like we had the bare minimum gear,” Grant-Krenz said. “But we got out there and played, and the crowd was having fun.”
They picked a setlist of crowd pleasers for the first gig, including “Valerie” by Mark Ronson ft. Amy Winehouse and “Locked out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars.
Yet, Wallach said she never anticipated that jam sessions beginning in Bobb would ever have an audience. Her musical experience included singing in her high school Glee Club, but she said she had almost no performing experience before Tavern.
When it came time for their first performance, Wallach and Feldman threw out the name Tavern.
“It wasn’t like a conclusion in the moment,” Grant-Krenz said. “But everyone was like, ‘Yeah, that’s cool.’ And then it stuck.”
As a close friend to a few of the band members, Weinberg senior Lia Tunney was a regular in the crowd as the band was taking off.
She said the musicians had friends in different places, and that their combined support gave the band the traction they needed in the early days to reach a wider audience.
Compared to the past couple of years, Grant-Kernz said Tavern’s focus has shifted to jamming more casually and playing gigs as the band prepares to graduate and leave college life behind.
“Sophomore year specifically, there was just this constant grind to continue to play concerts, and now senior year, I feel like we’re more laid back,” Grant-Kernz said. “I guess it’s just a shift in perspective.”
The band has also ventured into playing at professional venues like Evanston SPACE, although Grant-Kernz said the group is probably going to play another backyard show before the end of Spring Quarter.
Grant-Krenz has produced music while at NU and said he plans to continue after graduating. However, he said the members of Tavern will be scattered across the country, bringing an almost certain end to four years of collaboration.
“Part of life is having some things come to an end,” he said. “I’m really just glad and grateful that this experience happened.”
Even though it doesn’t appear that Tavern will remain together after graduation, Wallach said the experience was worth every rehearsal and helped her get comfortable in front of a crowd.
“It’s given me a new sense of confidence, and I’ll take that with me everywhere I go,” Wallach said. “But, I don’t picture myself singing after school in a band unless it’s this one.”
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