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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2001)
Floater fans get unplugged at WOW Hall show ■The band’s laid-back performace Sunday night did not surprise its fans By Mason West Oregon Daily Emerald Floater has won over many fans with its thrashing live shows that shake floors with mu sic. But Floater fans were not op posed to a change Sunday, when the band showed its lighter side in an all-acoustic set at the WOW Hall. “This is sort of like, ‘Welcome to our living room,’” said bassist/lead singer Rob Wynia. “It’s not some thing that we do very often — or very well.” The band’s manager, Cassandra Thorpe, said this was its sixth all acoustic show. Though the scene is relatively new for the band, Wynia was more modest than ac curate — for they do it very well. “They sound like they know what their doing,” audience mem ber Kasey Wickman said. This was Wickman’s first Floater show, and she said she would have thought they were an acoustic group if she hadn’t previously heard their CDs. The audience clapped in sup port after every song and hollered in recognition when the band be gan to play acoustic versions of its heavier songs. But the acoustic set also allowed the band to play material that it doesn’t usually expose to the public. After playing a new song, Wynia said, “I love it when peo ple clap for songs they don’t know.” In addition to their own reper toire, the band covered songs by Pete Townshend, Neil Young, U2 and Bauhaus. “If you don’t listen to any Bauhaus, you should go buy some,” Wynia said to the audience. Floater fan Will Biddle said that even when the band played cov ers, they still added the “Floater touch.” “They’ve got a great way of combining rock with musicality and feeling,” he said. “Every song has feeling to them and feel ing to everybody that hears them.” Floater broke even more tradi tions by trading places in the band. The show began with all three members playing a guitar. In reverse, all three members huddled around the drum set at the end of the first set in percus sive harmony. Wynia even forfeited the stage for a song and let drummer Pete Cornett step up to the micro phone. Cornett forgot the lyrics about halfway through, but con tinued singing and ad-libbed new lyrics, mocking his error. The au dience loved it. Even the WOW Hall deviated from the norm for the special occa sion. Seats were laid out where the mosh pit would have normally been. The stage was decorated with candles and vegetation (there was a planted tree on the stage). In cense filled the air, and recorded classical music prefaced the show instead of more rock. Thorpe said she was going for an MTV Unplugged-feel with the venue. “We just wanted it to be the op posite of a normal Floater show,” she said. Edith Sumaquial said the hall felt like a “java-esque venue Courtesy photo where you just hang out and lis ten to music.” Instead of coffee, the band sipped wine between songs. But Floater is plugging in again and returning to WOW Hall on Oct. 12 for the show that Thorpe said “gets people hooked.” Mason West is the senior Pulse reporter for the Oregon Daily Emerald. He can be reached at masonwest@dailyemerald.com, 012540 Seramed Biocenter • Eugene I Block east of 8th and Garfield I 90 I West 8th Ave., Eugene 683-9430 also at 225 B Main St. in Springfield Why Call Mom & Dad?. / $20 on I st donation y $30 on 2nd donation / $50 for the first week y $5 extra for first-time donors if you bring in this ad! Plasma donations earn around $ 175 every month. STUDENT TRAVEL S3 Lectures SaTerm Paper Job Leave ’em all behind and get outta here. TRAVEL .0112 www • statravel. com \ x INVESTMENT STRATEGIES THAT ARE CLEAR AND CONCISE. EVEN IF OUR NAME ISN’T. Aside from our name, we’ve always been in favor of making things simple. So contact us for smart, easy investment techniques to help you reach your financial goals. TIAA-CREF.org or call 1.800.842.2776 \ l Managing money for people with other things to think about. \ | RETIREMENT INSURANCE MUTUAL FUNDS COLLEGE SAVINGS TRUSTS INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT ' ;• : ■■ l!t ,!i li rvu • - u r i V.ti -hi • • • ■ ■ , t . •• ••• • ; v p. . . • • j V,„ iriMf Hi- (. *j,i| Ai.lHi)tv Avs,.« Collar » j 1'i.ln-s r ui.,1 . T =AA Kff! N.y. Y'.-k Nv ;)H.'P
