At the Missouri History Museum, the Spirit of Saint Louis loomed like a specter overhead, skeletons shook the building below, but it wasn’t an invasion of the living dead; it was a band full of Principians that rocked the museum in late October.
The unusual pairing of historical ghost stories, palm readings, and rock music was the Principia Rock Band’s first off-campus performance and the result of an idea that got started years ago.
“I’ve been trying to do this for a long time,” Kemi Awosile, the signature event specialist for the Missouri History Museum, said. Before she was managing rock concerts and other unique events for the museum, Awosile was the resident counselor for Principia College’s Howard House. Memories of watching the rock band club form and perform on campus inspired her to bring them into a new venue.
Awosile got in touch with Joaquin Surbera, a guitarist in the club, and Andrew Kistler, performing arts office manager. Awosile tried working with them to bring a band to perform at the museum last year, but couldn’t get a full group of Principians together. Instead, Surbera joined a band called the Broomstix to play a spooky set at the museum.
This summer, Awosile got in touch with Surbera again.
“I think you guys are ready for this. Set your minds to it and let’s make it happen,” Awosile said.
Although it was July and the band wouldn’t be together again to rehearse until the end of the summer, Joaquin reached out to his bandmates, and they agreed to get ready.
“None of us had done anything like this before,” Surbera said, “this is not like performing on campus, we’ve got to work a little harder.” He said that the band got together and rehearsed more often and more seriously than they had for previous shows.
The rock band signed a contract and agreed to learn a new suite of spooky Halloween-themed songs for the gig, but that was only one of the hurdles they had to overcome before they could play. Another hurdle? The band didn’t have a name.
At performances around campus, they had always just referred to themselves as the Principia Rock Band, or humorously, the best rock band on campus. But that wouldn’t cut it at the museum.
“We needed a one-time Halloween-themed name for this show,” Surbera said. After tossing the idea around with the band, they decided to perform as the Rolling Bones.
At the event, called Ghost Stories and Guitars, the Rolling Bones delighted late-night museum guests who danced along to classics like the “Ghostbusters” theme and “Thriller”. The crowd also included a handful of Principia students and professors who made their way into town to support the concert.
“All the hard work we put in paid off,” Olivia Frank, the band’s bass player, said. She was grateful to her professors and impressed that almost all of the music department staff had shown up on a Thursday night to celebrate and watch the performance.
“I was proud to see such great student initiative and leadership from our music majors, Olivia and Joaquin,” Joe Van Riper, co-chair of the music department, said after watching their performance. He said that it was exciting to see the band take their performances to a new level.
“It’s kind of just like a what-the-heck moment,” Frank said. “I mean, we started in the Jam Factory basement underneath the Pub, now we’re here. Next, it’s gonna be Times Square.”
The Principia Rock Band will return to campus for their next performance on Nov. 22.
