Photo courtesy of Pach Pacheco ’25.
By Caroline Huber ’26
Staff Writer
In the early evening of March 30, Mount Holyoke students, local music fans and band members all gathered in the Blanchard Hall Great Room for the second Mount Holyoke College Students for Alternative Music show. The show, which sold tickets for $5-15 upon entry, featured a lineup of three local bands, who together pulled in a sizable audience.
Starting the show, Bassal, a four-piece Wilbraham-based alternative rock band, performed a vocal-led set that featured both originals and covers, including songs by bands Remo Drive, T. Rex and Surf Curse. During their performance, more showgoers trickled in, with the crowd becoming progressively more lively, producing light two-stepping and one moshing altercation that was quickly broken up by a security guard.
Vocalist and guitarist Jake Balbino’s husky and wide-ranging voice effectively narrates the band’s story-driven songs, accompanied by the bouncy bass of Simon Serra, the confident drumming of Andrew Esteves and Devin Loubier’s guitar riffs. The band’s sound spans the gamut of rock and emo, while also incorporating some folky elements, with Balbino citing Dinosaur Jr., The Pillows, Joyce Manor, Modern Baseball and David Bowie as musical influences.
The band concluded the set with their original song, “Fever Dreams,” during which Balbino jumped into the fray. “[F]avorite part for me was Devin pulling out Stairway to Heaven as a transition between songs, that shit was hilarious. That and just moshing with the crowd on the last song,” Balbino wrote in a statement to Mount Holyoke News, adding that there was a “good crowd, [and] good vibes.”
Following this set and the intervention of the security guard, MHCALT President and founding member Nyx Cieprisz ’26 discouraged the audience from crowd killing or surfing, eliciting groans. Fire safety information was played over the speakers, to the confusion of some showgoers.
Next, three-piece Western Massachusetts doom-punk screamo band Wax Input played a passionate set. The band, who cited early Nirvana, Catalyst and Limp Bizkit as being among their influences, provoked the crowd to two-step and mosh eagerly through their combination of original music and covers. The band's rhythmic songs feature the controlled drumming of Sean Kennedy alongside Brandon Authier’s bass and guitarist and singer Colin DiSanti’s screaming and aggressive vocals.
The intense yet repetitive nature of the band’s music is augmented by the agonized frontman-ship of DiSanti, whose emotive scream-chants mesh with the band’s noise. The energy of the performance transferred into the crowd, where windmilling abounded alongside sporadic crowd killing.
Finally, four-piece death metal hardcore band Dishpit played a mixture of their new and old original music, including songs from their upcoming EP. The band’s aggression and impassioned tone, alongside encouragement from vocalist Cole D’Onofrio, provoked the crowd, who responded with copious windmilling, pushing and a circle pit. D’Onofrio’s guttural and low-pitched screams meshed with the intensity of Owen Driscoll’s drumming, Jeremy Devany’s guitar and Nicholas Hart’s bass to create an aggressive and high-energy sound. The band, who previously cited Killswitch Engage, Suicide Silence and Lamb of God, incorporated the energy and crowdwork of hardcore with the harshness and musical intensity of death metal.
D’Onofrio noted that he “thought the girls’ mosh pit [that the band prompted at one point in their set] was really fun,” while Devany noted that he specifically appreciated playing Blanchard Hall. “I would say we haven't gotten to play like a big stage [like in the Great Room] before. That was fun … it was nice to play … [and have it be] not super cramped. Sometimes we [have to] play elbow to elbow.”
Devany noted that the show drew in a combination of new and old faces, saying, “It’s always cool to see when people have shirts on … I was curious to see if it's an audience … [that we’d] never played to before or if it's people we recognize, and it was definitely like a good split.” Driscoll said he appreciated people who had traveled to come see the band. “That means the most to us. [It] shows that they really liked the music and they care, and have fun.”
Editor’s Note: Nyx Cieprisz ’26 is an Arts & Entertainment Editor for Mount Holyoke News.
