The club is in its second year and hopes to foster a local music scene in Long Beach.
October 21, 2014
Filed under Diversions
The Underground Music Society is an on-campus organization with the purpose of bringing low-cost, live music events that feature local artists and musicians to Cal State University Long Beach.
The club holds a show every month at the Nugget and has hosted off-campus shows at the MADhaus Gallery, The Royal Cup Café and The Gina M. Woodruff Gallery.
Their first unofficial club meeting, conducted by CSULB music student Nate Phung, brought together a group “to unite musicians and music lovers to foster a music scene on campus,” according to the club’s Facebook page.
Founded in 2012, UMS started simply looking for people to “jam and make music” with but this year CSULB can “expect bigger and better shows” said UMS President Will Torres.
Rock ‘n’ roll and acoustic guitar musicians dominated the club’s events last year at the Nugget. This year, UMS is mixing it up – promoting genres of music from hip-hop to techno.
Recently, musicians from UMS could be found “busking” – street performing – on Second Street in Long Beach.
“Busking raises a good amount of money, all of which will go towards renting out venue space, printing out flyers and other miscellaneous stuff for putting on shows,” event coordinator Oscar Bautista said.
UMS does not pay to host on-campus shows; however, the club has paid for a few off-campus shows, Torres said.
“By charging $5 admission, we were able to not only recoup what they paid, but also pay the musicians as well as raise some money for the club,” Torres said.
The club meets every Thursday in room 202 in the Student Union from 2:30 to 5 p.m. During the meetings, UMS plans out upcoming shows and opens the floor to anyone to share their ideas.
“We want this club to be about people bringing in their ideas and discussions on how to get involved with the music scene,” Torres said. “It’s a great way for people to meet others who share music tastes, discover new music and find places to see shows.”
After a year of events, UMS is gaining support from fellow musicians.
“More people are passionate this year,” Bautista said. “More ideas are being brought to the table, each of which are helping promote the club on and off campus.”
UMS’s Facebook page allows people to share news, events and post anything related to music and the scene.
“We hope people will be able to use this to network with fellow musicians and maybe even find places to record,” Torres said. The social network has helped people find upcoming shows, and even helped bands find gigs on a few occasions.
UMS will continue to put on shows at the Nugget but they’re trying to “mix it up more, not always putting on such rock ‘n’ roll heavy shows,” Bautista said.
The club is talking to the producers at KBeach Radio, hoping to start broadcasting afternoon time concerts.
**This aricle was originally published at Daily 49er Online, Print**
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