One of the defining features of grunge and alternative rock as a whole is its dynamic singers. Mighty frontmen like Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder and Scott Weiland have defined the genre with their soaring vocals inspiring thousands, maybe millions, of young singers along the way. Ian Maceran is no exception to this.
Maceran is a singer-songwriter who is the frontman for The Rotting Twentys, a Storrs-based alternative rock group that has been one of busiest bands at the University of Connecticut this year. He is known for his high vocal range, which is one of the most distinct parts of the group’s sound.
Maceran started singing in high school after his mom made him take choir. He wasn’t thrilled about it at first, but soon came to love it. He recalled one instance where he impressed his classmates with a performance of his, a moment that inspired him to keep pursuing it.
“For our midterm, my teacher had us do a solo, so I did ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love,’ and my voice had this really good vibrato,” he said. “And I looked at everyone’s faces and they had their jaws dropped.”
From there, he practiced consistently to increase his vocal range to hit higher notes, singing songs by artists like Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars to do so. Everything changed when Zeke Rivera, the guitarist of The Rotting Twentys, introduced Maceran to Alice in Chains and other grunge bands last year. It was the first time he had listened to this style of music and he quickly embraced it, wanting to emulate those artists in his singing.
“I really fell in love with Alice in Chains and Layne Staley’s singing style, so I tried to learn the same techniques,” he said. “The same thing goes with Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington.”
Maceran started The Rotting Twentys during the winter of 2024. He was inspired to do so after the death of his friend Paulie Leparik, a beatmaker known for collaborating with rapper Lil Peep. Leparik’s death struck him and gave him a renewed sense of wanting to start up a musical project. He said that “I had no idea what I was doing, but I was trying to do anything similar to him.”
“He would always ask me to come over to do music stuff, but I never would because I was afraid that I wasn’t good enough,” he said. “When he passed, I realized he really lived his life to the fullest.”
Maceran reached out to Rivera to play guitar and assembled the rest of the lineup before making their debut last February. They made their live debut at the spring summit of UConn’s Filipino American Student Association, where they played a four-song set. Though the band was still figuring out their sound, Maceran said that the show was “the best time that we played together” at that point and “it was better than any rehearsal.”
Since that first show, the band has focused on writing more original songs. He explained that the group takes a very collaborative approach to songwriting, which usually starts with an idea by Rivera that Maceran and the rest of the band will add to.
The feedback from our songs as great and we finally finished playing, [the crowd] shouted so loud, I was so happy to do it.”
Ian Maceren, Singer-Songwriter and Frontman for The Rotting Twentys
“[Rivera]’s really good at coming up with the chorus and all that,” he said. “I come up with lyrics and melody pretty quick, and then we give it to our drummer and bassist.”
Of the songs the band has written so far, one of the ones that stands out the most is “Jaded,” their first original. The song had a different origin than most ideas, as it was Maceran who came up with the initial concept. He recalled that it came together quick, as he wrote it during a 15-minute lunch break while at work. He quickly sent it to Rivera, who was immediately impressed. Now, the song is a regular part of the group’s live repertoire at shows.
Maceran and his bandmates have been some of the hardest working men in the scene since September, as the group has played on a consistent schedule in the Storrs area. Shows they’ve played include on-campus SUBOG’s Sunset Fest and WHUS Radio’s Battle of The Bands, as well as multiple appearances at Corleone’s bar in Willimantic. He took note of the sense of community that he has felt playing shows, noting “I love meeting the other bands, the people hosting and the people who are watching the shows.”
One of the shows that stood out to him the most is when the band played at The Dog P0und in October, the preeminent basement venue in Storrs, as he loved the environment there and the crowd energy that night.
“I really liked that basement-underground feel, it really felt like a home,” he said. “The feedback from our songs as great and we finally finished playing, [the crowd] shouted so loud, I was so happy to do it.”