Three bands took to the Student Union Terrace to mark the end of the season at WHUS Radio’s Sounds of Summer concert on Saturday at the University of Connecticut.
Second Skin, Forever King Clark and Whiplash! and the Weather each performed 20-minute sets as audience members watched from the lawn. The concert was free, and tickets came with a complimentary cup of Dairy Bar ice cream.
Events Director at WHUS, Aliyah Aquino, said that Sounds of Summer gives local bands a chance to shine.
“I’m really excited,” Aquino said before the show. “They all seem really excited to be here, which makes me happy, and they have different sounds.”
Second Skin, the first band to take the stage, is New London-based and described themselves as experimental, with influences from jazz music and bands like The Velvet Underground. The three-member band is comprised of J.T. Spranklin on lead guitar and vocals, L.B. Wendelin on viola and vocals and drummer Devin Noe.
Their set was composed of originals from their self-titled EP, which featured trance-inducing tracks, coupled with Wendelin shredding the viola.
Second Skin said they were looking forward to college students hearing their music.
“If, you know, we can open the mind of anybody as a listener or a player — I mean, one person — that’d be cool,” Noe said.
Forever King Clark, an indie, surf-rock band from coastal New Jersey, performed a series of originals and covers next.
Bassist Amy Evans noted Mac DeMarco as one of the band’s influences, which manifested itself in a cover of his hit “Chamber of Reflection.” They also performed songs from their new EP “You’re Not There,” which was written and arranged by lead singer and guitarist Bobby Kallok.
Forever King Clark began as Kallok’s creative project in 2018, before Evans and the rest of the band, Jacob Moore and keyboardist Daniel Baumgarten, officially came together in 2021.
“I hope they like the vibes,” Moore said, and by the looks of the crowd bobbing along, they did.
Whiplash! and the Weather, the youngest and most local of the bands, based in Storrs, called themselves “rock-adjacent.”
Bassist Evan Dingle said the band’s sound is ever-changing, a theme that came through in the band’s diverse setlist.
Whiplash! and the Weather performed their powerful, own “Zoocosis,” “Don’t Let Me Down” by the Beatles and alternative tracks, such as Ween’s “Transdermal Celebration.”
Lead guitarist C.J. Beach is currently an undergraduate student at UConn, and bandmates Sydney Walker (lead vocals) and Dingle (bass) both graduated from the university in the last year.
Drummer Kaya Dupee is a former UConn student studying at another school, and rhythm guitarist Liam Hourihan, who performed his first show with the band Saturday, is a student at Central Connecticut University.
Whiplash! and the Weather captivated the audience, receiving cheers and hollers as Walker belted on stage.
Students Talia Krimsky, a first-semester psychology major, and Orchid Tejada, a design and tech major, both said Whiplash! and the Weather was their favorite band of the evening.
Krimsky said she appreciated the band’s ranging rock picks, and that she really liked Walker’s voice. She also said she had fun at the concert.
“I think it’s always nice to bring people together, especially with music,” Krimsky said. “I think that’s such a human thing that everyone can connect to.”