Electronic music duo Snow Strippers will headline the Spring Fling concert on April 25, All Campus Entertainment (ACE) announced at the end of last Saturday’s Battle of the Bands. Per tradition, the event was organized by ACE for student bands to compete for the chance to open for the Spring Fling artist.
Six student bands participated in the event: decor, Groot Juice, JYNX!, The Senate, Space Bar, and supermassivefrog. After the night’s performances, the student audience voted for their three favorite bands. JYNX!, decor, and Space Bar won the most votes and will perform at Spring Fling.
Snow Strippers has nearly 6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The two group members, Tatiana Schwaninger and Graham Perez, met on Tinder in 2018 and began releasing music in 2021. The group has found widespread popularity, and are especially well-known for their 2023 hit “Under Your Spell,” which has over 250 million streams on Spotify.
“Snow Strippers is one of the most exciting groups out right now,” ACE Co-President Silas Fleissig ’26 wrote in an email to the Record. “Their blend of electro-pop and EDM is frenetic yet catchy, digital yet punk, an evolution of influences like Crystal Castles that feels totally original and fresh.”
ACE began their search for a Spring Fling artist in September. Students were able to submit suggestions through a nomination form, with ACE’s only request being that the artists suggested should ideally have between 500,000 and 2 million monthly listeners on Spotify. According to Fleissig, 221 students responded to the nomination form. “The responses were about as we expected,” Fleissig wrote. “The college’s favorite genres are alternative/indie, pop, and hip hop and many of the artists were similar to those suggested in previous years.”
Using student input along with a database of potential artists through the College’s external booking agent, Fleissig and ACE Co-President Ella Bruff ’26 created a short list of artists based on interest, availability, and budget. Through a new form, ACE asked students to create a ranked list of the potential artists. ACE recieved 517 student responses that helped them narrow down their top picks.
The victorious student bands expressed enthusiasm to open for Snow Strippers. “I’m really excited to mosh with the Snow Strippers,” decor’s Jamie Evarts ’28 said. “I’ve followed them since day one.”
Musicians also praised the environment of friendly competition at Battle of the Bands. JYNX!’s Sabrina Lewis ’26 said that the challenge inspired her band to play their best. “I think that beforehand there was that fun competitiveness, but then when we were watching everyone perform, we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so awesome!’ because we just love music.”
Bands were given just two weeks’ notice to prepare for the event, Lewis said. “Most of our rehearsals initially were very frantic, and we were very exhausted and trying to be as committed as we [could],” she said. “Toward the end, when everything started coming together, we could feel the energy and it started being a lot more fun and I think that definitely brought us closer together.”
While JYNX! rehearsed dutifully during the weeks leading up to the show, members of decor reported not practicing until the day of. “We might have rehearsed for like six to eight hours straight that day,” Evarts said. He added that two of the band’s guitars had broken strings, and Evarts’ voice was worn out after a wrestling match. Yet, with replacements found for the guitars, and gas station lemon juice for Evarts’ voice, decor was prepared to perform come evening. “Shout out Stewart’s [Shops], shout out lemon juice,” Evarts said.
His bandmate, decor bassist Peter Deegan-Krause ’28, agreed. “Shout out honey and tea for sure,” he said.
Space Bar member Katherine Bai ’26 reported a similar kind of synergy brought about by the competition. “We have a lot of fun when we practice together and click really easily,” Bai said.
Sachin Kirtane ’26 explained the camaraderie he felt with other bands. “We are all sharing the same drum kit, we’re sharing the same amps, sharing mics, like everything,” he said. “So there is a more communal feeling. And with all of these gigs, everyone just wants people to come and have a good time.”
