Time to take a ride to the DMV and lather on the acne cream. KWVA is turning 15 years old and will be celebrating all Saturday night at its annual birthday party show at the WOW Hall. Yes, you are invited, and no, you don’t have to bring a gift.
Since its inception in 1993, KWVA and the WOW Hall have celebrated the birth and life of independent college radio in Eugene with a night featuring a bevy of the most premier and adventurous indie rock acts in the state. Saturday’s show will be no exception with The Shaky Hands headlining this year’s eccentrically diverse lineup of local crazies and noizies certain to please any of KWVA’s avid listeners. The night kicks off with the electronic musings of University band Muke. It’s not quite mucus and not quite puke, but the experimental project of student duo Luke and Madeline. The Daveys take the stage next with their bluesy, harmonica-laden rock and roll followed by the ramshackled, gritty space rock of The Blast Majesty. Finally, Portlanders (by way of California, of course) The Shaky Hands will bust out a set full of their 1960s pop sensibilities fused with the loose, unpolished sounds of Northwest garage rock that will be sure to keep partygoers dancing and juking through the night.
“All the bands are showmen; even if you’re not into the music, it’ll be entertaining to watch,” said KWVA marketing director and show organizer Amanda Clem. “The music will be good, but the show is going to be even better.”
KWVA was founded 15 years ago by a group of students concerned with the lack of independent music available on and around campus. It was founded in the same location inside the EMU in which it resides today – a couple of converted toilet stalls on the mezzanine. Since day one it has been completely student run, non-profit and non-commercial: for the music, about the music, by the people who love the music.
But now, with music fully submerged into the digital era, the station has realized that this is the perfect time as any to change up and modernize its operation and broaden its influence across the lower Willamette Valley.
“Fifteen is a good anniversary to totally revamp the station and reevaluate what we’re about, which is student planning, good values, good music and good times,” Clem said. Funded by the EMU Building Fee Committee, KWVA will receive a refurbished and larger studio and extend its signal with a new antenna that reaches far beyond the immediate South Eugene and Springfield region. The staff is also working to digitalize its entire collection of CDs and to update the KWVA Web site to provide students with up-to-date news and information and better accommodate the live streaming of on-air programming.
The birthday party is free to all students, but donations are gladly accepted to help with the planned renovations. Free T-shirts will be given to whoever wants one, and plenty of free cake will be onhand with four birthday cakes that spell out KWVA – naturally, the “V” cake is reserved as the vegan alternative.
And if you can’t make it out the WOW Hall, parts of the show will be broadcasted live on that same old station left of the dial, 88.1 FM.
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