By Karyk King
They strum along. “They” being talented musicians with a dream. From University of Arkansas graduates to current students, music is vibrant on the U of A campus. The entrepreneurial spirit of rising musical talent echoes across campus with pockets of unique sound around each corner. Fayetteville has a vibrant local music scene, with these few bands at the heart of it.
Squash Garden is a musical combination of many flavors composed of talented musicians: Michael Kaufman, Prezley Strait, Luke Riley, Presley Janes, Landen DeWolf and Julian Cohenour. Originating mostly from the South, the U of A brought these students together. First assembled in December 2022, playing for a friend’s birthday in a garage, they got their first taste of what the future had in store for them.
They kept jamming together, and eventually, three members— Kaufman, Strait and Riley —got a band house in August 2023. The band then rose to local prominence in November 2023, when it won the University Programs’ “Battle of the Bands,” against another local band, Ozark Riviera.
Squash Garden now performs live with an eclectic set, featuring several members switching between roles such as drums, bass, guitar, keyboard and vocals. With many moving pieces, a diverse range is directly reflected by the band’s makeup.
“Everything we get to hear today, we are influenced by and is a part of us and a part of our music,” Kaufman said. “That’s kind of why it’s all over the place is because that’s how it feels.”
With inspiration from genres such as country, jazz, rock, reggae and blues, each member connects with different elements across the musical spectrum.
Squash Garden plays original hits along with covers of well-known songs. Regardless of what it is playing, there always seems to be an attendance of screaming fans and heart-struck girls. The band has one song recorded and on popular streaming services, with plans to get back in the studio and record many more.
“I feel like music is just everything you see and feel…you put that in the feeling, and that comes through in all the songs we play,” Kaufman said, attesting to what makes their sound unique and how every member has their own element they bring to the table.
One band that rocks across campus with a sound dubbed as indescribable is Mongolian Firefight. The group says it like to use the known term, “indie rock” to describe its sound.
“Some say we are the frontier of music as a whole,” said Shep Dollahon, the bassist.
Cole Clark, lead guitarist and vocalist, started writing music with Dollahon around six years ago when they were still in highschool. They did not start playing live until their freshman year at the U of A when they started playing at tailgates.
The two then met their drummer, Peter Kohring, and they said it was love at first sight for them when they clicked together.
“It was like an instant connection, instantly we started talking, and from that the phoenix that is Mongolian Firefight rose from the ashes,” Dollahon said.
Clark got his start playing guitar in high school and fell for chords and songwriting saying, “I feel like I’ve always loved music, but I kind of found out I loved doing it in high school.”
Dollahon got his start in bass following guidance from his uncle and his passion to “just keep playing,” he said.
“Playing covers is fun,” Dollahon said. “Jamming is fun. Improvising is fun.” And that’s exactly what music is to them — fun.
Drawing influence from different genres, the band has combined its sounds into the sweet spot of rock it has now. Dollahon got influence from blues, metal and punk and popular bassists such as Thundercat, Geezer Butler, John Paul Jones and Charles Mingus. Clark gets his taste from the ‘70s rock scene along with more soft rock such as the sounds of Mac DeMarco, The Beatles, and Jimi Hendrix. From many different walks of life, they have combined their sound together into the ultimate phoenix that is Mongolian Firefight.
Thoughts on Bowling is of the youngest local music groups but definitely holds its own in comparison to other providential bands. Starting just a year ago, Thoughts on Bowling is composed of two U of A freshmen and a high school junior. Bassist Taten Juan, guitarist Berkeley Wasson and drummer/vocalist Arden Warr all met in Bentonville High School before Wasson and Juan moved to Fayetteville this past year to start college.
Thoughts on Bowling is a Midwest emo/fifth wave emo band that garners around 65,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The group started playing live shows around six months ago and has played around 10 shows to date. The band currently plays shows throughout the South and Midwest. The Midwest emo genre resonated with the members as they wanted to tap into the unexpressed feelings of their generation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wanting to express relation to melancholic feelings with an upbeat sound, this genre helps them accomplish that. In addition to the emotions behind their ambition and what they want their music to symbolize, they really just love the sound.
“Instrumental-wise it really just itches my brain the right way,” Wasson said.
With great sound comes great energy, described Juan, adding, “My favorite thing is probably just playing the shows. I love matching the energy of the crowd and just having a good time.”
Thoughts on Bowling’s inspiration across the board vary with consistent hints of an emo/punk flavor.
“I’ve had some really weird (music) phases,” Warr said, accounting for his taste. They attribute popular bands such as Mom Jeans, Title Fight, Basement, TRSH and Pierce the Veil in concocting the band’s sound.
“Just kind of the genre we play, that’s who I’m kinda inspired by,” Wasson said.
These bands, whose members walk among us, all find emotion in the music they get to create and perform. With Squash Garden’s vibrant flow across genres, the energetic blaze Mongolian Firefight fosters and the raw angst of the emo rock subgenre Thoughts on Bowling taps into, these local bands all express passion with their sound as they continue to pursue their dreams within music.