OSU-based band Captain Kidd is set to play at the OUAB Welcome Week Concert Aug. 29 on the South Oval.
Credit: Courtesy of Cory Hajde
Some of Ohio State’s students will be looking at the crowd instead of standing in it for the Welcome Week Concert.
Fourth-years Nate Baumgard (studying geographic information sciences), Eric Blaha (studying marketing), Nick Samson (studying English), Stew Weinland (studying mechanical engineering) and second-year Andrew Gutierrez (studying English) will be playing in their band, Captain Kidd, at Friday night’s show, opening for GRiZ and Capital Cities.
The group started with Baumgard and Blaha, who wanted to keep making music when they came to OSU after they started playing together in high school. They gained popularity with their single “Freaky Love” last fall and a self-titled EP in the spring.
“The progression has been amazing. It’s been the most shocking and surprising sequence of events. We recorded ‘Freaky Love,’ and that kind of changed everything. That got the attention of our manager, and (playing music) became more than a hobby,” Blaha said.
The Welcome Week concert isn’t Captain Kidd’s only performance Friday night, though. The band will be playing at Skully’s Music Diner in the Short North afterward, going on at 10:45 for the Fashion Meets Music Festival’s After Party. The group is set to play again the next day for FMMF at McFerson Commons in the Arena District.
Although its Facebook page only had about 1,850 likes as of Tuesday evening, the band has experience playing large shows.
“These (Columbus) shows will be some of the bigger shows we’ve played, but not the biggest. We played at 12 Fest at Ohio University last year,” Blaha said. “I just can’t wait to throw down with the Ohio State students out there this year.”
Some OSU students are excited to see their classmates on stage.
“I really do like them. They’re very energetic. It’s very danceable. It’s refreshing compared to radio now. Hopefully (Welcome Week) is their first big step to make a name for themselves and the university,” said Evan Brown, a second-year in finance.
Other students hadn’t heard of the band but liked the idea that the university was supporting it.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to get their name out there, so they can get that local support,” said Danielle Baker, a third-year in French.
Blaha isn’t against the idea of making a name for the band, either.
“This is something we want to do and be full-time musicians. We want to be a popular band. We want to, like, party with (President) Barack (Obama). He’ll be able to chief down with us like he did in high school,” he said.
Between recording a new EP and being full-time students with majors ranging from computer science engineering to marketing, Captain Kidd has more shows throughout the fall, including another in the University District.
“We’re going to be hitting the studio in October again. We’re playing the Independents’ festival in late September, and Sept. 4, we’re playing the Local Love show at Fourth Street Bar. And we’re recording, and, hopefully, I’ll get around a 3.0 (grade point average) and have enough money to keep my clothes clean and feed myself. I can’t tell you the end results, but that’s the plan,” Blaha said.
Captain Kidd is made up of Baumgard on guitar and lead vocals, Blaha on guitar, Samson on drums, Weinland on synthesizer and Gutierrez playing bass.
The Welcome Week concert is set for Friday at 7 p.m. on the South Oval and is open to all Columbus campus students with a valid BuckID. FMMF After Party packages start at $35 for Captain Kidd’s other Friday performance at Skully’s. On Saturday, the show at McFerson Commons is free, and Captain Kidd goes on at 5:15 p.m.
