“Formed in the annals of Philadelphia, five souls have joined forces to form a union with a powerful bond: Rock n' Roll.” So reads the description on the Facebook page of USSMars, Penn’s up–and–coming experimental garage band. Sophomores Scott Collins, Rishi Chatterji, Jack LaViolette, Kevin Crouch and Alston Brown all agree that USSMars has given them a sense of community—be it with audience members, other musicians or each other. “There’s something exhilarating every time the band gets together and we start playing,” says Brown, the band’s bassist.
Collins, Chatterji, LaViolette and Crouch formed the group at the beginning of their freshman year. “I knew I had to jam with somebody when I came to Penn,” recalls Chatterji, the group’s saxophonist. “Fortunately for me, I was randomly paired with Jack as my freshman–year roommate. I found out he played piano and guitar. We would jam together in the Quad practice room during the week.”Chatterji and LaViolette soon met Crouch, the band’s resident drummer, in Penn Jazz. Soon after, they met Collins through Penn Jazz Combos, a selective group sponsored by the Music Department. “The four of us got together for a jam session, rocked out and decided that we’d meet regularly for rehearsal,” recalls Collins, the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist. Brown joined during their freshman spring semester as a bassist, and USSMars officially launched onto the campus scene.
Consequently, the band covers an expansive array of genres. They plays mostly rock music, but as Crouch explains, that includes all kinds of rock, including hard rock, dance rock and experimental. “It’s loud and intense music that you can dance to,” he says. “I personally love playing ‘Hella Kopter’ (A group original). It’s super punky, but it’s so catchy.” “I also get to yell super loud and destroy my guitar,” he adds laughing. Crouch, along with Collins, has written several originals that have hard rock elements, but emphasize dancing. “It makes our live shows a lot of fun,” says LaViolette. “We also play covers from all sorts of genres, including hard rock, electronic, hip–hop and classic rock.” Often times, this leads the band to new interpretations of popular songs. “What started out as a funny idea turned into a rock instrumental cover of ‘Bangarang’ by Skrillex,” Collins recalls during a rehearsal. “I love that we had the drive and the patience to figure that one out. It’s danceable and sounds cool, if a little bizarre.”
The band has its eyes set on the city of Philadelphia, trying to play more gigs in local bars and restaurants. With the seven original songs USSMars hopes to record this semester, they're sure to reach their goal of releasing an album by the end of the school year. “We already have a free demo EP out on Bandcamp,” adds Crouch. “We’re sending it to various venues and promoters in the hopes of branching out more into Philly.”
