By Liz Pennock
Photo courtesy of Jubilo Drive
It’s
Thursday night and the band members
of Jubilo Drive have just finished a
weekly practice session at their band
house. An impressive collection of
records, CDs and two large speakers sit on a kitchen
table as senior Jordan Kleinman drops the needle on an
old jazz record.
As the record crackles, the members of Jubilo Drive
recall how they met back in 2012 during their freshman
year. They were all looking to get involved in music,
since their non-music majors weren’t conducive environments for forming a band. Kleinman was walking
through campus one day when he met Hayden Vaughn,
who was playing the guitar in front Oliphant Hall.
Kleinmen and Vaughn discussed forming a band,
and after a few persuasive conversations with their
current band-mates, Jubilo Drive was born.
“Chapman has always provided a nice home base,
because we could play at school events in our own
neighborhood. It has also been great to get practice in
regards to advertising and how to get new people to
shows. Learning how to be a band here has been pretty
great,” said former Chapman student Vaughn.
Jubilo Drive is comprised of guitarist Kleinman and
fellow Chapman students lead signer and guitarist Henry Kuckens, drummer Eric Cruz and bassist Vaughn. As
one of the more vocal bands at Chapman, Jubilo Drive
has performed both on and off campus, sharing their
“California-rock” style music with both students and
the public.
On campus opportunities have been helpful for them
to get the word out about their band and experience
performing live for large and small audiences alike.
However, for students like Lauren Potts, a senior studio art major, finding equipment to perform with and a
venue proves to be more of a challenge.
Potts started playing the drums at 11 years-old and
has travelled the world to share her talent. As a part of
the San Jose Youth Symphony, she travelled to Chile
and Argentina where she performed six concerts in five
cities, including a performance for the First Lady of
Chile with the Chilean National Youth Orchestra.
Potts said she “feels encouraged to play but there just
aren’t any means to do so. Drums take up a lot of space
and are super loud, so I can’t necessarily bring my kit
from home and keep them in my apartment.”
Luis Chavez, a hip-hop artist who also goes by Big
Lou, expressed similar concerns in regards to performing on campus.
“Personally, I don’t know if there have been enough
chances for Chapman students to perform on campus,”
he said. “There haven’t been any hip-hop or rock nights.
Open mic nights are great, but if people don’t know
what to expect, they might not like it.”
As a creative producing major, Chavez is focused on pursuing a career in film and wants to
produce, write, and direct. He thinks music is a
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MEMBERS OF JUBILO DRIVE POSE OUTSIDE OF A CONCERT VENUE. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: GRAPHIC DESIGN
MAJOR HENRY KUCKENS, COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR ERIC CRUZ, CHAPMAN GRADUATE HAYDEN VAUGHN
AND PR AND ADVERTISING MAJOR JORDAN KLEINMAN.
Beyond the music classes: Chapman’s
merry bands of musicians
great outlet and can be incredibly fun, and thinks that
he’ll just “keep rapping until people don’t want to hear
it anymore.” However, he’d still like to see more students
collaborate when it comes to making music and create a
more supportive music scene here on campus.
In fact, Chavez has already taken a step in the right
direction and collaborated with other musicians at
Chapman, including junior business administration
major Evan DeVries.
DeVries, also known as Devreezy or DVRZ, describes his music as a solo project that falls between
rock and electronic dance music, with more of a “chillwave feel” inspired by artists like Flume, Chet Faker and
Washed Out.
Big Lou and DVRZ have collaborated on several songs,
including “Listen Ho” and “Blue Hawaii”, both of which
are available for download on DeVries’ website.
The two have also performed together at local coffee
shops including Chapman Coffee House and The Ugly
Mug, both located less than a 5 minute walk from
campus.
As a member of the Student Government Association, DeVries has been a part of the ongoing discussion
about having an on campus bar or pub built. He said
that this would be a great place for more bands and solo
artists to perform and would be a more conducive environment for them to grow and develop as musicians.
Due to the controversial nature of t