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Printer-Friendly ModeThe Gloaming vies for diverse sound
Name refers to the glow in the sky just after sunset
February 11, 2008 —
Technically, they are an alternative rock band, but they play indie-oriented music, blues, and contemporary-sounding rock. Diverse, then, might be a good word for their music. It also might be a good word for their size - as nearly a foot and a half separates one of their guitarists and vocalists and their drummer, who is just over four-feet 11-inches tall.
They are The Gloaming, and they got their start in the fall of 2006, when SVSU seniors Adam Arnold, Nathaniel Kovalcsik and Kurt McCool found a drummer for their band.
"We'd been looking for a drummer," Kovalcsik, a communication major, said, "and one of our theater friends knew Josh. So, we set up a meeting with him at a gas station. He jumped out of the van, and we were like..."
"'Wow! This guy is short!'" finished Arnold, a secondary education history major.
That drummer is Josh Younk, a Delta College student, who is a bit timid compared to the rest of the band.
"They're all the goofy theater guys," Younk said. "I'm here because I love the music."
Arnold and Kovalcsik met long before their involvement in SVSU's theater department while they were dating cheerleaders from Sebewaing. They also played in another band before meeting McCool, a theater senior, looking for a drummer and starting The Gloaming. After a couple of rehearsals, they played their first show at SVSU in September 2006.
"I remember this lady walked up to me and asked, 'Is this your little brother?'" Kovalcsik said, "I said, 'No. This is our drummer.'"
The variety of their music most likely comes from the variety of their influences. Kovalcsik likes Radiohead and Coldplay, while McCool admires Jack Johnson, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and AFI. Arnold is a huge Beatles fan, which affects his music, and both he and Younk get a lot from The Goo Goo Dolls as well.
"Of course," said Kovalcsik, "our biggest influences are each other."
And Arnold stresses that they stay very lyrically driven.
"We don't like to scream," he said.
"We once opened for a bunch of metal bands," said Kovalcsik, "and we dressed up like a bunch of nerds, just for fun."
"We cleared the place out," Younk added.
The band recently recorded an album entitled Know Your Heart in a recording studio behind the house Arnold and Kovalcsik, rent on the outskirts of Beuna Vista Township. They've also recorded an EP entitled Tired of Waiting. Copies of their albums are available by contacting them through their MySpace page at myspace.com/thegloamingrock.