Arts & Life

John & Jon show their musical side

Hail_Nero is the name, playing really loud and diversified music is the game. The band is composed of Associated Students Inc. Vice President Jonathon Bolin on guitar and vocals, ASI President John Haberstroh on bass, John Jost on drums and Robbie Zdjelar on lead guitar. Bolin referred to the group as “Robbie and the Johns.”
John and Jon, who met while studying ancient history in Turkey, sarcastically named their band after Nero, who Bolin said is regarded as the worst Roman emperor of all time.
Bolin said that the name plays around with the fact that many of their songs are about social justice.
For being the student leaders of the campus, there wasn’t that big of an audience, but once they started jamming, everyone who was grubbing or studying with their backs against the stage turned around. Some students seemed surprised at seeing who was playing, some nodded their heads along to the beat.
Some friends filed in while they were conducting the sound check, helping them adjust their sound and later dancing and throwing thumbs-ups.
Haberstroh, playing the bass, stood mostly still except for subtle head nodding, as most bassists do. Bolin, on the other hand, thrashed around enough for the both of them.
Their first song sounded like Coheed and Cambria with the falsetto vocals of AC/DC.
To prepare for the next song, Bolin flipped his hat backwards to get up close and personal with the microphone.
Senior graphic design major, Anthony Pacheco, and senior art history major, Robert Panichpakdee, were enjoying their beers when the show kicked off. They agreed the music sounded like “a bunch of different bands jumbled into one.”
“Well, now that you say it, the guy with the long hair looks familiar,” Pacheco said, originally unaware that the metal heads sweating on stage were the same guys who are in their second year of leading the student body.
“This is the death metal one, right?” Zdjelar said as they began their third song.
The song was a rollercoaster of Bolin’s low-toned brooding that plunged into a screeching about feelings, reminiscent of Modest Mouse’s album, “Good News For People Who Like Bad News.” He quivered as he screamed, “get up and fight.”
During the song, Haberstroh was working diligently on pull-offs that created a plucking sound that drew eyes to his bass.
During a break, Zdjelar promoted Cal State Long Beach as Bolin recovered his hat after he threw it off while thrashing onstage, asking the audience “why it has to be this hard.”
While most students didn’t know that Hail_ Nero would be playing at their favorite campus eatery, most seemed pleasantly surprised that their student government can have a little fun outside of the office.
Senior environmental science and policy major Mihyun Kim happened upon the concert when she walked into the nugget to study, but was pleasantly surprised that the executive officers of ASI could pick up instruments and entertain as well.

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