Fall Fest is finally here, and it’s bringing a rowdy lineup with the CJ Solar Band.
Belmont University seniors CJ Solar, Nick Gibbens, Bennett McMordie and Zach Sheffler make up the country/rock group.
The guys will make a 10-hour drive from Nashville in their big white van, most likely with Solar driving, McMordie keeping a hand on the tunes, Gibbens napping in the third row and Sheffler avoiding all duties.
“Zach, we’re lucky if we can get him to drive 20 minutes the whole day,” Gibbens said with a laugh.
This won’t be the band’s first trip to Baton Rouge. Solar, who is originally from Baton Rouge, makes it a point to play in Louisiana about once a month. With brothers attending LSU and family still living here, Louisiana is a home away from home, and not just for Solar.
Gibbens, who considers Louisiana a “home base” as far as the band’s live following goes, looks forward to spicy crawfish boils most, as does the rest of the group.
“I’ll take a good crawfish boil over like barbecue any day,” McMordie said. “It’s like a little vacation. It’s got all the great food and the cool music.”
How is it, though, that four college seniors are landing gigs at the Texas Club and Bayou Country Superfest? They created a band from the “pick of the litter,” according to Gibbens.
Three and half years ago, each musician walked into Belmont University as college freshmen not knowing each other. Within the first week of classes, a Facebook page brought together the four people who now make up the CJ Solar Band.
According to McMordie, there are so many musicians at Belmont that people get “sized up” for bands almost immediately. McMordie stumbled upon the Facebook page created by Gibbens and Solar, thinking it was some sort of “Belmont jam club.” It turned out the page was actually Solar’s effort to find the perfect guys to make up his future band.
“We all showed up at the same time,” Gibbens said. “We were all looking for the same thing. We got together based off of somewhat common interests.”
With Solar songwriting, Sheffler on lead guitar, McMordie playing bass and Gibbens on drums, the group has been together ever since.
Although they enjoy the music they create together, of course, each member has a slightly different taste when it comes to personal style.
Sheffler is the “indie” guy, while McMordie is mostly into funk. Gibbens says The Black Crowes and the Foo Fighters are his “bread and butter.”
“The reason I play drums the way I do is because I have a sad man crush on the drummer from the Foo Fighters,” Gibbens said.
As students, traveling on weekends can get overwhelming, and sometimes class must be skipped. But at least the band has upgraded from its old airport shuttle bus, which might have been more trouble than it was worth.
“I mean, we probably broke down in like every state — in Kentucky, Texas and Florida and every state in between there,” Solar said.
Aside from all the traveling gigs, recording has begun for the group, and it released its first album, “Bars, Cars and Broken Hearts,” last spring.
The band believes the key in the music business is to never give up on your dream. The ultimate goal is to make it a full-time gig.
“Every college student is worried about what they’re going to do when they graduate, you know, how they’re going to pay the bills,” McMordie said. “We’re pretty confident that we can make it work with the CJ Solar Band.”
With Solar working on writing more original songs, the group has plans to stick together and make a career of doing what they love.
“Who the hell knows where we’re going to be in a month, or even six months?” Gibbens said. “I’m just going to ride the train and see where it takes us and do whatever I can to get us where we need to be.”
LSU’s Fall Fest, beginning at 11 a.m. Friday, is the band’s first stop of three in Louisiana this weekend. On Saturday, they will hit up Abbeville’s Cattle Festival, and Sunday they will play the Rock ‘n’ Bowl in New Orleans.