However, the band loves to play with musicians that are their friends. Even opening for Manchester Orchestra at WQAQ’s Spring Concert seemed to be surreal. Minus the Bear and Kevin Devine are two of his favorite artists of all time, and he had the wonderful opportunity to open for both of them last year in Alumni Hall in front of a sold out crowd. The band also plays a few covers, such as “I Want You Back,” “Let’s Get It On” and “Hey Jude.”įarrell also spoke of his favorite personal experiences with the band. “‘Everyone is a VIP to Someone’ is also particularly awesome because none of the parts I play are that difficult so I can have a lot more fun with it.” “There’s been a few shows in recent memory that the crowd sang the intro louder that John did,” he said.

“We can start writing a song that sounds like a John Mayer or Mad Caddies B-side and by the time we’re finished you probably won’t be able to pick those influences out,” Farrell said.įurthermore, Farrell’s favorite song to perform is “Youthenized.” He said that the sound is more guitar-based than the rest of their music, and gets the crowd moving. The band works to create an original sound, using their past influences, yet not imitating anything they have heard before. The band considers The Beatles, Muse and Brand New as influences, but they find themselves a diverse group, overall. Yet, being classified as jazzy rock has stuck. Farrell mentions that it is often difficult to be a rock band with a horn section, and not ultimately be labeled as ska. Great Caesar and the GoGetters’ sound can be classified as jazzy rock. He filled in for Andy for a few shows and eventually ended up rewriting a bunch of horn parts and coming up with these crazy ideas for new songs and we all decided he was a pretty important asset to have.” Once Parker went away to school, he met Stephen Chen, an alto sax player. It started making more sense as we wrote new songs and Tom started playing trumpet full-time.” “I played a few shows with them and just started becoming a regular fixture, which was iffy at first, as we had to throw a second, sometimes third guitar part into songs that didn’t necessarily need them. “I actually hated a lot of the old Great Caesar songs,” Farrell said. He knew the guys because they attended the same high school. Two years later, Farrell was asked to fill in on guitar for a show. Soon after, the band began leaning toward playing rock music instead of jazz, so Andy Calderon was added to play sax while Parker took the microphone as singer for the band. Then, Tom Sikes was added on guitar and trumpet a year or so later.

The band started with John-Michael Parker, Adam Glaser and Sean Andrew playing in a jazz trio with sax, bass and drums. Mike Farrell, a Quinnipiac student and guitarist for the band spoke with The Chronicle about the band’s formation and their recent achievements.įarrell is fairly new to the band, unlike the other members. The band shared the stage with Manchester Orchestra, Cut Off Your Hands, and Bear Hands. Great Caesar and the GoGetters performed on Friday, April 3 in Alumni Hall for WQAQ’s Spring Concert.

The go getters band