Student band High Street will be the opening act for MOB and WDCV’s upcoming Spring Concert, set to be held on Friday, May 5. This comes after the group won WDCV’s Battle of the Bands on March 24 — which included three other acts.

High Street is made up of five members. The lineup includes guitarists Quinn Hart ’26 and Finn Murray-Campbell ’26, bassist Owen Barry ’26, lead singer Ryan McMahon ’26 and drummer Matthew Tabrisky ’26.

The band came together in the Fall 2022 semester in what Barry called “staggered little connections” — through dorm life, going to the movies, mutual friends and other little connections. Most of the band’s members started the year living in Witwer Hall, leading to their original name, “Witwer Band.” They later went by “Union Station,” after the SNAR, before deciding on High Street after realizing how many other bands are called Union Station — most notably the backing band for bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.

The band started playing outside of Witwer with little equipment, including no microphone for McMahon. They have since gotten more equipment to use, and have played some of their own shows in Allison Community Hall, along with events including house shows and open mics, such as those hosted by Treehouse or WDCV.

Given the band’s upcoming performance at the Spring Concert, High Street feel that opening for a larger musician can be a great opportunity for the campus’ live music scene. “I think bringing back that culture is so important — for both us as a band and the college,” Hart said. They also cited fellow student band Green Tangerine as a large help and influence, due to being older and helping them with their sound.

High Street’s influence comes from many different places due to the members’ backgrounds, with influences from classic rock, grunge, indie rock and more from across the musical spectrum. McMahon said when it comes to practicing original content, “at least internally, you can feel who brought it in.” He gave the example that a song may feel like “a Quinn thing, and then it sort of, like, morphs into all of our thing.” Murray-Campbell has prior experience with producing his own music, and the band plans to create more songs before they record, so they can put out a full set of music instead of releasing one song at a time.

Along with the Spring Concert, High Street will play at least four other shows this semester. These include Open Mic on April 15, Cabaret and Porchfest on April 22 and S.H.A.R.K. Day on May 5.