by Karrianne Carter
edited by Erica Jordan

On April 30 at 7 p.m., students will be able to enjoy a night of live performances and dinner thanks to two sophomore Community Assistants.

The event is a Residential Life-sponsored dinner with performances by two up-and-coming bands; One Step Further and Against Atlas. Sophomore Community Assistants Melissa Dymek and Robert Clegg are the creators of the event, assisted by Arianna Mclean and Kaitlyn Taylor.

The idea came up after Dymek was approached by her cousin to come see a show a few months ago. Dymek described how the event took place at a restaurant where her cousin’s band, One Step Further, played during the meals, inspiring her to come up with the idea. “It’s part of my job to plan events and I thought it’d be a cool idea,” said Dymek. “I wanted to do something that hasn’t been done before.” The dinner will take place in Cheney Hall followed by the live performances.

One Step Further has been described as an alternative rock/jam band, often “compared to Dave Matthews Band” according to Scott McGrath, an alumni of Franklin Pierce and the band’s keyboardist/vocalist.

OSF performs regularly in the Gardner area, as well as other places in Massachusetts. The band was created by McGrath and Ryan Pasakinskas (acoustic guitar/vocalist) a year ago when they were looking to put together a group for a small show. Because of the chemistry, they along with Jason Anderson (drummer), Rob Thompson (saxophone), Adam Morin (bass), and Tim Gruntman (lead guitarist) decided to stay together.

Currently they are up for two Worcester Music Awards: best jam/groove act and best pop act. Votes are still being tallied at www.thepulsemag.com. They will also be headlining this year’s “Bull Run” in Shirley, MA. One Step Further has one CD under Altimeter Records which should be completed by the time of the concert, consisting of 4 studio tracks and 6 live tracks.

The second band, Against Atlas, will be using the event as their debut. They are described as being “a progressive rock and metal band from Berklee College of Music” according to their MySpace page. Bassist Christian Saint-Louis said that they “sound like Sparks the Rescue” with a slightly heavier sound.

The band consists of 5 members: Saint-Louis, Chris Kinney (Guitar), Tom Polzine (Guitar), Blaize Collar (Drums), and Matt McCarthy (piano/keyboard). Both Kinney and Polzine are currently endorsed by Strictly Seven Guitars. Against Atlas is currently recording their first album, and will be having their second performance at the Palladium on May 15 in Worcester for the Exposure Music Festival.

“We hope it goes well so we can do it again with more bands,” said Clegg. “Everyone should go.” The event is free and open to the public.

For more information on the bands, go to www.myspace.com/onestepfurther and www.myspace.com/againstatlas.