Teenage Angst and Tony Hawk: a band called University
It’s difficult to make your band stand out at a weekend festival. As crowds wander in and out of the gig room every half hour between midday and midnight, a new pint in hand each time, the limits of their attention are tested. The goal for most budding bands is to keep audience members in the room, to distract them from dipping off to the smoking area, and to ensure that they remember their set a little more clearly than the rest. With a PlayStation 2 and a permanent marker, Crewe-based band University have achieved that feat.
Standing out at a weekender is tough, but it’s even more challenging when the event is curated and hosted by the Brudenell Social Club. This Leeds-based venue is known for booking top-tier talent, from local bands to well-established acts. This year’s edition of In Colour was no exception, showcasing a stellar lineup.
The festival played host to upcoming local bands in its early hours, including post-punk connoisseurs Pop Vulture and The Rapture fanatics Slick Cage, while Snapped Ankles and Do Nothing provided blistering headline slots. Somewhere in between, University garnered the attention of The Brudenell’s fabled main room with a curiously captivating live set akin to watching a split-screen TikTok.
Their set-up on stage looks a little different from everyone else’s. There’s Joel Smith behind the drums, Zak Bowker on vocals and guitar, and Ewan Barton on bass, but sat in the centre of the stage is Edy Leigh, whose role seems to alternate between video gaming and song title exposition. He settles into a cross-legged position, donning a cap and what appears to be a T-shirt to hide his face, and hits play on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.
The instruments around him erupt into an amalgamation of sonic influences – there’s hardcore, emo, and even elements of pop-punk. If there is one consistency in their set, it’s playing as loud as fast as possible. I’m suddenly grateful I stopped by the bar for some earplugs. The band afford us only brief moments of respite from the torrent of noise as Edy briefly hits pause on his skating to sift through some A4 paper and locate the title of the next song. They afford us no verbal communication, leaving some audience members squinting every couple of minutes.
‘Massive TØP Tattoo’, one reads, referencing their pop-punk predecessors in characteristically boyish handwriting. ‘History of Iron Maiden pt.2’, declares another. I can’t remember if we’re yet to hear ‘History of Iron Maiden pt.1’. Maybe it doesn’t even exist. The lights come up for each song title reveal, their playful names eliciting quiet laughs from throughout the audience before the band drop us back into thrashing noise and skate tricks.
Their performance elicits the same emotion you might have once felt when recruited by your mum to get your brother downstairs for tea, knocking desperately to pierce through the angry music and intense gaming focus he’s shrouded in. Contrary to their namesake, University’s music is filled to the brim with teenage angst and internal rebellion.
Their songs prove to be the perfect soundtrack for Pro Skater, not far off the punk rock that actually did accompany it upon release, but it’s not the only game in Edy’s collection. “We play whatever Edy allows,” University tell me when I ask about their video games of choice. It’s unclear if they’re really talking about gameplay or music, as the band have previously suggested that their in-house gamer also writes everything.
In keeping with their unusual stage presence, the band answer each question as a trio while portraying Edy as their leader. When I inquire about the inspiration for their stage presence, they’re suitably enigmatic. “Edy made this convoluted system involving dice rolls,” they state, “none of us know what it means, but he conveys it to us using eye signals, and we just do whatever he says.”
They’re equally tentative about revealing too much about Edy, acknowledging that he does more than just game but refusing to share any details. “We are not allowed to disclose that,” they shrugged, their commitment to mystery only adding to their intrigue. The most sincere response came when we looked further afield to the Brudenell, which University thought was “pretty sweet”. “The games room was hard,” they added.
Some might consider having your (rumoured) songwriter on-stage with you playing Pro Skater rather than picking up an instrument to be a little gimmicky, but University had the Brudenell in the palm of their hand for their entire set. Perhaps it’s the TikTok Subway Surfer effect of being able to flit between two forms of entertainment, the feeling of being an angsty teen once more, or the sheer peculiarity of their live presence. Whatever it is, the In Colour punters won’t forget University, even if it is thanks to Edy ending their set with a sheet of paper scrawled with their band name.
