Trio of seniors performs set at local tavern – and settles on a name

The band Wilson gave its first performance at The Rusty Nail in Ardmore on January 21, 2017, but this wasn’t the first time that the band itself played together.

It has already done so under other names.

“We’ve changed the name of the band for every show we’ve played just as kind of a joke,” said band member and drummer Sean Christman ’17.

Luckily for fans of the band who have trouble keeping up with the constant name change, it appears the name Wilson is here to stay.

“We played the show at ‘The Rusty Nail’ under the name Wilson so I guess that’s what we are going to stick with going forward,” Christman said.

Wilson consists of vocalist/guitarist Jimmy Canuso ’17, guitarist Ryan Franks ’17, and Christman.

According to Christman, the band first got together in the spring of 2015 when the three members were sophomores. Their first performance together was also that spring when the trio performed a solo act at the Malvern spring music festival.

Since then, the band has been growing momentum and has played multiple gigs inside and out of the Malvern community.

“We did a show in Philly last year at this place connected to the the Electric Factory, and we’ve also done an Open Mic [Night] here [at Malvern],” said Christman.

The band began planning for their most recent act last month.

Christman said that the group practiced for the gig during community time at Malvern a lot. They also had rehearsals at Canuso’s house.

The hard work paid off when they performed in front of a large crowd at the Rusty Nail, consisting of many classmates and friends.

“We had 41 pre-sold tickets, and about 10 people bought tickets at the door. That’s by far the best turnout we’ve had as a band in the 3 shows we’ve played,” Canuso said.

Many of the people who showed up were Malvern students. Senior Aaron Shirker was one of many Malvern students to attend.

“Overall I thought Wilson’s performance was pretty good,” Shirker said.

According to Shirker and fellow senior Sam Rose, there were some problems with the band’s microphones that made it hard to hear the songs at some times.

Despite these technical difficulties, the crowd seemed really enjoy the band’s gig. Senior Dan Ford really enjoyed seeing the band live in action.

“It was absolutely amazing. Jimmy’s voice was awesome,” Ford said.

Jimmy Dugan ’17 thought the band was really engaging with the audience. “They were telling some jokes and seemed pretty relaxed,” he said.

The consensus among the three band members was that the show went well, but Franks said he was a little worried for it.

“Personally I was nervous because I hadn’t practice often until the week of, but I listened to the set for hours and we executed perfectly during the show,” he said.

For the band itself and its fans, Wilson’s first performance was a hit and has left many wondering when the next gig will be.

Christman said there aren’t any future performances scheduled now, but he hopes there will be one eventually.

Canuso is on the same page and wants to play one last big gig before the band members head off to college.

“We hope to play another show before the school year ends and get even more people out to make it even better,” Canuso said.