The Bell Tower Blues Band regularly performs their signature blues in Wolf Plaza and Tucker-Owen Beach. From the trio’s humble beginnings in the Arts Village, the band looks to give back to the community and release original music in the near future. 

Evans Humphreys, a second-year studying human biology, plays electric bass, sings and plays harmonica in the band. 

Humphreys said the band found its beginnings when Mason Stark, a second-year studying business administration, overheard Humphreys and his roommate jamming while visiting a friend across the hallway in the Arts Village. Stark approached them with his guitar and asked to play along. This year’s drummer, Justin Cristinziano, a first-year studying computer science, completed the band’s lineup.

With a full lineup, Humphreys said the band almost instantly began performing in outdoor spaces on campus, most notably Wolf Plaza and Tucker-Owen Beach.

Once the band started playing outside, Cristinziano said they were met with immediate success.

“I think [the positive feedback] kind of brought us all together,” Cristinziano said. “We try our best every performance to really show people how special that energy is that you get out of [blues].”

Cristinziano said the main benefit of playing in public instead of exclusively performing at venues is the feedback the band receives from students.

“We got really good feedback on specific songs that people were loving and other songs that we noticed people didn’t like, so we’ve kind of switched over our setlist, really trying to target that specific audience that really likes that kind of music,” Cristinziano said. “Plus, we all don’t get quite as nervous — we kind of see it as practice.”

Stark said the band is heavily influenced by revolutionary blues guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Muddy Waters and the blues rock bands of the ‘70s, especially Led Zeppelin. He said he recognizes this genre is not popular among most students but finds that most students are receptive to the band’s music once they have heard it.

“I’ve grown to kind of like the fact that we play a lot of different stuff because I think people really respond to something new,” Stark said. “People really respond the most and are the most receptive to just the raw energy and emotion that we put out there. I think that’s probably the most important thing that connects us, and I find that when we’re all jumping around and smiling, that’s when people are doing the same back to us.”

When playing live, Stark said their blues style encourages them to take different approaches to the same songs, offering a different experience each time they perform.

“It’s never the same performance, even if it’s roughly the same song,” Stark said. “We’re always giving little different takes on it — switching up a solo or switching up the groove — almost every solo I do, I approach completely new.”

Cristinziano said Stark’s lead guitar style cements the band’s blues sound.

“I think Mason’s style sounds very similar to the genre, like Hendrix, and he did a really nice mix of those two,” Cristinziano said. “I hear a lot of guys who come into the places we’re playing and they’re like, ‘Wow, I thought Jimi was being played through the speaker.’”

Humphreys said he particularly remembered the first time the band played “Ain’t No Sunshine,” by Bill Withers. He said the band played it so well they instantly knew it would become a cornerstone of their live setlist.

“That was kind of one of those moments where the music just flowed through us,” Humphreys said. “That version of ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ — we hadn’t practiced it before at all, but it was near perfect. The vibes were on point. Everybody was just killing it. We were like, ‘We need to add that in.’”

Stark said after showing Debbie Daniels, the beloved food service technician of Case Dining Hall, a video of him playing the guitar behind his head, the dining hall invited the band to perform in Case’s outdoor seating area. He said this exemplifies the driving force behind the band’s performances: giving back to the community.

“You’ve got to give a shout-out to Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Shauna from Case,” Stark said. “I’ve been there almost every single day of the week ever since I came here last year, and they’re always the first ones to say hello and give you a smile when you walk in the building. … We’re always down to play anywhere, it doesn’t really matter as long as we’re having fun and [we] really try to do a lot of stuff for NC State and give back to the community that’s given us so much.”

Humphreys said Caroline Heater, a fourth-year studying applied mathematics and economics, is familiar with the local music scene and helped the band find their first gigs off campus. He said the band’s first gig at a popular backyard party location, set the stage for the future of the band and how they present their unorthodox style to a student audience. 

“We opened up with a song called ‘Hoochie Coochie Man,’” Humphreys said. “It is a total classic. People didn’t like it very much, it was too old — too bluesy. That’s one of the things where we want to stick to our roots. We’re still gonna play that song, maybe just in a different setting.”

Now that the band has three hours worth of live set to play, Stark said the band has begun writing and recording original music. He said the band hopes to release their first original songs in the near future.

While the band respects its blues roots, Stark said they are not letting any genres or labels hold their creativity back.

“Naturally, the jams that produce original songs — things that come up in the spur of the moment — are definitely drawing from those [blues] influences,” Stark said. “Mostly, we’re just trying to do what can really express ourselves the most and put our true self out there and not try to hide behind any wall of a genre that we are supposed to fit in.”

The band’s next performance will be with Carson Mac at the Maintain Your Brain: Battle of The Bands on Saturday, April 15 from 1-4 p.m. at Stafford Commons.