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Plagiarists release second album

By Peter Hill '08
May 1, 2008

Regardless of what the band's name suggests, a first listen to Plagiarists' forthcoming recording, Literal Scene, is unlikely to conjure the words "unoriginal" or "derivative." For their second album, the popular campus band continues to establish their own sound, refusing to emulate even their acclaimed first album, Veto. Literal Scene is a heartfelt, evolved and musically sophisticated account of the band's past and present.

PlagiaristsLarge
Plagiarists' members include Eric Wilson, Davis Wille, Mikael Witte, Blake Wergeland and Brendan Golle.
A band has no merit if it needs a gimmick," guitarist Eric Wilson says. "Our music speaks for itself."

Each of the band's members -- which include Wilson (guitar, vocals), Davis Wille (guitar), Mikael Witte (bass, vocals), Blake Wergeland (drums) and Brendan Golle (keys, vocals) -- studied abroad during the past year. When they returned, the band regrouped with a fresh sound and a new creative outlook.

"We came back with new instruments, a new palette of ideas and a new approach to experimentation," Wergeland says.

The result is, according to Witte, an album that is about home and growing up in the Midwest. The lyrics combine with the sound to build the music's message. "Our new album has a distinctive artistic direction, in terms of both meaning and music," Witte says. "The lyrics have been shaped by our growing up, and our instrumentation is more structured and orchestral."

Plagiarists, long a favorite campus band, got the attention of the Twin Cities music scene in 2005 when their first album, Veto, was released on alumnus Ian Anderson's Afternoon Records label. The album was feted by the local press, including the Star Tribune, which praised its "catchy and accessible songs ... with enough edge to keep them from melting into over-poppy mush."

Anderson produced the new album, but the band members decided to finance the project themselves. The members relied on their own funds and a grant from the Finstad Program for Entrepreneurial Studies, which provides capital for entrepreneurial ventures on campus. "We maintain a great relationship with Afternoon Records, but this arrangement allows us to control distribution, copyrights, royalties, and to seek our own distribution and publicity agreements in an effort to earn attention from national record labels," Wergeland says.

The entire band will graduate this year. This June, Plagiarists will embark on a two-year national tour. "This is our full-time job," Witte says.

Literal Scene debuts Friday, May 2, at a release party at the Grand event center in downtown Northfield. The band will also perform May 10 at Nomad World Pub in Minneapolis. More information on both events is available on the band's MySpace page.

Contact Kari VanDerVeen at 507-786-3970 or vanderve@stolaf.edu.