Sweet Covers from Milk Chocolate

Last Monday evening, sitting in the small and stuffy newspaper office in the Hepburn basement, I found myself surrounded by lounging editors, writers and photographers listening to a steady stream of bluesy, jazzy soul played by Innocent Tswamuno ’15 and Mohan Fitzgerald ’14 of the student super-band, Milk Chocolate.

The duo opened with a rendition of the Wood Brother’s “Luckiest Man” followed by Bill Withers’ emotive song, “Grandma’s Hands.” Fitzgerald played the acoustic guitar while Tswamuno simultaneously worked the drum, melodica and a tambourine he admitted to “borrowing” for the night from an unaware friend.

The pair, who met during Tswamuno’s audition for Stuck in the Middle, an acappella group at the College, hit it off immediately.

Fitzgerald recalls, “I don’t want to embarrass him because we tell this story all the time, but basically the room went crazy when he auditioned because he just had this beautiful voice.”

It is a happy miracle that the two came together at all. Tswamuno grew up in Zimbabwe, a preacher’s son, playing keyboard for his church from the age of twelve. Fitzgerald, from Canada, briefly sang in a boy’s choir and tried the alto saxophone before finally learning to play the guitar after high school.

Fitzgerald and Tswamuno began playing together (their first cover: Rocking Chair, by Eric Clapton), and soon debuted their band at 51 Main in May 2013, with help from contributing members of the “Milk Chocolate Project,” Caroline Joyner ’15 (vocals), Max Eingorn ’14 (drums) and Tito Heiderer ’14.5 (bass). This was followed by later shows in Atwater suite BCG and events in McCullough Social Space such as the 200 Days Party.

A typical Milk Chocolate show includes a medley of covers of songs by Eric Clapton, the Wood Brothers and Bill Withers. Think R&B, blues, jazz, soul and reggae. Between schoolwork and extracurriculars, Tswamuno and Fitzgerald have co-written one song called “Never Gonna Call”.

Recently, they revisited 51 Main, this time taking center stage.

“The difference could really not be more stark. I remember distinctly that after that first time we were super bummed out because we’d prepared all this stuff to play, and we thought everyone would to stop and listen to us, and no one listened to us at all! But,” said Fitzgerald, who recalled one man’s praise at the end of the night. “It was the first time anyone had given us any kind of validation.”

At the start of their collaboration, neither musician was concerned with getting attention. Only once they realized their potential and craved a bigger musical outlet did they seek performance space.

“Now that people want to listen to us, it’s a completely added bonus,” said Fitzgerald. “We didn’t care about that, but now that it’s happening, it’s amazing. It’s so much fun. He even got the attention of his own parents, who drove to Middlebury from Toronto to see him and Tswamuno play.

“My parents haven’t stayed up past 9:30 p.m., I think, since the nineties,” said Fitzgerald. “And they were there until the bitter end of that show, still cheesing. And that made me so happy.”

Milk Chocolate has come a long way from that first disappointing night at 51 Main. Two weekends ago they hit the McCullough Social Space stage with the Milk Chocolate Project, for which Fitzgerald, Tswamuno and their contributing members teamed up with rapper Dwayne Scott ’17.

Shelby Redfield ’16, who attended the show, described the band’s effect, “When I first got there, it seemed like everyone was just interested in the chocolate fountain. But as soon as the band started playing everyone just flocked to the front, near the stage, and the dance turned into a concert.”

“That show was very much intrinsically gratifying because we had the best time. I’ve never seen all of us as giddy as after that show,” Fitzgerald said.

While Tswamuno and Fitzgerald study Environmental Studies and Math respectively, they are taking their musical pursuits seriously.

“Next year [following Fitzgerald’s graduation], I’m going to be at a real loss. Mohan plays guitar and sings really well, and we’ve practiced so much, and our voices go together. At this point, we have such good rapport that when he leaves I just won’t have a band,” Tswamuno said. “Being in a band, for you to enjoy it you have to be with the right crew and they have to just click.”

While Tswamuno will continue to study and perform with Stuck in the Middle, Fitzgerald plans to attend music school after graduating. They hope to reunite Milk Chocolate once Tswamuno has graduated.