The much-loved and uniquely long-lasting student band Mutual Friends played their final show on Saturday, Jan. 28, just a week before five of the band’s eight members skied down the Snow Bowl for the Feb celebration. In addition to lead singer Annabelle Iredale ’23.5, guitarist Andrew Grossman ’23.5, pianist and singer Kai Fukuda ’23.5, drummer Jon Jon March ’23.5 and saxophonist Bess Gramling ’23.5, the band included trumpet player Nate Corbett ’25, bass player Hans Kindstedt '24 and guitarist Charlie Moore ’24.
The band had a presence on campus lasting all four years of the recent graduates’ time at Middlebury and a set of songs frequent audience members knew well enough to sing along to throughout the show. The crowd that flocked to the Brooker House basement brought an enthusiasm that matched the band’s evident passion for making music.
The group could be seen soaking up the special moment amongst themselves with frequent smiles, glances and quick chatter in between songs. Their love for their craft radiated out to audience members who sang, danced and cheered along to some of their classic covers, such as “Animal Spirits” by Vulfpeck, “Fall Into Place” by Couch and “Sour Candy” by Melt.
The group attributed its ultimate sound, which they loosely identified as “indie funk jazz,” to their rendition of this final track.
“I think when we rehearsed ‘Sour Candy’ it kind of struck a chord with everyone and I really feel like the repertoire that we chose after that was building off of that foundational work,” Fukuda said.
“It's the one that’s always the encore song,” Moore added.
Though they were able to celebrate their finale with a large and consistent following, opportunities to perform were scant when the group first formed.
The group’s debut performance, which they played under the name “Untitled Feb Band,” was at a Wednesday Open Mic Party (WOMP) concert in March 2020. Only weeks into their first semester on campus, the certainty of a weekly slot to perform disappeared when the students were sent home. Upon learning this news, the band cobbled together two songs to play in just a day for what would be the final WOMP of that year.
“We were like, OK, it has to be tonight. So then we went to practice for hours,” Iredale recalled.
When the original Mutual Friends arrived back on campus for the fall 2020 semester, the music scene that they had known during their first few weeks at Middlebury had largely vanished.
“It was wild to come back after being at that first WOMP and seeing like 100 people in that space and to be like ‘Oh my God, this is what playing music at Middlebury is’ and then the next semester having no opportunities,” Grossman said.
They had to get creative if they wanted to play for an audience.
“We did a virtual gig in the Coff [Coffrin] Lounge… and we all had to be spaced out. And then we started that semester, we started playing outside a little bit,” Iredale said.
Even amongst the constraints of Covid-19, the crew managed not only to keep playing together, but to expand the group. Gramling, Corbett, Moore and Kindstedt joined Iredale, Fukuda, March and Grossman, who were still technically playing as the Untitled Feb Band.
The introduction of the non-Feb Mutual Friends led the group to select their new namesake.
“We realized we had to change the name,” Fukuda said. Inspiration for it struck while listening to a specific lyric from Animal Spirits. “We heard ‘mutual friends’ and were like immediately, like that’s it,” he said.
The group has come a long way since those early days. Now, students can’t seem to get enough opportunities to see them play. Whether the group is performing a set at Nocturne or at a basement concert, there’s always a crowd.
It is not just their danceable sets and talent that make Mutual Friends’ shows so enjoyable. If you’re lucky enough to get a spot dancing up front or are tall enough to see over the crowd that is sure to coalesce, it is clear that the band members enjoy playing just as much as their audience enjoys listening. Throughout the entirety of a performance, each and every Mutual Friend can be seen smiling, swaying and encouraging one another.
“My best friends came out of this band in college, and I think it’s been my favorite part of college,” Iredale said. “If we had more time here, there’s no doubt in our minds that we could do this forever. I think we love it so much that we would never stop.”
