By Kelsey Roebuck 

roebuckk@grinnell.edu

The band that performed in Gardner last Friday, The Orwells, went home empty-handed after the teenage rock group damaged three locations on and off campus.
SGA Concerts chair Pooj Padmaraj ’13 watched as the lead singer grew progressively more destructive throughout the show.

“The lead singer of the band I guess at first started kind of punching the ceiling … and then as the set progressed he started pulling down on the metal that holds the drop ceiling in place,” Padmaraj said.

Concert attendees were also uncomfortable with several of the band members’ disrespectful behavior.

“Things were kind of tense at the concert because the band was doing things like … yelling ‘f*ck it,’ and just a lot of hate speech popped up,” said Sam Dunnington ’14.
Following the performance, the band made its way to Haines where it scrawled profanities on the third floor.

“They got in—I don’t know how they got in—and they defaced some of the walls,” Padmaraj said.

“Some vulgar language was written on the back of the door to the stairwell. At one point in the afternoon I cleaned it up—I didn’t want to look at it anymore,” said Haines resident Elizabeth Phelan ’14.

Finally, The Orwells finished their evening off campus, where one member threw a chair through the window of a student’s off-campus house.

“It wasn’t even all of the band. It was just one guy who also happened to go off campus and throw a chair through the window,” Padmaraj said.

“They showed up at an after-party thrown by some Grinnell students at which they behaved badly enough that they were asked to leave by one of the women who lived in the house,” Dunnington said. “Once he left, he threw a tantrum outside.”

The band was screened by the Concerts committee as usual and was chosen because they seemed to be rising stars in the music world.

“They happen to be very young,” Padmaraj said. “I think their oldest member is nineteen.”

Padamaraj retained their check after witnessing the damage in Gardner Friday night. All of the damage costs will be subtracted from their paycheck and the remaining balance, if there is any, will be paid to the band at a later date.

“It’s in their contract. It says that if they cause any damage or do anything on our property, we will charge them,” Padmaraj said.

Padmaraj has notified Facilities Management, Michael Sims, the Director of Campus Center Operations/Student Activities and Gabriel Barela, the RLC for Loosehead as well as contacting the band’s agents to be sure that any repairs will be covered by the band.

“The agents are in agreement, so there’s really not much other than that they caused damage and now they have to deal with it,” Padmaraj said.