Recycled Percussion rocks their junk in Wright Auditorium

Recycled Percussion rocked the stage in Wright Auditorium Thursday night as the Student Activities Board's second musical performance of the semester. With well over 250 students in attendance, the group of four exhibited their own genre of music, "junk rock."

To open the performance, speakers from Campus Dining and EcoECU talked about the importance of recycling. ECU has been competing in Recycle Mania, a 10-week intercollegiate recycling competition beginning in January and ending on March 28. The competition started in 2001 with just two schools, and this year there are more than 400 schools competing in the recycling contest.

"In 2008, ECU recycled about 7.73 pounds per person, placing us 145 out of 180 in the competition," said Stephanie Sumner, the coordinator of Recycle Mania. "This year we are really going to be competing against ourselves and our scores from last year."

After the speakers exited the stage, the lights dimmed and Recycled Percussion took the stage to present their approach to music. With drums made out of five-gallon paint buckets, metal and plastic barrels, the unconventional music flooded Wright Auditorium.

Drummers Justin Spencer and Ryan Vezina, DJ Pharaoh and guitar player Jimmy Magoon amazed the audience with the ability to rock like any conventional style band, using recycled material.

During the show, Spencer included the audience by playing the drums and tossing his drumsticks back and forth throughout the auditorium.

"These guys are not your typical band; they get more involved with the audience, creating good rapport," said freshmen Michelle Brown.

"That is the reason they are going to do well, because they really show that they love what they do, and they let us have fun with them," said sophomore John Wilson.

Recycled Percussion used empty fire hydrants, cowbells, milk crates, ladders and even a kitchen sink throughout the concert.

"I have never seen anything like that, and I honestly didn't think a fire hydrant and a ladder could make the music they produced from them," said senior Jessica Brogden.

As if playing recycled material as music wasn't enough, Spencer amazed the crowd with his ability to beat box and play the drums with his feet.

Recycled Percussion has been together for 12 years, starting out at a high school talent show. Now the group has more than 200 shows a year and is on tour eight months out of the year. Recycled Percussion has performed on the "Carson Daly Show" and NFL and NBA halftime shows.

To learn more about Recycled Percussion, go to RPROCKS.com or visit their MySpace page at myspace.com/recycledrocks.

This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.