Glitter Glam
Glitter Glam started almost by accident. Andrew Grossman, Rachel Epperly, and I were in a Jazz Theory course at U of M and the course required students to form small ensembles. At first we were just trying to throw things together for class like everyone else, but as we played together more we all realized that there was some serious musical chemistry between the three of us. Each composition for class became more and more elaborate and we started spending more and more time rehearsing. Eventually we decided to book a show outside of class at the end of that school year and with the momentum from that show we kept playing long after Jazz Theory finals.
In the next few years we played several more shows in Ann Arbor, and in our last year in school we recorded a full length album of original music. I feel like this group really helped me learn what my musical influences are. Everyone in the group had such different backgrounds. Grossman was pursuing a classical percussion performance degree (in addition to jazz performance like me) and was obsessed with the music of Steve Reich, Rachel was pursuing a composition degree and super influenced by avant garde artists like Jenny Hval, and I was playing, working on my Jazz guitar degree, while also touring with a mathy emo band. Between these disparate influences we ended up finding a really unique sound. Even though our ideas were all so different, we learned how to complement each other in really creative ways.
I also loved the spirit of collaboration this band had. Unlike most projects I’ve been involved with I would consider Glitter Glam a “leaderless” ensemble. We all wrote songs, all contributed to each other's writing and arranging, and all did our part in dealing with the logistics of being a band (booking, promotion, communication with a label etc.). I think this group dynamic led to us being more fearless when we played, since no one individual was the center of attention we could focus on supporting each other and collectively pushing our limits. Even though we all kind of went in different directions after we graduated in 2018, this group remains one of my favorite playing experiences.
