The fourth annual Freeman Spring Concert has one more local act than usual this year.

“We initially hoped for three local bands and three national touring bands like we had had in the past, but our funding was not as large as last year,” said Thomas Shaw, senior in mechanical engineering and president of the Freeman Alumni Committee, which organizes the event.

The funding for this year’s show is about 75 percent of what it was last year but is still the second highest amount the concert has received.

“We looked at what we had in funding and knew we wouldn’t have enough for a third national touring band,” Shaw said.

Putting on the event is a year-round project. Shaw said the committee is already looking toward next year’s concert.

Nick Wineland, junior in communication studies and talent coordinator for the Freeman Alumni Committee, said that, while the concert begins at 4 p.m. on April 19, there is no definite time it will end.

“We expect it to last until 10 or 11 p.m., but that is very tentative,” he said. “Last year, we scheduled Less Than Jake to play about an hour, and they ended up playing for almost two-and-a-half hours.”

The Poison Control Center

Band members:

Patrick Fleming – guitar, vocals

Devin Frank – guitar, trumpet, vocals

Joey Terry – bass, trumpet, vocals

Donald Curtis – drums, saxophone, keyboard, vocals

Pat Fleming said his band always aims to get the audience involved in a performance as much as possible.

“When we play, we don’t just want to be a band playing on stage. The audience is just as important as we are, so we get people involved – the more the better,” he said. “We never put on the same show twice.”

Fleming said the band gets their influences from each other, since their tastes in music varies so much.

“I am into the ’70s-era music, Devin is into classical, Donald really likes jazz and our bass player is into ’70s rock,” he said. “We don’t even have a frontman, since we all write songs and do vocals.”

Some members, including Fleming, are self-taught musicians, which Fleming said may help the band in stand out musically.

“If you don’t have any training, then you don’t have any rules to follow. It might just be what makes our musical genius,” Fleming said.

Together since 2000, Poison Control Center is enjoying some new glory since the release of its first studio album, “A Collage of Impressions.”

The band is now preparing to record an EP, “Make Love a Star,” which will only be released on iTunes.

The band may also begin to explore the possibilities of a second album this summer.

“We are probably ready to begin. Some of the songs are already recorded since we will likely do it ourselves and on tape recorder – we don’t really like computers,” Fleming said.

Jade Lea

Band members:

Keith Rollins – guitar, vocals

Jake Staples – lead guitar

John Saxton – drums, background vocals

Omar Flores – bass

Frontman Keith Rollins said his band is, in essence, a “stereotypical” rock band.

“I would say, at the core, we are a punk-rock band with lots of jazz influence. And a lot of our chords are R&B-based,” he said. “We are the band that fulfills the pop-rock genre.”

The band is still looking for a place to fit in.

“For the past three years, we have been looking around for a steady place for our music,” Rollins said. “We are in the genre that is a standard in the music industry, but not in Iowa, so it’s all about finding that niche.”

He said finding a place in the state can be difficult since the musical atmosphere can change and genres vary in popularity in central Iowa.

However, Rollins said he wouldn’t consider changing the musical style for the sake of a larger audience. He said opportunities for success in larger cities such as Minneapolis, Omaha and Chicago were a positive thought in his mind.

“We are young, but strong in knowing what we want to do.”

The band is planning to record its first full-length album this summer with an aim to release it later this fall.

“[The album] should take most of the summer. We also want it to be mixed and mastered professionally, so that will definitely take a while,” Rollins said.

Omar Flores, sophomore in art and design, is the current bassist, but is not considered a long-term fixture in the band as of yet.

“We are now looking for a bassist,” Rollins said. “Omar is our stand-in right now, but we don’t consider him permanent. We wouldn’t mind having him stay on, but we don’t to put any pressure on him.”

Jade Lea was formed in the fall of 2005, though Rollins is the only remaining member of the original band.

The Vandon Arms

Band members:

Aaron “Buz” Buzbee – guitar, mandolin, lead vocals

Clint Meek – guitar, vocals

Elliot Tomingo – bass, vocals

Hutch – drums

The Vandon Arms was the winner of last year’s Veishea Battle of the Bands, and this year the band returns to campus for the Freeman concert.

The band is well-known for its Celtic-style music.

“We have lot of different sounds, but overall ours is very lively and Celtic,” said guitarist Clint Meek.

“We still consider ourselves a variety of punk rock, but Irish rock is what we are most identified as.”

Buzbee, the lead singer, does a majority of the songwriting, with the lyrics a project shared between him and Meek.

“Buz brings most things to the table, but we all give input and feedback,” Meek said.

The band’s reception has become increasingly positive.

“We’ve been impressed how people have taken to us. [We play] a genre that can be contagious in its excitement,” Meek said.

“We are surprised on how people don’t know about the genre, and when they see the show, they really dig it.”

The band came together in late 2005 as the members left their previous bands to form The Vandon Arms.

Buz is the second lead singer for the group. He was formerly the drummer, but he stepped up when the band’s original lead singer left for an Oklahoma band.

Radio Moscow

Band members

Parker Griggs – guitar, drums, vocals

Zach Anderson – bass

Keith Rich – live drums

Radio Moscow is a blues garage band that began back in summer 2003. Peter Griggs, Radio Moscow frontman, was inspired by the sounds of Fleetwood Mac and drew the band’s name from a record that featured an American band that purported to be a Moscow radio show.

Radio Moscow recently returned from a tour in Europe where they played at 26 concerts in countries such as France, Germany, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. In all, the tour lasted a month, including the bulk of February.