PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2023

PLAYING IN PEORIA: COMMENTARY

MAKING A BIG STATEMENT, IN LOWERCASE Peoria-based emily the band is turning heads in music circles

BY KIRK WESSLER PHOTO BY RON JOHNSON

T he basic equation could not be more simple: Ukelele + electric guitar + drums = Fun Music. That simplicity also inspired this rising trio of young Peoria musicians to lowercase everything from their name, emily the band, to their growing catalog of catchy original songs such as melt and brooklyn lady . ‘THIS IS THE COOLEST STUFF I’VE EVER BEEN PART OF, MEETING PEOPLE WHO ARE MOVED BY OUR SONGS’ — Cami Proctor “It’s just super cool and relaxed and Gen Z,” songwriter Emily Antonacci explained with a laugh. She might add that the intentional lowercase essentially screams for attention in all caps: LISTEN TO THIS! Music fans are definitely listening. Formed barely two years ago, emily the band supplements its steady central Illinois performance calendar with per formances in Champaign-Urbana, Chi cago, Iowa City, Nashville and St. Louis. Frequently booked to open for regional and national touring acts, the band has one EP, the heartbreak album , available across all major streaming platforms. Their latest single, marceline , marks a new level of songwriting collaboration

for the group and was released in late October. (Stay up to speed online at emilytheband.com.)

wistful, challenging, full of sadness, joy and surprise. Her vocals are superb. Proctor’s brilliant guitar work infuses the stories with a fullness that can only come from having been there when your best friend lived those experiences that birthed the lyrics. Haste’s percussion is intuitive and understated, perfectly filling each tune without unnecessary fills, subtly driving home amazing reminders — just in case you get lost in the groove — that these songs originated on the four strings of a ukelele. THE ‘MAGIC’ OF THREE Antonacci and Proctor met as stu dents at Richwoods High School and began playing music as a duo. Proctor was also part of a nameless — and drummerless — band that played at Princeville Heritage Days, where they heard Haste play drums in her home town talent show. Impressed, Proctor invited Haste to join the band. They subsequently joined with guitarist/bassist Josh Sweeney to form The Blank Stairs, which continues to perform. Fast forward to 2021, when Antonacci had just finished recording her first solo EP, living room . Proctor had accompanied on the project, and they asked Haste to join them for the live release party. Antonacci summed up the experience:

GREATER THAN THE SUM OF THEIR PARTS

Antonacci, 22, plays the ukelele and sings lead. Camryn Proctor, 22, harmo nizes while playing guitar and occasion ally adds a delightful, breath-powered keyboard known as the melodica. Abbey Haste, 21, plays drums. But hey, doesn’t a band need a bass? Ha! Now, we’ve stumbled into the complex formula behind emily the band’s delightful simplicity. “It’s a very defining feature of our project,” Proctor said of the absent bass instrument. “Everything you think you know about the way a band can be put together? Open your mind. We have a ukelele, a guitar and a drum kit, and we put together a sound that you didn’t expect. You can make a band out of anything.” It’s not really fair to say the formula for their growing success starts with one particular thing. The factors are interwoven and co-dependent, with three talented individuals forming a team to contribute something unique to the indie alt-pop genre. Antonacci’s lyrics are the stuff of great poetry: honest, smart, playful,

98 NOVEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE