PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2023

emily the band’s Cami Proctor on guitar performs with members Abbey Haste on drums, left, and Emily Antonacci on ukulele at Three Sisters Park on Sept. 24, 2023

KILLING IT WITH KINDNESS All three women confess to dreaming in their early teens of rock stardom. While there are no guarantees, achiev ing those dreams is certainly possible. And yet, though barely into their 20s, each has redefined how success looks. The common denominator is a desire to spread kindness. “Empowering people to believe they can do it, planting seeds for that to con tinue. I just want to be a net positive,” Antonacci said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re famous if you’re not kind and don’t uplift others,” Haste said. “This is the coolest stuff I’ve ever been part of, meeting people who are moved by our songs,” Proctor said. “We have this beautiful community that appreci ates us, and if for some reason no other people in the world heard of us, I’d be pretty darned fulfilled.”

“We are three really strong solo musi cians, but as a trio, it was like magic.” Proctor elaborates: “Emily’s song writing and voice, playing along on her ukelele, is like a beautiful vanilla cake. By itself, it’s totally awesome. But me and Abbey come in, and we’re cake dec orators. Is it a birthday cake? A wedding cake? What color is it? We give you a lot more information about what Emily was feeling when she wrote it.” SHATTERING STEREOTYPES Besides great music, the three feel an individual and shared responsibility to break down stereotypes, particularly as “feminine-presenting, non-binary musicians,” to use Proctor’s description. ‘I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY FIGURED OUT HOW TO DO A DRUMMER WITH NO BASSIST’ — Ryan Groff Antonacci encounters general dis regard for the ukelele as a “legitimate” musical-performance instrument. Proctor shakes her head after guitar solos that elicit amazed reactions from men who don’t expect women to shred.

As a student at Bradley University, Haste was given a list of drummers to study and responded to her professor, “These are all dudes. Can you give me some females to listen to?” Trying to make your way as a full time musician is hard enough without discrimination. The injustice of it all can give rise to anger. But the musicians in emily the band have chosen to kick down the doors of ignorance with profession alism, excellence, kindness and a sound that can transform the heaviest subject into a light, refreshing lift. Close your eyes, listen, and all things seem possible. Really, who needs a bass? Ryan Groff, 42, has been a mainstay of the Champaign-Urbana music scene for nearly 25 years, first with his band Elsinore and currently with Modern Drugs. He’s a big fan of emily the band, which performs frequently to enthusiastic audiences in the college town. “I can’t believe they figured out how to do a drummer with no bassist, but they’ve pulled off a really nice arrangement and live-production trick,” Groff said. “It’s part of their magic and their draw.” He credits Haste’s drumming for providing “a noticeable, unique style that perfectly fits the hole with exactly what’s needed.”

Kirk Wessler is a former newspaper sports editor who has turned his attention in semi retirement to a new passion as a singer/ songwriter

NOVEMBER 2023 PEORIA MAGAZINE 99