Nathan Coker, senior in fine arts, strummed his guitar as music blasted from the amplifier behind him.
Without a word, Ryan Blackwell, junior in mechanical engineering, joined in playing trumpet. Blackwell wore a sweater with a black bow tie and four-color socks. He rocked back and forth slightly as he played.
Corey Spicer, senior in interdisciplinary studies, joined in on drums. Spicer had just put on a green shirt, covering the tattoo on his chest of the Greek word "agape."
One by one, the band's other members began playing as well. Their sounds came together in one unified rhythm.
The music filled the room all the way to its green-painted walls and slanted wooden roof. It bounced between the unused piano and the four-foot pedals Coker had daisy-chained to his guitar, only to run around the dozen-odd instrument cases strewn on the floor.
The band's playing intensified as the song drew to a close. There was a half-beat of silence, then every member played to accompany a long blast from Blackwell's trumpet.
Once the music stopped, temporary bassist Mitch McKoy took a swig from his Corona Light. Spicer's dog Chessie wandered between the instruments.
"That's hot," Coker said, pleased with the music. "H-A-W-T."
Coker is the namesake of The Nathan Coker Band, a local music group. Though the band has been together for less than a year, its members want to see where the band goes.
"We'll probably get some more recording time in, put the demo out there and see where it goes," Blackwell said.
The way Spicer tells it, The Nathan Coker Band began after Spicer and original bassist Jimi Greene saw Coker play and were impressed with his talent.
"We got together and jammed, and started writing some drum and base parts to his acoustic songs," Spicer said.
Coker said he began learning guitar at 19 after being inspired listening to John Mayer.
"(It's) really funny, because I listened to a lot of hip-hop growing up," Coker said. "Gucci Mayne was a huge influence on me."
Despite his roots in hip-hop, Coker described the band's music as soul.
"Soul music is a broad term, so I try not to limit myself with restrictive genre names," Coker said. "The music I'm trying to make is sincere, and when I think of sincere music I think of a lot of soul artists."
Jayson Perry, senior in mechanical engineering, called their music "free-form fusion."
"We don't have anything written down," Perry said. "We just kinda feel it."
Perry, who plays saxophone, said Nathan Coker Band members enjoy improvising riffs during performances.
"We improve a lot of our licks," Perry said. "We try to add stuff, but not be too crazy about it."
Perry said after enough live shows, everyone in the band is used to each others' styles enough to handle the improvisation.
According to Blackwell, The Nathan Coker Band plays two or three shows per month, with practices clustered before performances.
One of the best shows so far, according to Coker, was a friend's house party where they played for only 20 people.
"Everybody got on their feet and was right there," Coker said. "The pressure of having to perform for a certain budget wasn't there, and it was all fun."
Blackwell said there are opportunities for new groups in what Spicer called a "growing music scene."
"Anybody who's looking to start a band in Auburn, just have the passion to do it and the wherewithal to sit there and practice because it takes a while," Blackwell said. "It's about putting yourself out there."
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