"We made this whole fake faade and just went crazy inside," Ethan Ward, a friend of the band who hosted the party, said. "Apparently neighbors were talking later on and were just like, Who just graduated?'"
Math the Band and E-603 the stage name of Ward's solo mashup music project will play together for the first time this Wednesday as part of the Fieldstock Kick-Off Concert on the lawn of Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity.
"I think it's just going to be a really dance-y night," Kevin Steinhauser, lead vocalist and guitarist for Math the Band, said.
During performances, Math the Band makes use of a range of unconventional instruments to create their "thrashy" pop-punk sound, Steinhauser said.
"We basically try and be a pop-punk band but instead of traditional musical instruments, we use 8-bit videogame systems and 8-bit vintage computers and distorted guitars and really weird drum machines and stuff like that," Steinhauser said. "We try to be as fast and as loud as we possibly can."
Although neither band has played at Dartmouth before, both groups are looking forward to Wednesday's gig, Steinhauser said.
Friends in Turbo Fruits and Yes Giantess, both bands that played at the College last year, said Dartmouth is a great place to play shows, he added.
Ward, who is from Nashua inspiring his moniker's reference to the New Hampshire "603" area code said that Wednesday's show will be his first experience playing at a college in his native state.
"I've been to [Dartmouth] before and I had a pretty cool experience," Ward said. "I'm looking forward to it."
Steinhauser, who writes the lyrics for all Math the Band songs, has a unique approach to songwriting which places a higher priority on melody than on words.
"It depends from song to song, but lately I have been writing the melodies for the lyrics first and then looking at the words in terms of the melody line this many syllables and these [words] need to rhyme," he said. "It's like filling in a crossword puzzle."
The song "Why Didn't You Get a Haircut?" off of Math the Band's 2009 album "Don't Worry" features this type of mix-matched lyrics, such as, "I see you coming up for water/ you're translucent I can't see the way you look/ I see you taking out the garbage/ it's apparent that you're gonna write a book."
"[The lyrics] end up not meaning too much of anything," Steinhauser said.
E-603 makes use of a wide range of different songs to create interesting juxtapositions or hard-hitting pairings in his mashups, Ward said.
"I can go one of two ways," Ward said. "I can look for this contrast where I get this really gnarly rapper where it's a contrast with a particularly beautiful song. And then there's where you get the songs to have this same sort of feeling where you get this high energy song with these loud hits and put these loud vocals to it."
While E-603 could be compared to other mashup artists such as Girl Talk or Super Mash Bros., Ward said that he tries to maintain a unique style in his approach to combining songs.
"I try to really do things my own way," Ward said. "However, I have played shows with [other mashup artists]."
Currently, both acts are working on new material. Math the Band, who finished a 60-day tour with MC Chris just three weeks ago, is almost done writing a new album and will return to the studio to record soon.
Steinhauser said that Math the Band will play some of the group's never-before-released songs on Wednesday.
"It's faster, it's a little bit more thrashy I would say," he said.
The new album currently has no set release date.
Ward said he has not toured very frequently this summer in order to focus on a series of remixes for other bands, which may eventually be compiled into a proper release.
Ward recently finished a remix of "Seaweed Song" by Passion Pit and is working on a remix of a Phoenix song, among other works.
On Wednesday, Math the Band will play without the drummer who accompanied them on their tour this year. To compensate, keyboardist Justine Mainville will play the keyboard with one hand and drums with the other, Steinhauser said.
As for E-603, Ward will be alone during his set, but said he hopes that plenty of dancing audience members will join him on stage.
E-603 will start his set at 6 p.m. before Math the Band hits the stage at 7 p.m.
E-603 and Math the Band's performances are co-sponsored by Programming Board and Friday Night Rock.
