In Conversation with Sergeant Dan
By: Soren Rasmussen
This year, the St Andrews music scene has seen an abundance of new bands emerge. Among the most recent additions is Sergeant Dan, a pop/rock group of six American students studying abroad who have jumped into the scene despite only a semester-long residence. Recently, and in between serenades of Supergrass and Golden Slumbers, I sat down with the band to discuss their unique experience and musical race against the clock.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Hearing Aid (Soren Rasmussen): I want to start with where the name Sergeant Dan came from. I’ve heard people saying it’s a reference to Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, but I also heard that’s not the case.
Troy Keller (vocals): No, Sergeant Dan is the name of a dude in Joseph, Evie, and I’s grade at Bowdoin [...] he’s an adult veteran. He was my neighbour for a whole year [...] my roommate and I are very good friends with him. He’s a cool dude.
HA: Does he know the band is named after him?
Troy: No, he has no clue. I want to tell him in person over the summer and film his reaction. I told everyone close to him in his circle to not tell him. I checked in as of a week ago and he doesn’t know.
HA: I love that. So in one sentence, how would you guys describe the band? It can be literal or figurative, however you want to go about it.
Joseph Gordon (guitar/bass): You know the smell after it rains really hard? It’s like that.
Martin Bernsten (guitar/bass): I would say that this band is proof that music always finds a way.
HA: Evie, how do you get your parts for the trumpet? Do you find sheet music?
Evie Hamer (trumpet): No, I just listen to them and then sing into a tuner and I’ve learned all the trumpet fingerings in concert key, so I’ve messed it all up, but that’s how I do it. I’ll sing the parts and then record the notes and then play them on trumpet.
HA: What’s the difference between the St Andrews music scene and the scenes back in your colleges at home?
Joseph: [It’s] just better [here]. People are more involved.
Joey Hoover (drums): It’s so much more lively and there’s so many more student groups—so many more opportunities to play, which is epic. I feel like at my home institution we’re struggling to negotiate with bars to let us play and it’s a twice-a-semester thing.
Martin: I would say something similar. [...] Our school is in a really residential area and there’s kind of bars half a mile in every direction, but I feel like it’s really tough to get involved.
Ingrid Colafati (keyboard): My school only has one street so there’s not a lot going on.
HA: Are there any bands?
Ingrid: Yeah, they only play twice a semester though at these massive band parties in the basements.
Evie: [I’m also in a] one street town situation. Not a lot of bars to play in [...] most of the student bands just play at school events.
Joseph: Yeah, usually house parties. There’s a battle of the bands which is fun, but it’s definitely less active and less accessible, especially as someone wanting to start a band. I play in the jazz combos but I’m not in a student-run band. And the jazz combos are fun but this is what I’ve always wanted to do; I’ve always wanted to be in a band band.
Troy: I just have so much free time here.
Martin: That’s the biggest thing. I don’t have a minute to spare back at school because you have roots going in every direction. But we came here and then there was a week where we all agreed we had nothing else going on, why don’t we just play? So I think that was the start.
Joey: Also this isn’t a contractual get-together-and-play thing.
Joseph: Yeah whenever I think about what I want to be doing on a weekend, someone will pose a day trip or a little trip somewhere and I’d actually rather rehearse, I’d rather just play music.
HA: Your Instagram bio reads: “The Doctor has only given us four months to live”. What’s the experience of starting this band knowing that you guys are going to be leaving soon?
Martin: Joey and I were doing some reflecting with a couple of pints, and we were talking about how coming into this study abroad experience, we were thinking more about the places we were gonna go [to] and the experiences we might have. But it didn’t cross our minds [...] the people that we would gain from Study Abroad. And I feel like this band has changed that. We’re here for the experience of it all, but also I’ve met a group of people that I really connect with.
Troy: I don’t want to travel. I like being here.
Martin: That’s what’s changed. Which is super special, and probably wouldn’t have been the case had we not met.
Joseph: Yeah, when the time factored in at the start it pushed us to hit the ground running. When it was early February [...] that sort of pushed us to be like wow, we have four months left—we gotta get a move on, we gotta find people, let’s lock in, let’s learn all the songs. And I think it pushed us to be really proactive. We learned our first set super quickly. We had rehearsed three hours, five days a week.
Joey: I think the time limit unconsciously made me realise how important music is and then also the people I’m playing with are. If there wasn’t a time limit, I don’t know what it would be like. The time limit puts things into perspective for sure. And this is just all our favourite thing to do.
Ingrid: It definitely makes it more special. We definitely have been speed-running it, but I like the intensity of it. I like having stuff to do every day and people to see. So I feel like we’ve gotten close really fast which has been really nice.