One year ago, a trio of Bandier students combined their music industry knowledge and friendship to create the electronic dance music group, LIPSTIK.

Sophomores Rowan Epstein, Connor Nackley and Jessica Tranter, all Bandier Program for Music and the Entertainment Industries majors, formed LIPSTIK in January of last year. LIPSTIK plans on releasing an EP and a few singles this semester.

LIPSTIK will also be performing at the Westcott Theater in February, and its music is available on SoundCloud.

The group, which describes its sound as “industrial house music,” started out as close friends who began making music together, after Epstein and Tranter asked Nackley to teach them more about music production. From there, LIPSTIK was formed.

“We were all really close friends, so we were hanging out all the time making music and it kind of sprouted one day,” Nackley said. “We kind of just did it, it was an instinctual thing.”

Although their personal tastes in music differ, the trio all took an interest in electronic dance music. Epstein said the variety of music the group listens to helps make its music distinct.

“It’s really awesome; we’re all very musical,” Epstein said. “We have wide tastes in music, and when the three of us put our heads together, it makes something different than any one of us would make had we been producing on our own.”

Nackley said working with his friends is rewarding because it creates a different sound.

“It honestly makes everything better in the end when you have other people there,” Nackley said. “That’s what I like about it too — is it’s not one thing all the time, or not all my brain or somebody else’s brain. It’s a really good combination of everybody together.”

In a genre where EDM artists are predominantly male solo acts, Epstein said LIPSTIK emphasizes the fact that it is a group with two female members.

“We really embraced that and we definitely try to put that out there and make that very clear because it definitely makes us unique,” Epstein said. “We also totally embrace the fact that we’re college students and that we understand what people want to hear when they go out.”

As an electronic group, Nackley said LIPSTIK creates music similarly to how a band would collaborate.

The group’s Bandier background has influenced it in sound as well as how it markets and manages itself, Tranter said.

“We’re all in the Bandier program, so we all have an analytical and business approach to the music,” Tranter said. “And we manage ourselves, and we are doing this almost as a business experiment to see how we do managing and figuring out how to grow as an artist.”

Epstein said LIPSTIK has allowed her to further understand what different viewpoints within the music industry are like.

“Aside from being fun, it’s something that I really love doing. It’s also given me a really great perspective on the artist’s view of the music industry, because I’m studying to work in the business part,” Epstein said. “It gives a really great view of how the artist sees everything in the music world.”

The trio has performed as an opening act at Westcott Theater for artists like Rusko, Candyland and Kill Paris, as well as ‘I’m Shmacked’s show in Fall 2014. Every alternating Tuesday and Thursday, the group performs at DJ’s on the Hill on Marshall Street.

“I really like watching people dance. When it comes down to it, I’m really about seeing people move and watching their reactions,” Nackley said. “When you’re up there, you’re really in control. There’s this sense of empowerment, being able to command the dance floor.”

Tranter said the friendship she has with Nackley and Epstein is her favorite aspect of being in LIPSTIK.

“The best part for me is the fact that we’re all best friends,” Tranter said. “Yes, it’s something that we can be very serious about, but at the end of the day it’s three best friends hanging out and collaborating over something that we love and get so much enjoyment out of.”

Published on January 27, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Isha: idamle@syr.edu