As my second year of college came around, I wanted to join some groups- put myself out there and just see what happened (that’s what you do in college, right?). So, in October of 2015, I auditioned for the new, all-male a cappella group at North Central College: NoControl (or NoCtrl, depending on who you talk to). It was nice to go into the rehearsal room and see some familiar faces from the Cardinal Chorus- Matt Lusa, Brody Long, Alexander Roller, and John Bihun were all people I had known at least decently well. I was a little nervous- being a bit of a hick at heart, I was going to sing ‘Voices’ by Chris Young, and I was thinking I was the only one doing a country song. Then, to my surprise, a freshman walked up and did oe hell of a rendition of ‘Your Man’ by Josh Turner (for those of you who don’t know, you have to sing pretty low in order to sing that song well, and he nailed it!). After auditions, I met up with this guy and we talked about country music all the way back to our dorms- his name is Vince, and he’s a good friend of mine to this day.
One of the group’s co-founders, Matt Lusa says “When I came to North Central, I was really excited about the already significant presence of a cappella groups on campus but I was a little upset that there was not a guys group. So I talked about it with Brody, he agreed, and the rest is history.”
“The group is really one of those things that’s just about having fun. We’re there for the love of music and for the smiles on people’s faces, including our own,” Matt says. “The main idea behind forming our group was unity. We wanted a place where people from every area- whether it be sports, theatre, academics, or even other a cappella groups could come together and have fun while still fully enjoying everything else that was going on.” And boy, did we have some diversity. We had a couple of soccer players (Calen played for the college, John played intramural and with some friends), my buddy Vince was on the track and field team. Ibrahim was a political science major (like myself), and Matt, Alexander, and Brodes were involved in the theatre and music programs. That all being mentioned, we had some pretty hectic schedules. I don’t recall everyone else’s schedules, but I know I was working nights, I had my academics to focus on (when I bothered to open a textbook), and being an elected official in Downers Grove I had a few meetings a month I had to attend. So, Matt and Brody worked around our various schedules and we were able to get some times that worked for everyone. We had a lot of fun nights- we fooled around a lot, we went to McDonald’s to order their “soggy mozzarella sticks” a couple times I my 1989 Crown Victoria with three seats in the front (Vince and Brodes… haha good times), we watched Star Wars Episode VII together… gosh the memories are amazing.
That being said, we may or may have not made it Hell for Matt and Brody to actually get anything done. Matt said leading the group “is and always will be a challenge, but if there is anything I’ve learned after our first year of existing, it is insanely rewarding. Whether that’s because the things we have accomplished or because the amazing men I had the opportunity to work with, I’m not sure. What I am sure of, however, is that I cannot wait for more!” Our first song was “Some Nights” by Fun. and we had a blast rehearsing it night after night, especially when we practiced on the balcony in North Central’s Wentz performance center… that was haunting how the sound travelled from one corner of the hall to the other. The other song that we performed publically was “Come Go With Me,” and doing that while walking around campus with the guys and serenading random people (most were good sports about it) and serenading a good friend of ours on stage during Spring Fest are some of my favorite memories about last year.
To the men of NoControl, you guys made my year last year. No bullshit, I had such a blast getting to know all of you and I’m so excited to keep making music and memories with you guys in the future.
P.S. John, I’m not going to leave your quote out. Always the jokester (when he’s not tired or studying last minute for an exam), when I asked for quotes, John told me to write “Dan is hella sexy. That is my quote.”
God bless you all, and I hope for nothing but the best.
