By Hunter Samuelson
Staff Writer
“I love beer. I love beer. I love beer.” Those are the vocal warmup words 22-year-old musician Luke Metzler sang at the Rathskeller last Friday at the same time as the beer-tasting event.
With faded blue jeans, a chinstrap beard, and a t-shirt with the words “Clawson’s Deli,” Metzler is just like any other college kid: he loves beer and defines jeans as formal clothing
Metzler, who attends the University of Rochester, was a member of the famous a cappella group “The Yellow Jackets,” which gained fame for its appearance on the television show “The Sing-Off.” He proves to other college students that dreams can come true, no matter how low our budgets are.
In fact, the new single he performed, “Dollars,” is all about the relentless pursuit of money and how it ruins lives. As Metzler states in his song, “we try to get what we won’t find, but we’re all slaves to them dimes.”
Metzler works year round so he has money to record songs and make music videos. Currently, he’s in the process of starting a crowd funding campaign to make an album.
So far, he has released an extended play and a few singles available on iTunes. The fact that he started his music career singing in a “confusingly named high school band” called “Breathe For You” shows that every successful individual once had an embarrassing series of twists and turns.
“Basically, once I have a certain number of songs that I think are solid enough to record, I’ll take them to Sam Polizzi, an amazing recording engineer/producer I’ve known and worked with for a long time,” Metzler said. “We’ll figure out a plan for the songs and then go about contacting musicians to lay down parts or different instruments.”
Although studio time is expensive, especially with musician and mixing fees, Metzler believes the process is worth it, especially because creating music is therapeutic for him. After Metzler’s 17-year-old sister passed away from brain cancer last spring, he wrote a song for her called “In the Springtime.”
“I never really even stopped to think about crafting the song properly. I kind of just let it pour out. I cried every time after I performed it for the first six months,” Metzler said. “In the Springtime” is infused with poetic and vivid detail, and it’s difficult to listen without getting emotional.
Meltzer the British Contemporary Rock ban Coldplay to be one of his major influences.
“Chris Martin (of Coldplay) is one of my musical idols. I love his songwriting and the way he sings with such passion. I’ve tried to emulate Chris more than I care to admit,” Metzler said. “Even though they’ve been panned by critics, they keep writing soaring melodies that their fans connect with. It reminds me that music is about bringing others joy, and not about getting a good review,” Metzler said.
When he isn’t serenading crowds at gigs, Metzler is making a cappella music with “The Yellow Jackets.” Although he doesn’t listen to much a cappella on his own, he loves being with his best friends and knows it’s a time of his life he’s never going to forget.
Metzler is also an economics and psychology double major.
“I am engrossed by Economics and the way studying people can help us improve processes and policy to change the world in an immensely positive way,” Metzler said.
He believes devoting time to a hobby is just as essential as devoting time to a career.
“You should never feel like you’re losing a part of you that you love because you’re too focused on one thing or the other,” Metzler said.
On Metzler’s website, lukemetzlermusic.com, he says that he writes songs that mix many genres and explore the vast terrain of pop music.
At the Skeller, he proved his diversity as an artist by singing an acoustic cover of R Kelly’s “Ignition” remix.
“What’s different about him is that he doesn’t need fancy background instruments at his performances to make his songs catchy. It’s just him and his guitar,” CAB member Riley Eike, a sophomore journalism and mass communication major, said.
Metzler’s music is addicting and inspirational. According to Eike, his lyrics are sincere and down to earth.
samuelhn14@bonaventure.edu
