Music

VerseCity returns home for performance

The members of VerseCity reflect the diversity of Houston, their hometown. The band consists of five musicians who are culturally different, but united by their music. |  Courtesy of Lynn Lane

The members of VerseCity reflect the diversity of Houston, their hometown. The band consists of five musicians who are culturally different, but united by their music. | Courtesy of Lynn Lane

A Black man, an English gentleman, a Jew and a Venezuelan walk into the Cullen Performance Hall and no, this is not the beginning of a cheesy joke.

This is a preview of the members of VerseCity, the opening band for Thursday’s Student Program Board concert series.

VerseCity is a Houston-based multi-cultural hybrid rock band started by two former UH students, guitarist Marcus Edwards III and singer Micah Walker.

“We met at Bayou Oaks, we lived down the hall from each other,” Walker said. “I saw him jamming out and I walked up to him and said, ‘Hey, let’s jam together.’”

“One of our first shows that really gave us a huge boost was playing Frontier Fiesta. There were thousands of people at that show and overnight we became one of the more popular bands of Houston.”

In just four years, the band has grown from two friends who used to jam out in dorm rooms to winning the Houston Battle of Bands and placing second in the National Battle of the Bands competition.

While most local musicians would be nervous to play alongside huge national acts such as Gym Class Heroes, the members of VerseCity boast they are not nervous at all.

They’ve toured all around the country and have opened for popular acts such as Cobra Starship, Lifehouse and Slim Thug.

“It’s pure excitement and adrenaline,” Walker said. “We want to tour and play for big crowds with other bands.”

In honor of their special hometown performance, the band will be performing new songs from their side project, The Anthem — a new band composed of the same members as VerseCity but with a more pop-rock sound.

“It’s really cool because it’s a different style than what we’ve done as VerseCity,” Walker said.

“It’s more pop and electronic sounding, but VerseCity is not dying by any means.”

Tickets for the show will be released 3 p.m. tomorrow in Lynn Eusan Park to the first 1500 UH students with a photo ID. The show starts at 7 p.m.

[email protected]

Leave a Comment