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The MC Music Man takes on: the Raging Clue

By: Dustin Looney
Features Editor

On Tuesday, Nov. 7, the Raging Clue performed at The Grounds.

The band is composed of five members who attend Monmouth College, and they performed as the main event at junior RyneTate’s 21st birthday party.

Members of the band are sophomore Raleigh Moon on bass, senior Kurt Carlson on vocals, junior Mark Mullaney on bagpipes, junior Jared Piepenbrink on drums and sophomore Matt Danaher on guitar.

The Raging Clue has been together for about a month, and their name is derived from a humorous episode of the popular cartoon, “South Park.”

As you can probably tell, the main goal of the band is to have a good time.

They have a unique Celtic rock style, and are separated from most college bands because of the bagpipes. Most college students looking to start a band would not be exposed to a piper, but because of Monmouth College’s distinctive Scottish heritage, the Raging Clue are able to create a unique sound, which has been dubbed by Danaher as “Celticore.”

“I think this band loves Celtic rock because it brings out the wilderness within each of us,” Moon said. “It’s a combination of old school bagpipe tunes and hard rock elements that gets our adrenaline pumping during a show, exposing our party animal sides.”

In an enthusiastic performance, the band played a seven-song set which included two original songs and five cover songs.

The set, which lasted a little less than one hour, started with a cover song of the band Lit, a popular alternative rock band. The Raging Clue played the Lit song “My Own Worst Enemy,” a catch song that was played all over the airwaves about five years ago.

The next song was a cover of a Drop Kick Murphys song, “For Boston.”

The third song of the set was an original by the Raging Clue.

The fourth song they performed was another cover: the famous Jet song, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.”

Following the catch Jet song was another Drop Kick Murphys song. The Raging Clue played their “Spicy McHiggins Jig,” and it proved to be a fan favorite, as it drew much of the audience up on their feet to dance a jig or mosh.

The sixth song performed was an interesting version of the famous Scottish song that is frequently played at Monmouth College sporting events, “Amazing Grace.” The band put its own twist on this song, which featured a bagpipe solo by Mullaney.

The last song performed on the night was another original.

Carlson said he enjoyed performing for the enthusiastic crowd. “I feed off the crowd and the feeling I get,” Carlson said. “That’s how I react, I have an upwelling of emotion and you have to get it out some way, so I let it out by screaming my brains out.”

The Raging Clue’s goal is to keep improving as a group and expose their unique sound to people.

They are planning on performing once a month at The Grounds in addition to participating in any battle of the bands concerts that they are exposed to. Carlson said the band is also practicing and writing new original songs.