Kangaroo Court’s most recent performance took place on May 4 at The Rose Bowl Tavern, which is one of their many appearances at the venue.

Jake Luce, leader of the Kangaroo Court band, is also a senior at the University. He said the band started last October and has grown since then. Luce said he started the band while looking for people to play songs he had written and found his fellow band members through mutual friends.

“We just really hit it off,” Luce said. “So I think the biggest inspiration is just myself really wanting to start playing live shows and things like that.”

Luce is one of four band members. Other performers in Kangaroo Court are: lead guitarist Garrett Frank, drummer Cody Spiezio and bassist Noah Tennison.

Luce said the Rose Bowl Tavern had a good vibe the night of the performance, saying everyone has been ready to rest and relax with finals coming up.

“I think everybody was ready to just kind of forget about all of their responsibilities and things like that for a night. You just have a great time,” Luce said.

Luce also said Kangaroo Court’s performance at the Rose Bowl was excellent.

“We had a pretty good turnout,” he said. “I’d say that there’s a good amount of people in the audience. We did our normal set and everything. People enjoyed it. There’s some good moshing going on and stuff like that.”

Animal Style and 4×4 played before Kangaroo Court’s set. After its set, a local hip-hop artist named K-Rush closed off the night, according to Luce.

“Everybody should go listen to K-Rush, 4×4 and Animal Style because they were excellent last night,” Luce said.

Charlie Harris, the general manager for the Rose Bowl Tavern, books, promotes and engineers shows at the venue. He’s also a musician who is currently on tour with Chicago Farmer and The Fieldnotes.

Harris described the Kangaroo Court’s music as being “rockish, punkish, popish, progish, indie.” He said the band has grit and edge, yet it is still polished and catchy.

Harris said the band’s show was a celebration of the end of this semester, and “a good old-fashioned new-fangled rock show.”

Luce said the most rewarding thing about performing is knowing that the audience is having a great time dancing and being energized.

“It’s great to be able to do these shows for us and make a little bit of money and things like that,” he said, “but the biggest thing is just feeling the energy of the audience and really feeling like we’re kind of in control of everybody’s movements and their energy. It’s just a lot of fun.” 

Luce said Kangaroo Court plans to work on and release its debut album this upcoming winter around December. He also said the band plans to go on tour as well.

Luce added that the band is currently reaching out to potential record labels for the musical journey ahead of it.

For fans, Kangaroo Court invites all to come out to its shows.

“Come buy some shirts and stuff. You definitely won’t regret it,” Luce said. “I think everybody could use a little bit of Kangaroo Court in their lives.”

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