Only after 200 people squeeze into a small house does the importance of sturdy piping and endless access to drinks really shine. Without those features, things will become “scrambling, hectic and stressful,” as a group of students learned while hosting a live-music event Feb. 1 in an Urbana home.

This can especially happen when rock bands The Dirty Feathers, Bummer and A Cool Hand are performing in the living room.

But the hosts said the night was an overall success for Canopy’s Club, a new RSO that planned the house event and aims to extend the music scene of Champaign-Urbana beyond existing venues.

“I feel like we started out as simply an extension of The Canopy Club, but now our group has turned into supporting local music,” said Ellie Brzezenski, senior in Media. “A lot of people who came to our event also go to Canopy Club, but I feel we’re more interested in getting local talent out and bringing people together who like music.”

Brzezenski and her partners, students Claire Bao and Brett Arnold, met while writing for the Illini Media website The 217 under the music blog Soundbytes. Arnold and Bao also knew each other from working at The Canopy Club, and they generated ideas for an RSO after promoting the club on Quad Day last fall.

Arnold said Canopy’s Club spawned from the music venue’s idea to affiliate more with the University, although he emphasized the RSO’s independence from the facility.

“We want to stress that we’re doing our own thing outside of Canopy Club,” said Arnold, junior in Media. “They don’t fund us or anything — it’s essentially our own operation. But they do support us and appreciate what we’re doing.”

Mike Armintrout, the talent buyer and organizer at The Canopy Club, echoed Arnold’s comments, adding his personal statements of support for the RSO. He said the three students started the club on their own and that he appreciates their initiative.

“I’m very excited to see them start their own configuration,” he said. “Everything they do is outside the walls of what we do in our venue in Urbana, so it’s very cool to see them set up by themselves.”

Bao said an unaffiliated connection still exists between the two organizations since they regularly interact with the venue for various reasons, both personally and professionally. Canopy’s Club has about 80 members, many of whom are promoters for the music venue; however, the positions between the founders fluctuate. In Bao’s words, the three founders have official titles, but they all wear different hats.

“I’m technically the president, (Arnold) our treasurer, and (Brzezenski) the secretary, but nothing’s set in stone or particularly specific,” said Bao, senior in Media. We all do everything; we’re constantly texting and emailing each other when we need to get things done.”

Canopy’s Club began planning music events last semester, but members said ideas for February’s house show came quickly. Brzezenski said they contacted The Dirty Feathers through Facebook and spoke with members of A Cool Hand and Bummer through their own connections.

“Frankly, we were pretty lucky,” Brzezenski said. “But a lot of it is who each of us knows and using those connections.”

Arnold said they created a Facebook page for the RSO and the house show, although its location remained undisclosed online to avoid an uncontrollable number of attendants. A “unique” promoting opportunity arose as well.

“If people wanted to know where it was, we had people message us and we’d message them back instantly with the address,” Arnold said. “We thought it’d be cool to see how many people would show up using that method since regular venues can’t do it. Call it viral marketing or whatever, but it worked.”

Facebook’s analytics report revealed that more than 4,000 people viewed the event page, which surprised the members. They said the house event overwhelmed them because of the large amount of people coupled with the house’s condition during the show.

Drinks were held in the basement, although difficulties arose when a pipe broke and the basement flooded. Bao said she floated on top of boxes while a friend held onto her from the staircase so that she wouldn’t fall in the water. Kitty litter mixed in with the water, which some attendants confused with the smell of eggs cooking.

“People went, ‘Eggs? Who in their right mind are making eggs now?’” Arnold said, laughing. “But everything generally went smoothly and we received a lot of compliments. Ultimately, we were happy with it, too.”

Andrew Kling, lead singer and guitarist of The Dirty Feathers, said he and his friends enjoyed performing. Although they rarely play at house shows, he said they always enjoy mixing it up, and added Canopy’s Club provided a special night.

“We showed up at night not knowing what to expect and saw a hundred people outside waiting on the front lawn,” Kling said. “Parts were chaotic. … The mic kept swatting me in the face because the crowd was four inches away. But it was great — we didn’t feel much pressure and everyone was into it.”

In addition to the high turnout, Bao said she was interested to see the specific types of people who attended. She expected to see many regulars of The Canopy Club, but she was surprised to notice a lot of unfamiliar faces.

“It goes to show that there’s a huge interest in live music in this community and there aren’t many venues for people to go to,” Bao said. “There are rarely many house shows, and we were happy to coordinate one. That’s what we like to do, and we hope we support more of the local music community.”

Future events for Canopy’s Club are not set, but they have several ideas in mind, including a barn show, charity events and another showing with The Dirty Feathers, according to Kling. Bao said the logistics of organizing events is much more frustrating than people think, but they remain focused and optimistic.

“What’s great about the last show is that it was snowing a lot and people still came,” Arnold said. “That’s great because it gives us more of a desire to keep going at it. Clearly, we’re excited.”

Adlai can be reached [email protected].