Olivia Melillo | Contributing Writer
On Sunday April 23, 2023 Eastern’s Best Buddies club had their first annual Beats For Buds event which included food, visiting best buddies alumni, and the musical stylings of the Midnight Anthem. Everyone had such a great time! The Midnight Anthem is a singer songwriter trio from New England who performs country inspired acoustic music. The band is made up of cousins Grace, Catherine, and Sophia along with their rhythm section, Cat and Sophia's brother Ian on bass (aka Bass Bro) and Grace’s dad, Dominick Cuccia on drums (aka Drum Dad).
In 2022, they performed in more than 70 shows throughout 7 states and since 2019 more than 100 shows. They entertain with a blend of original songs with a twist of their own sound as well as covers from their favorite artists. From Dolly Parton to Fleetwood Mac to Taylor Swift, they never fail to get people on the dance floor with their amazing and unique talents. When the band was asked what their song process was, their answer was that “it changes every time. They get ideas for lyrics everywhere and sometimes at the most inconvenient times but they write them down, come together later, and see what ideas the three of them have that they like and which could become versus, melodies, or lyrics and go from there” (quote from Cat).
The three girls have been playing music all their lives because they grew up with a family of musicians from playing the clarinet, to singers, to drummers. “We’ve been singing together for our whole lives and song writing for as long as we can remember. In 2019, we performed at an open mic night and from there we got a lot of support from the owners of the cafe and they helped us book gigs. We’ve been performing ever since” says Grace. They got their name The Midnight Anthem because the girls grew up with a fife and drum corps and every summer participated in a muster where they go and stay on a baseball field for a weekend. There’s a parade through town and at the end of the day you jam until midnight. At midnight they play the national anthem. We used to always get sent back to bed and we’d sit in the tent and listen to the national anthem. So when we were trying to think of a name that meant something to us, we came up with midnight because that was one of the highlights of our life growing up. (quote from Grace).
When asked the final question, what is your favorite part about playing music they were very quick to answer with “together”. Their favorite part about playing music is being able to do it together as a family and having an impact on people. Being able to write and perform music for people that they are able to relate to and not feel alone. “The look on someone’s face when you sing a lyric and it impacts them. Our song I'm Fine a lot of times when we sing it people will be like yeah I'm fine too” says Sophia.
The Midnight Anthem continues to inspire audiences with their talents. You can check them out on youtube, instagram, facebook, or at one of their shows. Everyone had such an awesome time at this event and you won’t want to miss them the next time they are at Eastern!