Austin Van Hise (Left) and Viv Ard (Right) in their costumes during the Club or Treat. Photo by Megan Nelson.
The Student Activity Board (SAB) hosted Club-or-Treat on the Lake Land College (LLC) campus on Oct. 25th at the Luther Student Center. Some of the school’s groups were present to promote their organization, hand out candy, and sell merchandise. In addition, there was a costume contest and live music by Jeremy Todd. Many students entered the costume contest, while others dressed just for fun.
After the event, I had the opportunity to speak with the winner, Austin, a communications major who will graduate in 2024. They arrived dressed as a witch who concocts potions. The general theme of the costume was extremely fall-like. “I was pleasantly surprised to win first place,” they remarked. “I’ve been in other costume contests before and have gotten honorable mention and even second place, but this is the first time I’ve won.” Austin attended high school in Charleston, Illinois, and they enjoy drawing, writing, and creating stories. They were a pleasure to speak with and even left the interview with a great quote. “Be weird if you want to be weird. Don’t let society pass judgment on you. If someone disagrees with you being yourself, that is their problem.” Many students expressed their enthusiasm for the event. “SAB threw a great event today,” as well as “I loved Laker Louie dressed up as a vampire,” said a student to whom I spoke.
Following the conclusion of the club-or-treat at 1 p.m., I was able to interview Jeremy Todd, who provided live music to the students throughout the event. He covered some songs and even sang a few of his own. Jeremy Todd attended LLC right after high school, where he studied English before returning in 2010 as an art major. “I love Lake Land,” he stated. When I asked him about his musical creative process, he told me that he writes a lot in the car. “I have kids and I’m engaged, so writing or playing the guitar at the house is a little off the table.” He claims that long drives, such as those to Mattoon, are ideal for him to work on ideas because he currently resides in Southern Illinois. He stated that his children enjoy attending his shows and that his two youngest enjoy singing and playing the air guitar, as well as the fact that his oldest son is a drummer who will be studying music education at Eastern Illinois University. “That’s cool. I’d like to think I had some influence on him.”
“The Ballad of J. Mac. Honky”, a song on his 2022 album titled “Jeremy Todd,” is his favorite song to perform because of the story behind the song’s title and because it is a little more upbeat than other songs on the set-list. He said his music pulls from a little bit of all the different music genres he grew up listening to, such as rap and country. He still struggles with performance anxiety, though it is getting better. He prefers to stand while performing because his nervous energy is directed toward his legs. “My hands still shake a little bit, but not as bad as they used to.” An average day for Jeremy is getting up before his family to do homework since he’s a music production major at a university, getting the kids ready for daycare, and then going to his 9 to 5 job. At the end of the day, he comes home to have dinner and relax with his family to unwind. His fiancé is his most important support system; she comes to sell merchandise, cheer him on from the sidelines, or stays at home with the kids so he can attend these performances. His kids are also very supportive, as are his followers on Instagram and Spotify.
He said that the most enjoyable part of the day was being able to come back to LLC and perform here. He got to see a few familiar people he likes and was able to help them out by being there today. “Lake Land has always been supportive of my music,” he adds. “I shot my second music video in the theater.”
Overall, Jeremy Todd has a wonderful support system behind him and has many fond memories of the Lake Land campus. It was an absolute pleasure being able to sit down with him and listen to his many stories of how his career started out and where he can see it going in the future now that he has started going back to school for a music degree.
