Disco Band: “I’m here and I’m gonna have a good time”

Jaydn Al-Fatah `27 had been on the Harris Center stage before, but there was something different about this year’s Disco Harris. Through a slit in the curtains, Al-Fatah could sense the excitement in the dense crowd. “I heard everybody cheering and screaming,” they said. “I was just like, ‘Okay, show’s on.’” And so, Al-Fatah, one of the Disco Band’s lead singers, put on a show, as did the rest of the band. 

Co-leaders Dillon Rawlings `25 and Abby Davison `26 described the night as full of perfect moments.

“Things couldn’t have gotten better,” Rawlings said. Rawlings, who has been a member of the band for all four of his Grinnell years, played baritone saxophone for Disco Harris. On top of his skill with the horn, he added a shaker to his repertoire for a rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough.” Davison, a trumpet player, made her singing debut with Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive.”

Al-Fatah said their shining moment came during Beyoncé’s “CUFF IT” with fellow singer Sam Sirna `25.

“During rehearsals, we were interacting a little bit, being sexy and hot,” they said. “On stage, I was like, ‘You know, let me go full force.’ And so I had a little moment where I just bent over on him.” Al-Fatah said that the crowd loved it.

“Her stage presence is just insane,” Al-Fatah said of Beyoncé, one of their major influences in performance.

Rawlings and Davison echoed Al-Fatah’s delight in performing for a live audience. “It’s just the best feeling in the world,” Rawlings said. “You see all your friends. You see your friends’ friends. You see people you know from campus, and it’s wall-to-wall packed, and they’re all screaming for you.”

“I would say that I was nervous,” Davison said. As the performance went on, though, she said she felt more and more at ease. “But after the first or second song, I’m like, ‘I’m here and I’m gonna have a good time.’” 

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The three members all emphasized the closeness and support they felt within the band. “Overall, spending a lot of time with each other, learning how we interact with each other allows us to bring more energy to the show and everything else leading up to it,” Al-Fatah said. 

Davison said that the support within the band extends into the performance. “If something goes wrong in the music, we’re gonna keep going and we’re gonna keep having a good time.”

“I wanted everyone to feel like they had an equal part in the band,” Rawlings said. “That’s not just my band, that’s my family.”