On Friday, March 26, Colgate’s own Earthman Embassy took the stage at The Barge, performing a wide scope of both original songs and covers. Though the band recently underwent drastic changes regarding some of its members, they still brought energy and enthusiasm, entertaining the dozens of attendants.

If you have followed Earthman Embassy since their founding four years ago, you will surely have noticed the numerous differences in the people performing on stage. The group began with seniors Ben Taylor and George Zeitler, though Zeitler has recently withdrawn his membership this past January due to other commitments. The original bassist, senior Mike Peterson, also quit the band earlier in the year. Additionally, Earthman Embassy struggled to find a permanent drummer who clicked with the band. Junior Tommy Crocker originally filled that position, but since Peterson’s departure, he has taken over both bass and keyboard. Currently, the more recent members, seniors Will Plaehn and Jeremy Padow, have taken permanent positions as drummer and guitarist respectively. Though its history is certainly complicated, Earthman Embassy has finally seemed to reach stability.

The concert on Friday did not go as smoothly as expected for the band, due mainly to sound difficulties in the beginning of the show.

“I don’t think it was our best show, mainly because the sound issues threw us off,” Taylor said. However, the problems were hardly noticeable, and even Taylor admitted that most of the fans enjoyed the show.

“The tech issues may have bummed us out, but I think we were better than we thought we were,” Padow added.

Earthman Embassy performed a number of new songs they had recently recorded, including “Yesterday’s Feelings” and “Backboned.” Midway through the show, they were accompanied by senior Morgan Nevins, who performed covers of Jenny Lewis’ “Acid Song” and Neko Cases’ “I Wish I was the Moon.” Though Nevins had practiced with the group for quite some time, this was her first performance on stage with the band.

“It was a lot of fun performing with her, she’s really good,” Taylor said.

Though this is Earthman Embassy’s last year on campus, they have a lot of things planned for the next few months, including more concerts and recording. The band is planning on coming out with a demo within the next few weeks, which will feature “Yesterday’s Feelings,” “Backboned” and “All the Same to You,” which will is expected to be recorded this weekend. The first two songs can be downloaded for free on Earthman Embassy’s Facebook page. In addition, videos from the concert on Friday can be found on their Myspace.

With three of its members graduating this May, Earthman Embassy will attempt to stay intact.

“We’re all trying to get jobs in New York City if we can, and then continue with the band. Getting jobs is the impossible part, but we’ll still try to make music,” Taylor said.

Though their future is somewhat uncertain in the long run, Earthman Embassy looks back optimistically at their experience at Colgate, mostly due to their loyal fans.

“There’s definitely a cool group of people who’ve been supportive, mostly friends of ours. It’s definitely much easier now than it was when we just started working out. This year has been most successful despite losing a couple of people,” Taylor said.

Keep an eye out for upcoming Earthman Embassy shows, including GateStock on April 17, as well as their upcoming demo.