Fast and loud tunes rang out at the Becker Amphitheater as Titan Radio hosted its biannual “No Stress Fest” on Friday night to sign off the spring semester at Cal State Fullerton.
Titan Radio hosted bands Headless, Dreary and Smother as their performers for this semester, while also having vendors on the side of the amphitheater as special add-ons to the event for students to view.
Compared to the other “No Stress Fest” events Titan Radio has hosted, music choice and vendors were the main focal points of change this semester. This time around, Titan Radio included four vendors, which is more than the usual count. All the while, the music style switched up from their usual punk scene into a calmer alternative.
“We wanted to go for a little bit of a more shoegaze,” said Bashar Talib, a fourth-year communications advertising major and campus events and engagement coordinator at Titan Radio. “We had the past ‘No Stress Fest’ to be more punk-focused, so we wanted to have a little calmer, a little smoother sound.”
The event kicked off with Headless as the first band in the lineup, followed by Dreary and lastly Smother ending off the night. While each band had their own individualistic setlist, all of their sounds presented as shoegaze with an electric touch to them.
Natalie Orosco, lead singer of Dreary, mentioned how the band had performed at CSUF before, but they didn’t have any music out at the time. At this semester’s event, they finally had original songs to play for the Titans.
“So we played here before and the last time we played at ‘No Stress Fest,’ we had absolutely no music. You guys (Titan Radio) were showing the students our YouTube and our YouTube practice videos, and so that was really cool,” Orosco said. “And so the fact that we got to be asked again and we have music out, the students have more things to listen to.”
As the songs served as a “stress-reliever” for students to wind down with, the environment around the amphitheater was filled with students moving to the music.
Adwoa Dadzie, a second-year gender and sexuality studies major, described the atmosphere of the event to be whimsical yet chill. Arianna Godwin, a first-year criminal justice major, piggy-backed on the same idea and explained how the music is living up to the title of the event.
“The music here is really chill like she (Dadzie) said, whimsical,” Godwin said. “Everyone can just kind of relax and, ‘No Stress Fest’ — you’re here to relax and that’s what the music and atmosphere is giving.”
On one hand, the night seemed to be the usual Titan Radio event, but behind the scenes, staff members are soon to graduate this spring, leaving behind cherished memories of working with the coworkers around them.
Serenity Keo, a fourth-year communications public relations major and social media intern for Titan Radio, felt bittersweet that this was her first and last event she’s working. She explained how she will forever cherish the best part of working at the station by getting to know the people and energy in Pollak Library’s radio station.
Talib also feels the same way in his perspective, finding a great group of friends within a workplace that will last a lifetime, while also taking in the experience of working at a radio station for the last time.
“Honestly, the best part of working at Titan Radio is just the amazing people and the amazing staff that we have,” Talib said. “I’ve made some lifelong friends that I’m going to have forever and so many memories that I’m just going to cherish.”