For Loosey, a band started by App State students, the emergence of their venue The Green House — which doubles as their home — began with a backyard to play in and the excitement to make music. 

Guitarist and vocalist Justin Rosario, bassist and vocalist JD Nickel, guitarist and vocalist Dane Chelcun, and drummer Paul Scott formed Loosey their freshman year. 

“We met by happenstance and went from there,” Rosario said. “We were already there playing music and committing to jamming, so we thought we might as well be a band and turn some of these ideas into songs and tangible things.”

Chelcun said the Loosey band members each have individual styles that they build upon to create their music together.

“We all write and bring stuff to the table when we’re together. Like, ‘Oh, I’ve been jamming this thing for a while,’ and then I’ll start jamming it with Loosey, and then we start to put it together. It starts off individually and then becomes a group thing,” Chelcun said.  

Rosario and Nickel said the band often creates songs by spontaneously playing together and seeing what happens next. 

“There’s that ‘every once in a while’ jam that slips along that’s like, ‘Wow, that was fun,’” Nickel said. 

The music Loosey plays for each other is then brought on stage. Rosario said the transition from playing music for each other to playing music for a crowd is comfortable and organic. 

 “On stage, personally, it’s just sort of natural,” Rosario said. “It feels good to be playing music up there with people, you sort of disconnect from the crowd; it’s not that much different than just jamming in the living room, in a sense. It’s all a big conversation.”

After their freshman year, Rosario, Nickel and Chelcun moved into their new home, which they dubbed “The Green House.” Starting in fall 2019, playing music in Doughton Hall turned into hosting live shows on weekends to crowds of students. 

“We moved in over the summer and we thought, ‘This could be something cool,’” Chelcun said. “We are just trying to welcome all people to come listen to some music.”

The Green House shows attract large amounts of people. Nickel and Rosario said one show last fall was notably hectic. 

“We had 500 people in our backyard,”  said Rosario. “It was deep, like a field of people. People were hopping on and off of the roof. There was this guy in my class and he was like ‘Hey, uh, I fell off the roof of your house last night.’ That’s probably my favorite memory,” Nickel said. 

Establishing a new venue among other house shows in Boone is a continuous learning process for The Green House, but Rosario and Nickel said even in the midst of madness, the show goes on. 

“Every show it was like, ‘Damn, I don’t know how this is going to play out.’” Rosario said. “It always came through, and it was always killer. People get psyched,” Nickel said.

In the spring, Loosey plans to take what they learned from the fall and use it to better their shows.

“Our first house show of this season is March 20. It’s going to be Loosey, Slurpwave and Slow Stab. It’s going to be wild,” Rosario said.

Loosey also plans on building their style during the season and found that it has already changed from when they first started to play together. 

“Our style is still developing,” Rosario said. “Initially, it was heavier (and) grungier, but now it’s more toward rock and jams. Blues are starting to incorporate itself more. A lot of styles are merging into the stuff we are about to release.” 

Loosey is integrating into the house show culture in Boone. Rosario said that being a part of the Boone music scene means forming new friendships and both getting support from, as well as supporting a multitude of musicians. 

“It’s familial from my experiences; everyone’s so cool,” Rosario said. “We are all just a big extended friend group. Everyone wants to succeed together and get in each other’s shows. It’s a very mutual thing.”