It’s a phrase every college band dreams of hearing: “You got a Woodie!”
A Woodie is an award handed out annually by mtvU, recognizing the best music as voted by college students across the country. Woodie Awards are given in a number of categories, including Woodie of the Year, Best Video Woodie, Breaking Woodie and Best Music on Campus Woodie.
The Bride Wore Black, a band that features two NYU students, was nominated for this year’s Best Music on Campus Woodie.
CAS senior Seanathan Walsh leads the band on vocals and guitar, and Stern senior Mike Antonucci plays the bass guitar. They’re joined by Devin Passariello and Sam Fruner from Long Island’s Five Towns College on drums and guitar, respectively. The Bride Wore Black was formed in the fall of 2006 when bandmates Walsh and Fruner started the pop-rock group and invited Antonucci to join. They later picked up Passariello, whom they had seen perform with a few other bands.
The Bride Wore Black has been nominated for the Best Music on Campus Woodie every year since 2006, but this is the first year that the band beat out thousands of college groups to become one of the 25 nationally recognized finalists. After a second round of voting, the band was informed recently of its position in the top five.
Besides posting songs on its MySpace page and touring around the tri-state area, the band also released an album last year titled “iPWNED!” The seven-song EP features songs such as “Pray to the Porcelain God,” “Tonight I’ll Look to Celestial” and “Stage Dives and High Fives.” The Bride Wore Black wrote and recorded the songs throughout the fall of 2006 and the spring of 2007.
“We didn’t want to rush [the first album],” Passariello said. “We took our time.”
Passariello credits Walsh with jump-starting the songwriting process, but says that the final product is always the result of collaboration.
“We work on it together until we get it right,” Passariello said. “There’s never been a song written by only one person. We always work on it together. That’s probably what has kept us together as a group so long.”
The Woodie Awards show is held every November at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. Past Woodie Award winners include Fall Out Boy (Streaming Woodie 2004), the Killers (Breaking Woodie 2004), Death Cab for Cutie (Best Video Woodie 2005), Plain White T’s (Breaking Woodie 2006), Boys Like Girls (Breaking Woodie 2007) and Gym Class Heroes (Woodie of the Year 2007).
Although the award itself does not guarantee a record deal or instant fame, the members of The Bride Wore Black have high hopes for the potential advantages of winning.
“It would definitely help with résumés,” Walsh said. “It would impress any record label that we won an award from MTV.”
And what is the band going to do if they win the $5,000 cash prize?
“Pay off some debts,” Passariello joked. “And we will use the rest of the money towards recording another EP.”
“It really means more than any other kind of award,” Walsh said. “People are going out of their way to vote.”
Students can vote for artists in all Woodie Awards categories, including the Best Music on Campus, on mtvU’s website, http://woodies.mtvu.com. Voting ends on Nov. 7.
Sara Gates is a staff writer. E-mail him at nyuarts@nyunews.com.
Washington Square News > Arts > NYU Arts
Always a bridesmaid, still trying
Published: Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Updated: Wednesday, October 29, 2008
 "Photo: Courtesy of The Bride Wore Black Myspace")
Courtesy of The Bride Wore Black Myspace
ROCK OUT | Stern senior Mike Antonucci, seen here thrashing, wants his mtvU
3 comments
Your name
YES! CONGRATS FROM SUNNY CA TO SEAN, MIKE, SAM & DEVIN - KNEW YOU GUYS COULD DO IT!!!
Mom and Dad A.
Congratulations to The Bride Wore Black ----Mike, Sean, Sam and Devin on winning the MTVU Woodie Award for Best Music on Campus 2008. We are proud of all of you!
Lorina
CRAZZZY!!!! I hope you guys win!
