Rock U Project Has Roots at Belmont

Curb Café on the campus of Belmont University will host the RockU Block Party on Saturday, August 28, featuring eight bands and musical artists performing songs from the new Reflection Records release Rock U. The CD is a compilation of recordings by independent artists and bands comprised of Belmont students and alumni. The new CD is volume 1 in a planned series of Rock U CDs featuring college bands and musicians from various universities. The project is the brainchild of Belmont University alumni B Thornberry and Bryan DeLuca.

Thornberry and DeLuca say Rock U’s mission is to provide an outlet for college music to be heard by students and the local community by creating a synergy between independent college artists and bands in which they promote and support each other’s music.
Rock U is positioning itself on college campuses across the nation, with the goal of making college students and the local community aware of the independent artists and bands that are formed at the local college or university. Rock U is seeking out artists and bands that are ambitious about an audience hearing their music and that want to further the cause of supporting college music.
“Our plan is to every other year come back to each university and do another compilation,” says DeLuca, noting that each new compilation would record the university’s current music scene, and could become a recruiting tool for the school.
The first CD compilation of Belmont bands includes a variety of music including “rock, soulful R&B, rap, jam-band type stuff, and contemporary Christian” says DeLuca. The fledgling company is reaching out now to other universities, with the goal of releasing similar compilations of bands at three other universities in the fall of 2005.
DeLuca and Thornberry, both May 2004 graduates of Belmont with degrees in music business, co-founded Reflection Entertainment Group with two focuses: artist management (via Reflection Management Group) and starting and independent record label, Reflection Records.
DeLuca manages the band Phil Whitman, which has a song on the Rock U CD. Thornberry is a member of the band Shortest Way Home, also on the CD.
The Rock U CD also features recordings by Stringblind, Julie Park, Blaze, MikesChair, Benefits of Leisure, Sweet T, Steven Clawson, and Moon Taxi.
The Rock U Block Party, a free event sponsored by Grimey’s, Christopher Pizza, Reflection Records, and the Curb Café, is the official release party for the Rock U CD. It starts at 8 p.m. and will feature eight bands, performing on two stages at the Curb Café and adjacent ReverbMedia store. Both the café and store are located on the first floor of the Curb Event Center complex, fronting Belmont Boulevard.