For the first time in Marquette Radio history, MUR’s annual battle of the bands, “Radio Roulette,” changed its location from Marquette’s Union Sports Annex to Third Space Brewing in the Menomonee Valley.
While still being located near campus and accessible to students, partnering with Third Space Brewing opened up the opportunity to bring a Marquette sponsored event, outside of campus and into the Valley.
Local artist dak duBois took the stage first this year. duBois does all of the production, recording and plays all of the instrumental components that come together to deliver his unique sound.
“I have my own studio in my apartment, and I have 200, maybe 300 projects on the back burner and all of that keeps adding up,” duBois said. “It’s good practice to keep writing all of the time and keep working on new stuff.”
duBois described his first album as a project that aligns more with a sludgy, west coast indie rock, psychedelic sound to it. Later on, he released two EP’s that fell more within cut the neo-soul genre, signaling to the versatility of his sound and style.
duBois mentioned that a goal he has for himself as an artist is growing as a person.
“That will shine in the music, whatever you do, who you are as a person will always come through,” duBois said. “Authenticity is, like, the number one thing.”
Hailing from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Dominic Gomes Jazz Collective took the stage second. The collective is made up of saxophonist Jacob Green, pianist Alina Loewenstein, bassist Liam Kelly and drummer Dominic Gomes.
They played various jazz classics, crowd favorite “Caravan” from the 2014 film “Whiplash” and even an original composition by Gomes.
Kelly said the collective formed through mutual friend Dominic in 2024. Each member of the band wanted to find other ways to pursue music outside of the official ensembles at their university.
“I would describe our sound as tight and groovy, while still remaining dynamic. We bring our own unique voices together to make the song come alive,” Kelly said. “The songs we play emphasize this, showcasing our diverse backgrounds through the repertoire we play.”
Another Milwaukee based band, The Taxmen, closed out the show. As their name implies, The Taxmen started out as a Beatles’ cover band, inspired by their song “Taxman.” The Beatles connected them to one another as young kids. While they still perform covers from time to time, they have branched out into writing their own music as well.
The Taxmen are made up of bassist and recorder player Anthony Kopczynski, guitarist Will Maher, guitarist Jeffrey Thaddeus Dziadulewicz and drummer Will Martin. Each member of the band provides vocals for performances.
Kopczynski said it all began when the band met in elementary school and discovered that they all shared a love for The Beatles. From there, they started learning Beatles songs on the guitar and drums. It wasn’t until middle school when they began writing original music.
“It’s not until more recently, in the last two years that we really started recording them and playing them live,” Maher said. “We’re still recording some songs now that we actually wrote way back when we were 14.”
When it comes to writing original music, the Taxmen each play a role in coming up with lyrics and putting each project together.
“It starts as a seed, or a Bonsai tree, and then we bring the Bonsai tree to the table, and it becomes sort of like a bigger tree with the whole band,” Kopczynski said.
Radio Roulette is known for hosting special guest judges. This year, Parker Schultz from the band Social Cig returned to judge alongside former MUR general manager, Sam Baughn, and a collective vote from the Third Space Brewing staff. After deliberation, the judges determined The Taxmen to be the winners of the battle, and they will be back to perform at MUR’s upcoming spring concert.
This story was written by Sofía Cortés and Ellie Nelsen-Freund. They can be reached at sofia.cortes@marquette.edu or elizabeth.nelsen-freund@marquette.edu.
