“We Are The Dirt” jams out on Ball Circle’s stage

by ALEXIS HUFF

Staff Writer

A small crowd gathered around the stage on Ball Circle as one of UMW’s very own students, Kassi Williams, a senior computer science major, and her band “We Are The Dirt” stepped into the spotlight at the UMW Block Party on March 28.

Their set radiated in the evening sunlight, filling the air with a combination of drums, guitars and Williams’s voice.

A few of the audience members couldn’t help but move their bodies, swaying along to the music that was played for students and community members on Ball Circle to enjoy.

“I personally really loved their performance, I’ve also heard nothing but good things about them from other students prior to and after the event,” said Amber Peregrino, a sophomore English major and chair of UMW’s Campus Programming Board, the organization that hosted the event.

The Block Party, organized by the CPB and Peregrino, offered several forms of entertainment for students, including fun outdoor games like spike ball, connect four and corn hole, a variety of arts and crafts and a wide selection of food and sweet treats.

Peregrino decided to invite “We Are The Dirt” to the Block Party after seeing them perform at an event that was hosted by For The Culture.

“For the block party, I really wanted to include a student band to try and have more engagement with the event this year,” said Peregrino.

She continued, “Also, the band, as well as ‘Moonroof,’ who they opened for, are led by people of color, which is something exciting and important for me to have had in one of our bigger events on campus.”

“We Are The Dirt” performed a setlist full of original songs.

“The songs we performed were all originals; we pretty much exclusively play originals,” said Williams. “Anytime we have an extended set, instead of adding a cover, I add one of my other original songs.”

As a songwriter, Williams writes the majority of the songs for the band.

“I’ve been writing songs since I was able to write and I’ve been singing since I could sing,” she said.

Williams sang in the choir in elementary, middle and high school and started learning guitar at age 12, which is when she started making more songs.

“After I learned how to play an instrument, I could write an entire song,” said Williams.

According to Williams, “We Are The Dirt” started as a solo project, but after a few years, it turned into something bigger once she got to college. In 2020, Williams joined TikTok and started with a total number of 11 followers, all of whom were her friends.

She thought that TikTok would be a fun place to post her music for her friends. However, once she began posting, her account got a lot of attention.

“I’ve since deleted my original TikTok account, but the first two videos got a couple hundred thousand views,” said Williams.

Later on, Williams had one video get around 3 million views, which helped direct a lot of people over to her Spotify.

“The song that originally blew up, ‘It’s Never Enough,’ now has over 4 million Spotify streams,” she said. “The username I had was ‘We Are The Dirt’ and so it stuck as the band name because it blew up so fast and I didn’t really have any time to think of a name.”

Williams’s original followers continue to support her throughout her journey after launching her account, and they continue to be a motivation for her.

“The people who stuck around, watching the videos and supporting them pushed me to put it on platforms,” said Williams.

As of now, We Are The Dirt consists of four people. Each member has their own unique role to complete the band.

“We have Sidney Blasiol on drums, Raimund Rueger on lead guitar, Sage Parker on Bass and me on rhythm and vocals,” said Williams.

The band plays a variety of music, including pop, rock and alternative songs.

“We don’t really like putting our music in a specific category,” William said. “Our music is most similar to either pop punk or alternative rock, but it’s really our own thing. We just say dirt rock as a joke, we love it.”

Since their following has increased, the band has gained exposure at various types of venues, including some in cities outside Fredericksburg and states outside of Virginia.

They’ve played at Original Grinds in downtown Fredericksburg and Jammin’ Java up in Northern Virginia, which is a more official venue that hosts larger bands.

“We’ve played at the Garage in Maryland, an art gallery in Pennsylvania and a bicycle shop in Raleigh,” said Williams.

Sometimes Williams even takes the stage solo, opening up for bigger bands.

“Recently, I opened for Have Mercy and Chuck Ragan from Hot Water Music,” Williams said.

Managing a band comes with a lot of responsibilities and difficulties. The band has had a few challenges, including band members coming and going throughout the past year. Williams explains that balancing the band with school and her social life while also keeping the band organized continues to be one of her main challenges.

“I take on a lot of additional responsibilities, like running the band’s social media,” said Williams.

In addition to running the band’s social media, Williams also uploads flyers to show up on their Spotify page event list and makes merch to sell to fans. She also takes charge of managing money, booking shows and booking Airbnbs for further gigs.

The other band members also have responsibilities outside of “We Are The Dirt.”

“My drummer works too and he also has another band. He’ll get off work at six and come immediately to band practice,” said Williams.

When “We Are The Dirt” got invited to perform at the Block Party, they decided to take on the opportunity to showcase on Ball Circle. Previously, Williams had performed at UMW before.

“I played at the Tiny Desk concert first, I think that was through SAE,” Williams said.

The band had previously performed at the Culture Club for Black History Month, but CPB also wanted to see them play at the Block Party as well, so they played both.

“I said I would still be interested in it and then later on we got the information and it ended up being worth it,” said Williams.

Additionally, Williams and her band were very impressed with the setup they had at the Block Party.

“The setup itself was really, really well done with the stage. The sound people were the best sound people we’ve ever had; they were really, really good and locked in. It was great,” she said.

Overall, “We Are The Dirt” had a great time at UMW’s Block Party, and they hope to perform at other campus events in the future.

“We’d definitely do it again,” Williams said.

However, the band also hopes to expand its reach.

“We definitely want to try and get some bigger gigs at some more established venues. Hopefully, get some opening acts for some larger bands and make some more connections,” said Williams.