Dayton Football Band To Perform In Daytona
Atticus Hughes
Contributing Writer
Are you a fan of Dayton Football? Are you a fan of classic rock? If the answer to both of those questions was yes, you’ll be pleased to hear about the heaviest student band on campus, Girth.
Girth is comprised of four members of Dayton’s Football team. Senior Dante Steffanini, senior Matt “Dice” Brandeis, senior Ben Gauthier and redshirt freshman Richie Warfield make up the band. Steffanini and Gothier founded Girth just over a year ago in the spring of the 2018, with their first live performances of the year coming this semester at Timothy’s Bar and Grill. The band’s performances on January 18 and February 9 of this year landed them the opportunity to travel down to Daytona Beach and perform at the famous Dayton 2 Daytona pool deck.
The name “Girth” originated from the positions the band members play on the football team. Stefanini is on the offensive line, Brandeis and Gauthier reside on the defensive line and Richie Warfield plays running back. What better name for some of the most daunting players on the team?
Girth is more than just a group of teammates playing music together; their claim to fame is that they bring over 1000 pounds of cumulative weight to the stage when they perform. In fact, there’s a weight requirement to be involved in the band – all members must be over 250 pounds. Warfield, the band’s bassist and only member short of the 250 pound mark, was allowed to weigh in with his guitar to make the official weight for the performances. The band weighs in before each of their performances to validate the claim that they bring “1000 pounds of rock and roll” to their fans.
In terms of music genre, Girth identifies as a Rock and Roll group, but have shown their musical range by performing everything from Backstreet Boys to AC/DC.
“Girth brings lots of energy to our shows and we love playing music that the crowd responds to,” Warfield said. “We have certain songs we play that are definitely crowd pleasers, but we add in some lesser known songs that we love performing for our own enjoyment.”
Warfield further reflected on what it has been like playing for the student body so far.
“It’s great playing in front of students since they’re our peers,” Warfield said. “We know a lot of them like the same music we do and will enjoy hearing what we play. It’s fun because Girth has come a long way from where we started and now our shows have gotten way more professional since the beginning in terms of music quality, sound and stage setup, and overall performance. I think the students are impressed with what we’ve been able to accomplish and hopefully we’ve made an impact on the music scene here at Dayton.”
With graduation on the horizon for Stefanini and Gothier, Girth is preparing for their final performance when they take the pool deck stage during Dayton 2 Daytona.