Chattanooga Times Free Press - ChattanoogaNow
Monday Night Social branching out
When husband and wife Janet and Brock McGarity first got together with Christian Mann, Josh English and James Oliver on Monday nights in Cleveland, Tenn., it was with the idea of playing a little music and socializing.
They soon f i gured out they sounded pretty good and decided to up the social factor and get out and play in a few local spots. Monday nights remained their regular night to get together for rehearsals.
“That’s where t he name Monday Night Social came from,” says Ja net McGarity, who shares vocals in the band with her husband and Mann.
A few months ago they decided to up the ante and entered the Road to Nightfall competition. They won, earning them the right to headline Friday night’s show at Miller Plaza.
Twenty- nine bands competed over t hree weekends with fans picking the five bands that made the finals. A panel of judges chose the eventual winner. (Full disclosure: this writer was one of the six judges.)
Monday Night Social was chosen because of its diversity, harmonies and professional stage presen- tation.
“We put a lot of work into our set and made sure the songs flowed into each other,” McGar- ity said.
Winning has meant more work, as n ow instead of the 30- minute set they did for the finals, they are asked to do 90 minutes. McGarity said the band has upped weekly practices to two or three times, though some might just be a vocal session with the three singers working on their harmonies.
“Three-part harmonies take a lot of work to make them right,” she said.
They’ve also written three new songs, which they will debut on Friday. McGarity said the band had scheduled a recording session in Ohio prior to the competition and they will be recording a fivesong EP there next month.
Winning Road To Nightfall also comes with a $ 1,500 cash prize and studio time at The Soundry. They’ll use that time to record as well.
“We are overjoyed to have won and we’re super excited to play.”
Monday Night Social will also play the Tennessee Whiskey Festival in First Tennessee Pavilion on Saturday.