Early last fall, Jay Bland wandered through South Residence Hall looking for the room hosting a pregame for one of the first football games of the year. A freshman at the time, the Winston-Salem native was still making new friends and meeting new people. As he knocked on the host’s door, “Midnight in Harlem” by the Tedeschi Trucks Band could be heard playing from a speaker inside.
Bland was pleasantly surprised to hear the song, as it was a rarity for him to meet anyone who knew the blues band, other than himself. Looking around the room as he entered, he spotted posters of other bands he enjoyed.
Finally, he met the dorm room’s interior decorator, resident and temporary DJ — bassist Matt Miller. The two began talking about music and which instruments they played; they became fast friends.
Miller invited Bland to bring his guitar and play with him and his hall mate, Bo Taliaferro, who he had met during a pickup basketball game. Before long, the three began regularly playing together. Soon after, they invited drummer Nate Long and pianist Alex Randall.
The five enthusiastic new members of what would become Chicken Scratch only had one roadblock ––– finding somewhere to practice that could fit them all.
“First we started practicing in Scales,” Taliaferro laughed a little. “Which I’m not sure we were authorized to do, so we eventually started practicing at [Bland’s] house, since his dad is in a band and has a setup.”
The band began practicing weekly, unsure if they would be given a chance to play at events given their status as freshmen. They started brainstorming potential band names and landed on Chicken Scratch, a name credited to Taliaferro’s older brother’s list of band names from the Notes app on his phone.
The band booked their first gig at Wofford College, playing for Taliaferro’s older brother’s fraternity. They loaded their equipment and took the trip down to play, bringing the crowd a smooth mix of both country and rock songs.
One year later, the band played Wake n’ Shake and various other events on and off campus. They’ve continued to add songs and genres, trying to keep the set lists fresh for repeat audiences.
“That’s one of the things about being here at Wake [Forest] — to some degree it’s going to be the same people that are hearing us play,” Bland says. “So, we want to try to learn as many new songs as we can between the gigs […]. I think that’s probably resulted in some pretty serious cataloging.”
While connected through the band, each member is involved in a different niche of clubs and organizations around campus, attracting a wide array of attendees to their concert.
“Another great thing about us, I feel like each one of us individually have different people coming out to see us,” Taliaferro said. “It’s really nice to go out on stage and see those people in the crowd every time and see they’re taking time to support us.”
With three years left before graduation, Chicken Scratch looks forward to playing more student events while booking gigs at local venues in Winston-Salem. The band has also begun writing and producing original music, which they are excited about playing for audiences.
“Live music connects so many people,” Taliaferro said, “especially at a school like Wake [Forest] where everyone’s one degree of separation away from knowing each other.”
“If you come to see Chicken Scratch, you’re seeing other students, like Matthew Miller, up there on stage playing the bass,” Bland laughs. “It’s not like the music is just coming out of his speaker or anything. He could mess up — but he never does.”
