JustArts: How did B-DEIS Records form?Sungtae Park: In the beginning, B-DEIS Records began as the Jam Society. In 2005, a group of people came together to form a club that could serve as resources for independent student musicians, especially bands, at Brandeis because Slosberg Music Building is hardly sound-proof and its resources are mainly reserved for official school music ensembles. Despite a very large number of aspiring independent musicians on campus, Brandeis University was not and is still not able to provide a decent rehearsal space and equipments for them. Therefore, the founders of B-DEIS Records, formerly the Jam Society, who believed that the interests and the rights of those musicians were not being properly considered by the university, formed the club in 2005 to provide temporary solutions for them.

The current club name B-DEIS Records came into being during the fall of 2009. The main differences are that the current B-DEIS Records, in addition to providing equipments and holding concerts, provides a variety of free music lessons, including guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, vocal, and songwriting. Also, all B-DEIS Records concerts are now co-hosted with activist organizations for charity purposes. Last but not the least, the eboard or the board of management of B-DEIS Records is much larger and is re-organized into a very efficient, structured body with specialized tasks to deal with all the different functions and policies that the club serves as and also to deal with an ever-increasing amount of members (between the fall of 2009 and fall of 2010, the membership increased from approximately 50 to 370).

JA: What have been some redeeming aspects of starting such a new club? Any difficulties?

SP: I did not start B-DEIS Records, formerly the Jam Society. I do not know how difficult it was for the founding members of the Jam Society, but some of the immediate difficulties I faced in 2009 as the new President were making amendments to the club constitution to create a more efficient eboard, the negotiation of a better rehearsal space with the administration which took months, creating a set of regulations for the club members, and dealing with a quadrupled amount of members, which would have been impossible without assistance from individuals such as Justin Woolf-Sullivan '10, Douglas Moore '11, Charley Wolinsky '12, and Shannon Ingram '13. The greatest redeeming aspect of being the head of any organization, especially one as multi-functional and complex as B-DEIS Records, is, of course, experience.

JA: As a club with "records" in its name, do you plan on going to a recording studio with some bands to make an inaugural album this year?

SP: This all depends on how the performers and bands fare from here on. During 2008, the independent music scene at Brandeis almost disappeared because the former Jam Society came into conflict with the administration over certain issues. This semester, we are actually seeing a significant come back in terms of the number of bands and solo artists. If we come to believe that any band or artist at Brandeis has any potential for creating albums, we will gladly throw down our support.

JA: How did you decide to pair up with the Pakistan relief group for your concert? Was this your first benefit concert?

SP: B-DEIS Records concerts are always co-hosted with charity funds, and we are always looking for different groups to co-host with. But our choice for co-hosting the October concert had to be the Pakistan Relief Group because of the sheer magnitude of the disaster. The night was a success. The concert featured an unprecedented number of nine acts, and the turn-out was as large, if not larger, as other concerts hosted by B-DEIS Records.

JA: Whats up next for B-Deis records?

SP: B-DEIS Records is still in its growing stage both for its general membership and the eboard. The club is expected to become far larger within the next two years, and its functions may diversify even more to serve the interests of the independent musicians at Brandeis. I do not plan to run for re-election at the end of the Spring 2011 semester. Therefore, a board of management of very talented individuals with leadership skills will be required to deal with the future of this very complex club that holds the life of the independent music scene at Brandeis. One very important issue that Brandeis, as a community, needs to tackle is the fact that the university has still yet to provide a "permanent," decent rehearsal space for the whole community. A permanent rehearsal space that could be used freely by any student, not just musicians with official school support, would not only satisfy the needs of a very large portion of the student body but open up a whole new set of possibilities and opportunities for the arts scene at Brandeis in general.