The first song of Fall Fest 2024 hit my chest and made me jump. 

The Misfortune Tellers came out swinging after waiting nine months to headline this year’s Fall Fest. The band reigned victorious against four others during the Battle of the Bands in January. Their prize? Playing the first slot of six Fall Fest performances.

It only took one note from the four-person band of bachelor of music MacEwan graduates to know they meant serious pop-punk, alt rock, and emo business. After a few songs, Jessica Pradham, on bass and vocals, told the crowd it’s “nice to come back to campus for something other than Deville.” 

In a post-show interview, lead guitarist Zach Hassan was quick to list some of the changes Misfortune Tellers racked on while they waited. In those nine months, they played their first show in B.C., opened for the band Wheatus, and their founding drummer, Tanner Reid, moved across the country to Montreal to pursue a master’s degree. Their new drummer, Ben Caufield, picked up the drumsticks and slapped down the energy for his first-ever show with the band at Fall Fest. 

Steve Cameron, on rhythm guitar and vocals, says that despite Caulfield being an amazing drummer, they were unsure how their first performance together would go. Though they were nervous, the band’s outlook focuses on having fun on stage. “If people like it, that’s awesome. If they don’t, the best thing we could do is just have a good time, hanging out with our friends and play music.” 

Pradhan offers similar advice for new talent looking to win Battle of the Bands. She credits being themselves and showing their personalities on stage for getting them to where the band is now. Their connection to each other brings out a connection with the crowd. “And then when the crowd’s having fun, we’re having fun,” she says.

The Misfortune Tellers formed during the pandemic. Cameron says that after jamming together without a name, and despite the difficulties of restrictions, they were itching to play a show, “but to do that, we need a name.” After a week of dropping names in a hat, they initially passed over the name Misfortune Tellers, but Cameron cemented their choice after some quick logo doodling. They released their first song in 2022, Kicked to Death in a Denny’s Parking Lot. Two years later, it was the second last song of their Fall Fest set.

Armed with a name, the band played their first set right across the street at Naked Cyber, on the same stage that Hassan played his first-ever gig in high school. Hassan says, “It’s interesting, like, in six years, everything’s just happened in a two-kilometer radius from here.”

The band’s education at MacEwan has undoubtedly helped to shape their music. “I think the best songs that I’ve written have been ones that I wrote while I was here,” says Cameron, who values MacEwan’s environment of musical people and mentors with feedback. In their songwriting process, Cameron and Pradhan usually develop a song skeleton, which is then improved in the hands of Hassan, who majored in composition. 

“All of our lives were pretty much around MacEwan,” says Cameron. To him, coming back to campus to headline Fall Fest feels like a sendoff to the school. “I guess we’re just excited for whatever comes next.” 

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Photos by Amanda Erickson