Check your trucks and grab your costumes — it’s time to Get Launched!

On March 13, Launch Skatepark will present their second annual Get Launched! concert. In partnership with KCSU, Get Launched! will represent and showcase a diverse mix of local musical talent and spread the good vibes through sound and skateboarding. With a spooky theme, attendants are encouraged to show up dressed in costumes and ready to have a frighteningly amazing night.

This year, 43 different artist submissions were sent to the KCSU station, all with hopes to get a spot on the lineup. The bands who applied displayed an incredible amount of musical diversity, ranging from hip-hop to alternative indie. After a tough deliberation, this year’s lineup will consist of The Nova Kicks, Glass Cases and Mystic I.

The Nova Kicks will be the first band to play. They self-identify as having a sound that mixes garage rock with surf punk. Enrique Sandoval and Luis Prado are the creators of the band. They began making music in high school and found their new style together.

“People tend to think we heavily reside in the punk scene here, but I think we’re not limited to that,” Prado said. “We just kinda play and write whatever comes out, and a lot of times it falls into that riffy, rock-and-roll, garage-punk type.” 

A powerhouse alternative band, Glass Cases, will be the next to appear at Get Launched! The three-piece band is comprised of Alex Van Keulen, Austin Seifert and Cameron Greene. Classifying themselves as “uke-synth” alternative, Glass Cases played one of their first gigs with KCSU and tried to be a part of the first Get Launched! concert last year.

The band cited their ideal bands to play with as Death Cab for Cutie, A Day To Remember and twenty one pilots. The different personalities of the band members create the pleasantly offhand tone of the group. With a new album coming out on March 21, Glass Cases hopes to push new musical boundaries that they haven’t touched before.

Get Launched! Will take place at Launch Skatepark on March 13. Doors will open at 7 P.M. Tickets are $7 in advance and will be $10 at the door. There is a limited cap, so buy your tickets now, here.

Bringing a youthful sound to the mix, the final artist on the lineup is Mystic I. Max Arellano started his music career at a young age with his friend Cody Faber, making songs and beats together growing up. Recently, Mystic I. has solidified the additional talents of Chris Scarborough and Creighton Evans, with more to come.

This group is only a few weeks old, but they’re already in the studio, or rather a shed, working hard to create new songs for their first performance together at Get Launched! According to Arellano, the band has no concise sound and instead utilizes a wide range of influences from alternative to hip-hop to pop indie.

“(The group is) a blend of everything,” Evans said. “That’s what’s cool about this project. There’s a lot of different people, lots of different styles, and it all ends up coming together pretty nicely.”

The KCSU radio station selected this mix of artists to represent the community due to their newer sounds and vast range of styles.

“Our mission is to represent diverse genres on air,” said Julia Battagliese, the station manager at KCSU. “The show is to support local bands who haven’t had … lots of exposure.”

Full interviews with the bands and samples of their music can be found on the KCSU website.

Gabe Hyde can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com or on Twitter @Saigonjon.