Former Ohio University students Dave DiGregorio and Matthew Gibson will be entertaining a crowd of spring breakers in Lake Havasu, Arizona, after winning a nationwide contest.
The two, who perform as iPhonic, entered a contest on Facebook and will be using the performance to promote their upcoming tour across Ohio colleges.
Gibson, who plays guitar and keyboard, found the contest online and promoted it over the course of a week.
“In the end we won by seven votes. It’s crazy. Every single vote was huge,” he said.
DiGregorio, lead singer of iPhonic and former student, said he feels the performance will further the groups’ success.
“It’s just so crazy that they’re flying us out to perform. We’ve come so far in the past couple months. It’s like everything is going in the right direction,” he said.
Gibson said his and DiGregorio’s time in Athens influenced the band’s direction and music, as they played in a classic rock cover band at Red Brick Sports Pub & Grill prior to forming iPhonic.
“Dave and I are certainly party animals. … The lifestyle of Athens, going to the bars and getting rowdy as hell, definitely influenced the band. You can hear it in the lyrics,” Gibson said.
Following a recent collaboration with Cleveland rapper Machine Gun Kelly, iPhonic is playing at six colleges, including OU, as part of its Ohio College Tour in April.
“It’s our perfect market. We’re a party band. Who to play for better than college kids?” Gibson said.
Gibson said iPhonic approaches their music with a light-hearted attitude.
“It’s just fun music. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We’re not trying to be super hard ... like your typical rapper or hip-hop group would,” Gibson said. “We’re out there talking about stuff that is true to us. Partying, having fun, hanging out with friends – it’s all high energy.”
Gibson said iPhonic hopes new management and the Ohio college tour will help them gain more notoriety.
“Ideally, we’d go on to be rock stars. I guess that’s every musician’s dream,” Gibson said.
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