STATESBORO, Ga.—The Plainfield Project impressed the audience and left it begging for more at Buffalo’s Southwest Café last Friday.

“I know I was one of the many fans chanting, ‘One more song’ at the end of the show,” Georgia Southern University student Kate Dixon said. “It was one of the best shows I’ve seen in Statesboro in a long time.”

The musical group hails from Charleston, S.C. and consists of Ben Fagan (guitar and lead vocals), Carter West (lead guitar and vocals), Matt Thompson (bass), Ross Bogan (organ and keyboards) and Daniel Shahid (drums).

With a sound akin to a blend of rock-and-roll, funk and reggae, The Plainfield Project brought a unique musical style to Statesboro that Georgia Southern University students and other Statesboro residents have been longing for.

“One of the problems with Statesboro lately is that a lot of the live music is the same old thing-country music or cheesy 1980s cover bands,” Statesboro resident Chris Harvey said. “With The Plainfield Project, you get to hear live, unique and original music as opposed to a live show full of cover songs, and you get a sound that everyone can appreciate regardless of what your musical preference may be.”

The Plainfield Project’s originality was noticed by audience members throughout the course of the show. Fans were not shy about expressing their enthusiasm to the musical group, and this provided the Charleston based quintet with a gratifying sentiment.

“Everybody’s been real receptive,” Fagan said. “People actually listen to [the music], and they’re positive in that they come and say something—they slap us five [or] shake a hand, which is nice."

After observing the crowd’s receptiveness to The Plainfield Project and its style, the group expressed its appreciation for Statesboro fans’ enthusiasm surrounding the performance.

“The crowd here is killer,” Shahid said. “We’re very, very happy with what we’ve accomplished at GSU.”

It is clear that The Plainfield Project appreciates the crowd support, but the quintet acknowledged its sound engineer, Jonathan Rogers, as a fundamental figure behind the musical group's success.

“[Jonathan] runs the sound, drives the bus full time, and does all the heavy lifting in and out,” Fagan said. “He's like the glue that allows Plainfield to be Plainfield because we're all a bunch of space cadets, and he's the one guy who gets us up, gets us moving, plans it out, and handles all the annoying specifics, so [he] deserves massive respect because he's the glue."

The Plainfield Project is scheduled to return to Buffalo’s Southwest Café April 30, and those unfamiliar with the musical group can expect a quintet that brings originality and personality to the stage.

“We are a rock-and-roll tree that grows jam nuts, funk berries and reggae fruit,” Fagan said. "[Statesboro fans] say, ‘you’re not the normal thing that comes through here,’ and we appreciate that.”