The Music Industry Club, a student organization at UT, hosted its annual Monstober event on Oct. 29. The Halloween-themed event featured music performances from three bands, alongside a collaboration with fellow student organizations The Fashion Society and Vintage Market Knoxville. Students were encouraged to dress up and enter costume contests for prizes.

Music Industry Club is “a music business professional development club,” Ally McMabb, the MIC president, said. “We work to better prepare students for the music industry after college.”

This is its third year in existence and its second year putting on Monstober.

“Monstober is our annual Halloween live music event, and it is a great place for students to hear and support their peers,” Arnashia Gray, the director of outreach and publications head for MIC, said. “It also gives our members experience be(ing) a part of a live event while they’re in college.”

There’s a lot of work that goes into putting together an event like this. The executive board wanted to make sure as many people in the club could get hands-on experience.

“The goal for our members is to really have that hands-on experience with a large hands-on event,” McMabb said.

Even without outside help, they’ve been able to bring in collaborations with other organizations, both related and unrelated to UT, such as Depop and Vintage Market Knoxville.

“We use all of our events as an opportunity for community outreach, so we involve people like the Vintage Market Knoxville and promote through other live venues,” McMabb said.

The university is a part of the greater Knoxville community, and many clubs on campus work with local projects or organizations to build their networks and strengthen the overall connection.

“I collaborate with the music industry club ‘cause I am the owner of the Knoxville Vintage Market,” Ricky Hopkins said. “I collaborate with a lot of clubs on campus. It’s a good way for them to involve the greater community.”

In addition to creating a space for involvement and engagement, the MIC hopes the event will help to boost the followings of the three bands chosen to perform — The Magnolia Brothers, Fort Knox and Not a Band. William Oliveaux, the head of events, was excited about all three acts and their potential.

All three groups are composed of UT students, ranging in experience from just starting to being a well-known name on the local scene.

“I’m excited about [The Magnolia Brothers] because they are a freshman group and I believe over the four years they’ll be here, they have the potential to grow into a prominent group,” Oliveaux said.

Monstober was the biggest gig yet for The Magnolia Brothers, who were excited about the opportunity to play for a larger crowd.

“The music sounded great. It was fun to see the crowds engaging and enjoying the music as well,” Will Greer, frontman of The Magnolia Brothers, said. “We haven’t played for a crowd this big yet, so it was cool.”

The Magnolia Brothers have an indie inspired stadium country sound, which sets the scene nicely for the second band, Fort Knox, which plays country rock and blues.

“Fort Knox is currently one of the most prominent bands at UTK,” Oliveaux said. “They have a song out [on streaming] called Marigold Girl that I think is pretty good.”

As the end of their set drew near, ‘Marigold Girl’ took its spot in the setlist. Members of the crowd sang along, pulling out their phone flashlights to light up the room.

“The crowd involvement was great,” Carter Welch said. “We play off the crowd a lot. When the crowd got into it at the end, it was cool for us.”

While Fort Knox is releasing their own material, the closing band is a well developed cover band.

The third band to play is called Not a Band, and is composed mainly of students in MIC and students in the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music.

In between the transition from Fort Knox to Not a Band, Oliveaux and members of MIC helped the bands to set up all of their equipment and run sound to prepare for the performance.

Between sets, the Fashion Society hosted two rounds of the costume contest: most creative and best overall. People in costumes who wanted to participate lined up, and winners were picked based on popular vote from the audience.

MIC publications committee member Jordan Stevens dressed up as Allan Red from the animated TV show “Smiling Friends.” Her costume, which included a red cardboard mask, won her the title of most creative.

“I think he’s such a funny character, and I thought it would be a funny character for a costume,” Stevens said. “I was getting a lot of hype from other people — it was making me feel confident.”

The last contest of the night was the overall best costume category. This was won by MIC members Gaby Sweet and Jacob Ogle, who dressed up as Alice and Jasper from the baseball scene in the first Twilight movie.

“I cut my hair way too short and people were telling me I looked like Alice and to dress up as Alice for this event,” Sweet said.

Throughout the night, the crowd was singing and dancing, wandering the vendors’ shops and meeting new people by complimenting costumes and bonding over similar interests.

Members of MIC were happy to see that all of their hard work was paying off, not only in the smooth-running production but also in the friendly environment created.

“I’m really proud of this club, this is our third year in existence, and it has really come a long way,” Emma Woodward, vice president of MIC, said. “I think that live music and the live music community is something that is really important right now for people’s happiness, for people’s connection to each other, and it’s really important we foster that.”