A few guys got together in 2022 for a show and have been on a steady rise ever since.  

Will Buck, Adam Osha, Hunter Smith, tyler serrani (he uses lowercase letter for his name) and Obi the Voicegod had the idea that they should put on a show for all their friends.  

The crew wanted to bring something different to the social scene of then Castleton University, considering the lackluster of social activities.  

“We threw some pallets together, screwed some plywood on the top, and Tyler provided some equipment, and we threw a show and three to five-hundred people showed up,” said Osha, member of the Pleasant Boys, describing how Genesis started. 

They began the change of the Castleton music scene.  

Although the turnout was not anticipated by some.  

“The first show that we ever threw, I found the PA speakers in my garage, and I didn’t know how to use a mixer and we didn’t know what we were doing, and it looked like it was going to rain…” said Serrani, one the artists and production manager of Genesis.  

Their most recent show was at the Essex Experience in Essex Junction, Vermont.  

The new venue hosted the Genesis fam that has grown exponentially since the first show.  

The venue itself was an old movie theater lit up with LEDs and projectors displaying psychedelic imagery as artists got ready to perform. 

The familiar faces of serrani, Buck, Osha and Obi were accompanied by artists like Charlie Mayne, Xistential, Flywlkr, Swaveoh, and Mendica, Hakim XOXO, Trills Interlude and Young Topia.  

The diverse crowd ranged from teenagers to couples in their 70s, but everyone was in high anticipation for the music to come.  

Trills Interlude and Hakim XOXO opened the night. 

“I freestyle everything. But that took time. I ain’t going to flex that that shit came overnight. It took time for real. I ain’t going to lie,” Hakim XOXO said.

As more artists performed, the crowd became more and more hyped.  

“It’s just raw. I used to write at first too, but then I stepped into that mindset. Life is in the moment. There might not be a tomorrow and you can’t be stuck in yesterday. It’s just life,”  Trills Interlude said.  

The community aspect is evident in the Genesis family, a perfect setup for the crowd and performers to be together and relish in the music in the moment.  

Throughout the performances DJ Matt Fisher, also known as Mendica, was behind the DJ table.  

“Fish, Mendica, The DJ, is the heart of the whole thing,” said Pleasant Boy Buck, co-founder of Genesis, and the group’s media guy.  

Towards the middle of the set, the highly anticipated Pleasant Boys began their performance.  

They performed a new song titled “Chicken Sandwich,” which the crowd raved about as well fan favorites like “BRISK OUTSIDE,” which the group released a video of last January directed by Caraway, the videographer for all Genesis events.  

The Pleasant Boys’ stage presence is captivating, and the crowd was engaged and involved throughout.  

“Senior year [of high school], I thought I could become a rapper. I was not making good music. But I was having so much fun. Like me and my friends were all just trying to come up with music and just make raps together. Obviously rapping about shit we don’t do,” Osha said.  

Buck and Osha met senior year of high school and started making music together in college. It wasn’t until their fifth year of college that they started putting it out.  

After The Pleasant Boys, Obi the Voicegod was up.  

He had a variety of music that the crowd loved, and his music sparked much more dancing in the crowd.  

From the side of the stage, Caraway, the videographer is capturing it all.  

“It was cool we got a videographer there and he made a sick recap of it and made it look really cool on social media and got everyone hype about it and we decided to do it again two weeks later and we had an even bigger turnout,” Osha said, referring to Caraway at the very first Genesis.  

“I just want to make them look the best I can because of the respect and relationship I have with all of them as artists and people. I’m just so proud of them all individually. I’m excited to see the feedback we get. Just making sure that I’m making something that will make people want to go to the next show,” Caraway said.  

Then it was Serrani who approached the stage for his set, although it was not the first time the audience had seen him that night.   

Between each performance, he would come out to announce each performer.   

The crowd sang along with his songs that had a more hyper pop feel with CU grad Hunter Smith, who is referred to as the head of Genesis, on bass, and Logan Toleman on guitar.   

“Just be you and don’t pay mind to everybody else whose telling you that you’re not going to be able to do something with it because it doesn’t matter how young, how old, how new you are to music. Just make it, own it, and always be you,” he said as advice for people looking to get into the music business.   

Charlie Mayne was next up on the set list. The West Coast musician spent a good amount of time interacting with the crowd before he started his performance.   

Mayne opened the floodgates to a lot of opportunities for Genesis in Burlington.   

“I put them on out here because I saw that they were doing shit in Castleton. So out here I’m the person that puts everyone in shows, and gets people signed. Those are like my baby brothers, and they are fucking talented,” he said. “They already had their thing going on. It was just like connecting with the next town. So, they’re running shit in Castleton and I’m running shit in Burlington and it’s like okay boom, push it together and now we’re running Vermont.”  

The guys have curated a network of people between Castleton and Burlington which had created many opportunities for them and other artists.   

“And then we all became friends and made this huge network of artists and started posting our stuff online and connecting with other artists from Vermont, not just in Castleton, and making Genesis more of a network,” Osha said. “We primarily throw shows, but it’s a network of people and friends and artists all trying to build together and support each other.”.   

None of them imagined it would have grown to what it has. Performing in bigger and better venues each show.   

For the future of Genesis, creative ideas are constantly flowing between all of them. So, although the future of Genesis might not be perfectly mapped out, it’s clear that we should expect more music. 

“I don’t know what the future looks like for Genesis. It could turn into a festival, a multimedia company, but in and of itself, Genesis is a movement. Genesis is a cultivation of art in Vermont, and we want to just continue to fuel the scene, making the most out of what we have here,” Serrani said. “I mean I don’t think any of us actually want to not be in Vermont like we have a home here that is absolutely insane, and I love everything that we do, and I love the culture in Vermont and just like trying to cultivate that this scene that we have going already is just what Genesis is all about. It’s just showing what Vermont has through music and art.”