Each year, Samford welcomes its incoming freshman class with Connections Weekend, a series of events meant to help new students make friends. The highlight of the weekend is Your School, Your City, a nighttime concert on the quad for all students to welcome them back to campus. This year’s band, Zion Goins, has a surprising amount of history with the event.
“Me and Zion Goins (the band’s frontman) actually met at Your School, Your City 5 years ago” said Jacob McLendon, the band’s drummer. “I met him when Dayglow played.”
McLendon’s older brother, Jon McLendon, was already the bassist for the band at the time.
“I met Zion at a show that he was doing acoustic at in Birmingham,” said Jon McLendon.
The two had already been playing for different Samford fraternities and sororities when Your School, Your City came around.
“I went up and introduced myself [at Your School, Your City], and I think I said some stupid thing about Zion opening for Dayglow or something,” Jacob McLendon said.
“What was funny was that we had done the Battle of the Bands to play that gig to open for Dayglow, and we had lost,” Goins said. “So it was a little bit of a sore spot.”
This interaction didn’t dampen Jacob’s chances to join the band, though.
“I heard Jacob play and I was like, please play for me,” Goins said. The band’s final member, Jack Sullivan, was also a Samford graduate. Unlike Jacob McLendon, however, Sullivan did not study music as an undergraduate.
“I went to school for accounting and marketing,” Sullivan explained. “I’m not a full time musician, but it’s a big part of my income. Samford taught me what I didn’t want to become, which was an accountant or someone in marketing, and it also stoked the fire to end up what I’m doing now, which is definitely the more creative route.”
The band, who describes their genre of music as “Indie-folk,” has developed a committed fanbase in the Birmingham area.
“We had some connections through people that work [at Samford], but we also have enough of a fan base there to kind of be like, ‘yeah, I know these guys,’ so we have some relationship to vouch for our character, and the fanbase to watch us come play,” Goins explained.
For the band’s Samford graduates, this show carries a special significance.
“August 10 years ago was my freshman year at Samford,” Sullivan said. “Which feels crazy to say.”
“I graduated in May, so I don’t really feel like a grad just yet,” said Jacob McLendon. “I did say, for years how cool it would be to maybe we’re big enough to play, like, the year after I graduate.
Jacob Mclendon’s presence at Your School, Your City is the culmination of a long journey for him.
“I’ve done the production runs and the hospitality riders for years for all of the bands that have come in,” Jacob McClendon said. “And now we get to play.”
“It’s gonna be so fun,” Jacob McLendon said. “It’s a fun homecoming.”
Click here to see upcoming shows, stream Zion Goins’ new album, or book a gig.
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