Thursday, September 16, is going to be a big day for Fanshawe's music industry arts students as First Step Productions presents Fanshawe Rocks Elite, a night of music at Club Elite at 183 King St., downtown London.

First Step Productions is a music production company founded in April 2010 by four MIA students — Ethan Henderson, Scott Hitchon, Adam Gomori and Wes Grove — all going into their second year of study.

“We offer recording and management, and a lot of business aspects to musicians and artists around southwestern Ontario,” said Grove, who reached out to us at Interrobang to spread the word about the show, which is going to feature only Fanshawe-grown talent.

“We're all going into second year MIA, so we just wanted to get all our old friends back together again, and get these new first-year MIA students out,” Grove continued. “It's a Fanshawe-wide event, so we're hoping to get a lot of people excited.”

The roster of MIA student/artists is set to descend on two stages at Club Elite, the former Salt Lounge, on September 16. According to Grove, this is the largest event yet as First Step Productions continues to grow. The lineup for Fanshawe Rocks Elite is:

8:30—9:00, front stage, Mark Kulmala (myspace.com/markkulmala)

9:00—9:30, main stage, Yellow Umbrella (myspace.com/yellowumbrellab and)

9:30—9:45, front stage, Lauren Campbell (myspace.com/laurencampbellmusic)

9:45—10:15, main stage, Tam Duong (myspace.com/tamduongmusic)

10:15—10:30, front stage, Evan Miles (myspace.com/evanandrewmiles)

10:30—11:00, main stage, Arkham Dispatch (myspace.com/arkhamdispatch)

11:00—11:15, front stage, TBA

11:15—12:00, main stage, Distance Between Stars (myspace.com/distancebetweenstars)

The show has been arranged to alternate smoothly between stages at Club Elite to allow for the best exposure for the artists, but it also does us the service of keeping music and entertainment flowing without lengthy breaks through the event.

Now that Grove, Henderson, Hitchon and Gomori have begun to carve their way in the industry with First Step Productions, they're expressing a clear desire to aide other MIA students as well.

“We want to promote these artists, essentially,” Grove said of the student lineup. “All of these artists that we have playing are hoping to pursue a career as an artist or a musician, so we're trying to help them out, giving them a show, giving them some publicity that way.

“I've learned so much from the program, it's great. The main thing that I've learned is that I can actually have a career in the industry — before MIA, it was just ... how do you get a job doing music? It seemed like only superstars get these types of jobs.”

For more information on First Step Productions or Fanshawe Rocks Elite, search for “First Step Productions” on Facebook or visit myspace.com/firststepproduction. Come on out and support your MIA artists, Fanshawe!