They perform for fun and for entertainment. But on Friday night their performances took on a new meaning. Two punk rock bands primarily of UTM students eagerly took part in a benefit concert at the Phi Sigma Kappa Fraternity house to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Phi Sig President Josh Davis says he and his fraternity wanted to find a way to do their part in assisting those displaced by the disaster. “We see efforts from other places and we wanted to do something ourselves to help out and do what we could for the victims of the hurricane,” Davis said.

Getting bands to play at the fraternity house was a feat that was somewhat easy for Davis. He is one of the vocalists in a local band called Makeshift. Others in the band are vocalist Shawn Graham, guitarist Eli Ellis, drummer Richard Henson and a bassist by the name of Cno.

“Our band has been together for about three months now,” Davis said. “Having the band together was kind of like a pipe dream for us. We sounded good, so we decided to run with it.”

Makeshift entertained the audience by playing their rendition of “Rocky Top” and covers from bands such as Green Day and Blink-182. The entertainment for the second half of the night was provided by another local band called Jeffers Set.

Drummer Ryan Aston says that Jeffers Set has been together for two years and that they have played at places in Martin such as The Stable. Aston is joined by other band members including guitarist Stephen Allbritten, guitarist Garrett Soust, bassist T.J. Evans and vocalist Tim Allen.

With the two bands performing, Phi Sig was able to raise $500 in donations to be used for hurricane relief. The fraternity also collected more than six cases of food and two cases of water. “We are thankful to all of those who came out and donated, including members of other fraternities,” Davis said.

Thanks to their efforts, the members of Phi Sig will know that they have done something to help out the millions who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina.