The “College Dropouts”, formerly known as the “Smith Boy Band” or the “Coly Boy Band”, are making headlines after their phenomenal performance at Northwestern College and Dordt University’s annual battle of the bands. This event, commonly known as NC/DC, occurred at 8:15 on Nov. 8, 2025. Hundreds of college students from NW and DU were crammed shoulder to shoulder to watch eight bands give it their all and impress the audience and judges in order to advance to the final round that will be held at DU on November 22, 2025.
The “College Dropouts” consists of four main members. The group’s drummer and longest-lasting member, Blake Johnson, has been with the band under every name and has poured his blood, sweat and tears into keeping the band on beat. Tyler Lantry, a jack of all trades, has played the bass and the acoustic guitar for the band. Although Lantry is involved with many of the bands seen in NC/DC, he clearly gave it his all during the College Dropouts’ performance. Ryley Riggert covers the electric guitar for the band. During their semi-final performance, he was aided by Riley Sorenson. Sorenson managed the pedals, allowing Riggert to move throughout the stage freely and add energy to the performance. He is the newest member of the band, and was noted by other band members as “a talented guitar player with good stage presence.” The final member of the band is Karsen Van Oort, the band’s vocalist. Performing without any background vocals, Van Oort owns the stage with his impressive range and tone quality. The band also had a bonus member perform with them at the semi-finals. Gavin Higgins, a well-known musician on campus, stepped in and played bass guitar for the band. He meshed perfectly with the sound the “College Dropouts”worked so hard to perfect.
The “College Dropouts” started their journey this year at NC/DC auditions, hosted on October 25, 2025. Before the band even played a note, the audience was cheering and excited to see what the boys had cooked up. An outstanding performance of the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” left quite an impression on the audience and led to a standing ovation from nearly everyone in the NW Christ Chapel. In the post-conference, the band was asked why they had changed their name yet again. Their simple reply was, “We don’t all live in Smith anymore,” with a quick chuckle from the members. Upon further questioning, the band gave a more thorough response.
“We wanted to change the name out of respect for Roman Coates graduating and the fact that some of us don’t live in Smith anymore, so we chose college dropouts because it fits the edgy boy band vibe.” said Lantry.
After a few weeks of hard work, the “College Dropouts” continued their journey by competing in the semi-finals of NC/DC. While they were preparing to start their song, a NW fan was noted screaming, “We love you, Tyler Lantry!” which received a laugh from many in the audience, even Lantry himself. The band quickly moved past this comical moment and started their song, “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. This 1990s classic got an immediate reaction from the audience. Many began to sway along with the music or dance as they felt led. When the chorus hit, sections of students, NW and DU alike, jumped to their feet in support. Phones were quickly out of pockets and held high with flashlights on. The band responded well, moving and grooving about the stage, hyping up the crowd.
Picking good music and performing it well is the College Dropouts’ specialties. During an interview, they explained, “We have a lot of respect for all of the teams that do this, but the whole choreography thing is not our style. We like to focus on playing good music and having fun while we do it.”
During their song, a very memorable moment occurred, as Van Oort, the vocalist, left the stage, leaving his microphone behind, and started interacting with the audience. The instrumentalists took over, highlighting their specific skills and giving Van Oort’s voice a rest.
Then, as Van Oort made his way back to the stage, he grabbed the phone of an audience member who was recording the performance. He took the phone on a ride, letting it get a close-up of each member and their insane talent. In true boy band fashion, he flashed a quick smile at the camera before returning the phone and heading back on stage for the grand finale of the song. The crowd went wild as the band finished their performance and took a seat on the couch for their post-conference.
This time, the post-conference wasn’t just a quick question, but also comments from the judges. The judges were majorly impressed by the band’s energy and togetherness. One judge was blown away by the vocals and commented, “I was nervous leading up to that first big note, since I don’t know you, but you hit it well and amazed me.”
The “College Dropouts” were then voted on by NW students to perform in the finals. They will need to choose two songs to perform, and then a third song in the specific category of “Disney Songs.” No one knows what the “College Dropouts” will do for the finals, but all are expecting to be completely blown away by their talent. When asked about their thoughts or plans for finals, the boys responded, “We feel great going into the finals. We’re happy that people have been enjoying the music we’ve been playing, and there’s a lot more where that comes from.” Stay tuned to see how the band does at finals in a few weeks.
