The band i love you And I Miss You was on campus at Seward County Community College Oct. 16 following a performance at the New Mexico University and before doing a performance at the University of Missouri.

They have been on the road for five weeks and will be on the road for two more weeks.

They did a master class at 4 p.m. in the band room for music majors and anyone else who wanted to learn more about becoming a professional music artist and the struggles or benefits that go along with it. Nathaniel Lee, Ben Knight and Luis Garcia are a few students who were able to attend the master class. They all stated that the class was informative and appreciated how honest the band members were about the life of a musician and what it takes to get there.

ilyAIMY then did a performance in the Showcase Theater free to the public.

“The performance was excellent,” Darin Workman, instrumental music instructor at SCCC, said. “I knew it would be because I had listened to them online, but it was even better to hear live. I am hoping to get them back to perform here again.”

Workman took over getting the word out about ilyAIMY after finding out about them and learning that they needed a place to play between Albuquerque, N.M. and Columbia, Mo., from Richard Miller, maintenance worker at the college. The band actually stayed with Miller and his wife while in Liberal. Miller discovered them at the Takoma Park Jazz Festival in Maryland when visiting his daughter.

“I thought they were pretty cool and definitely different from most of what’s played around here,” Miller said.

ilyAIMY is a band that has a new-folk feel and is a mix of several genres; rock, folk, jazz, soul even bluegrass. They are a band of five people when at home in Baltimore, Md., and three people when on tour.

The main three are Rob Hinkal, Heather Lloyd and Kristen Jones. The other two are Rowan Corbett and Sharif Kellogg. Corbett is touring with another group right now named the Carolina Chocolate Drops and Kellogg, the bass player, is at home with his 1-year-old child during this tour.

Hinkal discovered Lloyd at an open mic in 2001 when she was going to school. At the time Lloyd was majoring in journalism at the University of Maryland and reporting for the Baltimore Sun. They both quit their day jobs, let the leases run out on their houses, packed everything in a car and lived on the road for a while just performing. They have been performing together ever since.

After saying his favorite quote, “It’s a wonderful life, but a terrible living,” Hinkal went on to explain how being in the band isn’t their full income but it is a vast portion of it. They have what is called an “income mosaic” which is a term they discovered at a workshop meaning they take on a mixture of several different jobs in order to pay the bills. Hinkal works two to three days a week at a music shop, does illustration work, web design, sound engineering and repairs guitars. Lloyd is a substitute teacher. Jones manages a music shop and is in several other bands.

“Most people go off to a job and they are part of something, some other collective and they don’t get to let their personality or their signature shine through that,” Hinkal said, “Whereas our entire industry is focused around what we have to say and what our voice is.”