‘The fire is still roaring’

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“People say when you close your eyes and go to an Illiterate Light show, it might feel like there’s five people on stage,” Jeff Gorman (’12) said during a February episode of the Being the Change podcast. Open them, and you’ll see just two rockers: lead singer Gorman on guitar while playing bass through a foot-operated synthesizer, and Jake Cochran (’12) standing at the drums in a nod to his high-school marching band days. 

The Washington Post calls their sound “massive.”

The name Illiterate Light comes from a lyric by the rock band Wilco. “We were drawn to the name, because it summed up this ball of energy that both Jake and I tend to exude when we make music and get on stage together,” Gorman explained.

Rather than claim a specific genre, the multi-instrumentalists are more interested in carving their own path. “We swim between a lot of different rivers,” Gorman said, “and we feel pretty comfortable in all of those places, and the fan base that we’re growing at this point seems to want to find music that is hybridizing and drawing from all these different styles. But at the end of the day, we’re happy just to be a rock duo.”

Illiterate Light’s diverse blend of sonic interests carries into the themes they sing about. “I think one thing that Jeff particularly does well in the songwriting side is his ability to take conflicting concepts or topics and then combine them in a way that we’re able to have a critique of the world around us,” Cochran said.

Gorman cites his longtime inspiration, Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, as a major source of creativity. “Neil Young has a very long history of writing both heartfelt love songs — and having no problem then speaking his mind politically and saying, ‘This isn’t right,’” Gorman said. “Somehow he has found this way to have these political anthems, ‘Rockin’ in the Free World,’ and then ‘Harvest Moon’ right next to each other. And I’ve really been proud to try to stand in that shadow and stand in that tradition.”

The second-year spark

Gorman, a History major and Music Industry minor, experienced a personal transformation at JMU. Within six months of arriving as a freshman, he says he changed from a passive, 1.7-GPA party student biding his time to a fully “engaged human being.”

“Sophomore year was a turning point in my life,” he said, “and that was also the same time I met Jake, we became friends and started playing music together. That exact moment was when this fire started, and 15 years later, I feel like the fire is still roaring.”

In Spring 2012, Gorman completed his final senior semester with 21 credits and seven courses, feeling “so intellectually and emotionally stimulated” that he wanted to go beyond what was asked of him academically. “There were things I was interested in that JMU was offering, and I ended up really loving it.”

Before Cochran morphed into a professional drummer, he was a Health Sciences major with a minor in Biology and was studying to become a physician’s assistant. His Madison Experience provided the freedom in and outside the classroom to ask questions and grow as a person.

Between the relationships and conversations with his peers and “amazing professors,” he also volunteered with the Harrisonburg Rescue Squad. “The community around the school felt so impactful,” he shared.

‘Cut from the same cloth’

In November, Illiterate Light returned to campus, where they led a songwriting workshop and guest lectured in professor Joseph Taylor’s Music Industry class about live music, activism, permaculture farming and their third studio album, Arches. “We try to go back and be a resource,” Gorman said, “and we want to see Dukes succeed in the music world.” 

Whether it’s grabbing a coffee, taking a phone call or writing a recommendation, Cochran and Gorman find purpose and enjoyment in student outreach. “JMU meant a lot to us,” Gorman said. “We still work with a lot of folks who went to JMU and are now in the music industry. It’s a small group of us, but I think Jake and I realized we’re all cut from the same cloth here, and let’s have each other’s back.”

He credits part of the band’s success to the skills he learned in the Music Industry program, including management and the legal side of the business.

Based in the Shenandoah Valley, Illiterate Light is always seeking community around music, Cochran says, mentioning the vibrant music and art scene in downtown Harrisonburg. “There are so many students who are curious and creative, and it’s really helpful and inspiring for us to be around that and see that,” he said.

Measure of success

When Cochran and Gorman began Illiterate Light in 2015, they committed to devoting a decade of their life to the music. “We knew the work it would take; it wasn’t going to be an overnight success,” Cochran said.

In January, they fulfilled one of their visions, playing a sold-out show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. “This venue was the place I discovered live music,” Cochran said. “It’s where I saw every one of the bands I’ve ever cared about.”

Soon they will check another box off their list — a performance at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre. On their first tour 10 years ago, they drove through Colorado and stopped to hike Red Rocks. “We got to stand there, and we told ourselves, ‘We’re working toward this.’” Fast forward to now, when Illiterate Light is scheduled to open for indie/roots band Dispatch at Red Rocks in August.

While they’re focused on manifesting a gig at Madison Square Garden next, Gorman and Cochran also dream of the Marching Royal Dukes covering “Better Than I Used To” from their 2019 self-titled album.

Illiterate Light has turned into a full-time career for the JMU graduates, following the positive reception from Arches, which Consequence magazine called one of the best albums of November 2024. As they’ve grown older, Gorman recognizes that “to be successful is to be doing something that is deeply meaningful and building community.”

Carbon-neutral concerts

As much thought leaders as they are musicians and farmers, Cochran and Gorman share the same eco-existential crisis — a concern for the fate of the planet and the harmful environmental impact of traditional touring and festival models. They’re pioneers of a climate-action movement in the music industry, asking, “What is it going to be like to tour in 20 or 30 years, and how can we start to plant seeds to think differently?”

“Jake and I have raised our hand to say, ‘It’s not going to be perfect, but we’re willing to power a show with bikes and bring solar panels out to a gig,’” Gorman said.

In 2022, they pitched the idea to the prominent Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, where Bob Dylan debuted his shift to electric guitar in 1965. The response from Newport was immediate, insisting Illiterate Light perform on a full stage using their bicycle-generated energy. Historically, a place of open-mindedness and protest, Gorman says Newport has also been ahead of the curve in discovering new artists.

This July will be the band’s fourth year running a sustainable live show at Newport, in addition to helping the festival curate the artist lineup. Next to the stage, six stationary bicycles and eight solar panels await the crowd of 10,000 festivalgoers. “Every time we have a performance, there’s a huge line of people, ages 6 to 60,” Gorman explained. “And they get on the bikes and they start powering, and that creates a portion of the electricity that we use on the stage, between the bicycles and the solar panels.”

Taking it a step further, Cochran and Gorman intend to make the 900-mile trek from Virginia to Rhode Island by bike.

From camping out to dumpster diving, Illiterate Light’s blueprint to bicycle tour, using little to zero fossil fuels, started small in Harrisonburg. Between 2011 and 2015, they spent several summers in Virginia designing two- to three-week bike tours nicknamed the Petrol-Free Jubilees, building a fan base through their music and advocacy at each stop.

“I don’t think that our system is bulletproof,” Gorman admitted, “and I don’t think every festival in the country is going to start creating bike energy. But I think that people are really inspired by it. They’re really curious.”

On June 14, Illiterate Light will be “insanely excited” to play some new songs to a packed house at The National in Richmond, Virginia.

“If we’re able to feed our families, and we’re doing something that, at the end of the night, when I go to bed, I feel like what we’re doing matters,” Gorman said, “that provides the fuel for my entire life force.”