The week of Jan. 17 saw bands with members from the school performing at lunch in a Battle of the Bands. Congratulations to Eli, Arend and Lucas for winning the Battle of the Bands! They will be performing on Feb. 3 at the Winter Formal pep rally. 

This unnamed band performed on Wednesday, Jan. 18. It consists of three boys in their junior year: guitarist Eli Furar, guitarist Arend Hekma and drummer Lucas Durand. Their set list included: “Little Black Submarines” by the Black Keys, “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry, and “Franklin’s Tower” by The Grateful Dead.

How long have you been playing your instrument?

ELI: I have been playing my guitar for about 5 years now, and I started way back around

November of 2018.

AREND: I began playing guitar in 5th grade but stopped in 6th because I didn’t like it; however I picked it back up in December during 8th grade.

LUCAS: I have been playing the drums since 7th grade.

How long have you been playing together?

ELI: Lucas, Arend, and I have been playing together for a while now, ever since middle school. It was on and off for a while but in the last year or so we’ve brought it back up to speed again.

How would you define your music taste and how does that influence your playing?

ELI: I would define my music taste as all over the place. As my parents’ tastes influence my taste and playing a lot spanning all genres, from just listening to music growing up. It influences my playing to be much more open-minded and fluid. It helps [me] take multiple ideas from other genres to help implement into my playing.

AREND: I’d describe my music taste as out of the box and not typically pop music. This ends up changing the way I play because I try to make my sound more dissonant and unusual when it’s appropriate.

LUCAS: There is some variety, but I listen to rock and blues mainly. 

Who inspires you?

ELI: A few artists that inspire me the most are Jimi Hendrix, SRV, John Frusciante, Albert King, George Benson and many others spanning multiple genres.

AREND:  I’d say the people who inspire me the most are my guitar teacher, John Heussenstamm and jazz guitarist George Van Eps.

LUCAS: Freddie, my drum teacher, inspired me to learn the drums. I also take inspiration from famous drummers like Neil Peart. 

Your music tastes differ, so how do you find common ground? How do you decide what music to play?

ELI: The type of music our band plays is very rock-oriented but also all over the place at the same time too. We take from very different artists and make the song suit our playing styles. The main genre we like to stick to is rock. However, we aren’t afraid to play other genres as well.

Deciding on what songs to play is very challenging as we all have multiple suggestions, but when we suggest a song and everyone is able to agree on it together, we’ll play it.

AREND: I like to learn jazz standards that sound fun. I also end up playing a lot of blues-styled songs because that’s what I began mainly playing. Usually, it’s not too hard to find music we both share an interest in, but what we have found is that we really enjoy playing blues. 

How do you choose what songs to cover?

ELI: We usually choose what songs to cover from the music we listen to day-to-day. When we find a good song we think the rest of the band will like, we’ll suggest the song and play it if everyone’s up for it.

AREND: Whatever sounds fun. We learn the basic structure and improvise over it. If someone mentions a song and it’s anything we like, we play it.

LUCAS: I choose songs I like and bring them up to the band.\

Being in a band can be difficult and time-consuming. How do you find the time and the motivation to keep going?

ELI: I personally find the time to keep playing through my love for the instrument and music. Music has always been one of the things I’ve been interested in from a young age. I try to play as much as I can, as it’s very difficult with other commitments. Always wanting to be in a band and wanting to collaborate with other musicians has also been a huge motivation for me when playing music.

AREND: Jamming and playing music with people can be the most rewarding experience.

When I’m playing exactly what I’m thinking during an improvised solo section, it’s a difficult feeling to describe, but it basically feels really good. Yeah, it is time-consuming, but it makes great social connections. It’s one of the best things I can spend my time doing.

LUCAS: It’s fun. I find it fun. I enjoy playing with other people. 

You can hear more of these three at Brush and Palette’s Multi-Talent Show on Feb. 10. in the Artists Theatre at 7 p.m., or you can find their music on Instagram: @Ejlf4r @Arendhek