Collage of the different nuking silent Georgeys playing live. Photo illustration courtesy of freshman Che Brocco.

  San Luis Obispo High School has many young musicians each with unique sounds and energies.

 Expressions interviewed some new and old SLOHS bands to learn more about their different styles, upcoming performances, and other information to get to know our student bands better.

Expressions: What genre would you say your band would be categorized by?

Pianist from Awkward Silence and freshman Wesley Bisheff: We definitely are a mix of rock music from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and a little bit of soul.

Bass guitarist from Nuke The Fridge and junior Drew Walker: Anything from hardcore rock to pop rock.

Drummer from Georgey and senior Holly Schmitt: I think the best description I can come up with is somewhere between indie, pop rock, and alternative/emo.

Expressions: What upcoming events will your band be performing at?

Bisheff: We’re playing the first farmer’s markets of October and December.

Walker: We’ve been trying to get gigs, but we really haven’t had much time since school just started.

Schmitt: We hope to play at a few music club events as well as the marketplace opening, but nothing is set in stone right now.

Expressions: How long has your band been playing together as a band?

Bisheff: Probably about two and a half years. We started in the summer between sixth and seventh grade.

Walker: Around a year now.

Schmitt: We’ve been a band officially ever since April 21 of 2019 (so three years and then some), but we’ve been playing live shows ever since our first gig in October of last year. 

Expressions: Where has been your favorite place to play?

Bisheff: Downtown Farmer’s Market on Thursdays for sure!

Walker: Slochella was good, but Libertine Brew was my favorite.

Schmitt: I think my favorite place to play was either inside the marketplace or my old house’s garage (when we were practicing and playing shows for our families lol). The vibes were just really homey and nice in my garage, but in the marketplace it was our first show and everything was so exciting, so that made the spot immediately more cool. It’s also smaller and really intimate with fans so that’s nice.

Expressions: What inspired your band’s name?

Bisheff: Yeah, our rhythm guitarist Owen Rippens, just thought of it. At first we thought of it as a joke, because in case we sucked, we could just say, ‘Yeah, that’s that’s the name Awkward Silence.’ But we actually ended up not sucking.

Walker: Nuke the Fridge is to do something very fast and we take all of our songs very fast because it’s punk.

Schmitt: Our band’s name is derived from the name of our guitarist’s cat. (his name is georgey)

 These diverse characteristics showcase SLOHS’s unique student body, these up and coming bands should not be overlooked, make sure to support them and their music.