As students from their fourth periods piled to the senior courts, and as Stage Crew readied their cameras and sound equipment, bands excitedly wait for their moment to let their musical ability shine as they let their hearts and passion take over on the raised platform. Out of all the bands that performed on Oct. 25, I’d like to focus on The Plutos.
The quartet made up of singer/guitarist Eira Jade Raif (Grade 11, she/they), bassist Lauren Ascota (Grade 11, she/they), keyboardist Nicole Youn (Grade 11, she/they), and drummer Vanessa Hachatryan (Grade 11, she/her) performed “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell; a perfect song to coincide with the Halloween spirit.
I got to interview a few members of The Plutos and asked them about their experience as a band, their thoughts on bandmenship, and what they’d like to do with their interest in music.
Q: Why did you form the band?
Lauren: Well, when we first formed a band, it was only three of us. It was Eira, Vanessa and me and we only had two instruments. We kinda wanted to try something out cause we all had like a passion for music and we wanted to do it together cause we were already friends.
Vanessa: Yeah, that’s how we started it and we decided to continue on as we saw how all the other bands were performing. And we wanted to improve as well and as of last year, our senior bandmate left. Nicole joined in for keyboard and that’s how our band currently is which is really cool.
Nicole: Yeah I’m Nicole and I joined cause they needed keyboard.
Q: How long have you been playing your instruments? Do you play other instruments?
Lauren: I play a few instruments. I started out with the drums, but I played piano one time and bass, still learning. And I still sing, usually for like, backup vocals. And I’m kinda self-taught basically for most
of them. So I’ve been kinda playing them like on and off.
Vanessa: Initially, I didn’t play an instrument, I just sang for the past two years. But this year, I joined Intro to Jazz in Mr. Ramirez’s Class and I’m learning the drums. And most of the stuff I do in the band, I learned from Lauren, she helps me out with that as well as Mr. Ramirez. So, still a beginner.
Nicole: I started piano when I was, like around nine. And I had a teacher and I was practicing for like a year or two. But then, I quit, but now, I still really like piano so I kinda like also self-teach myself and still play a lot of songs.
Q: Favorite bands? Why them specifically?
Lauren: I really like The Beatles and this Filipino band called The Itchyworms, which is kinda similar in terms of style to The Beatles. I just like that genre of music, I like the style of it.
Vanessa: I don’t really listen to band music, like music with bands. I don’t know, I don’t really listen to the music that we perform. So, I don’t know. But, Beatles are cool. The Beatles are cool.
Nicole: I like Chase Atlantic and Artic Monkeys and I don’t know if Stray Kids counts as a band. Like it does right? Okay yeah it does. So yeah, those three are my favorites.
Vanessa: I’d like to change my answer. I also like Chase Atlantic. I don’t know if that counted. That’s the only band I listen to.
Q: Is there a genre of music you don’t particularly like? Why?
Lauren: I think I’ve learn to appreciate all genres of music. We mostly play like rock and pop and indie music, but we’re interested in trying out different types, so not really.
Vanessa: Yeah, I think we are interested in anything, but to me personally, I’m not a fan of country music. I wouldn’t perform it personally, to each their own.
Nicole: Yeah, country music.
Q: Who are your inspirations?
Lauren: I think, I personally took a lot of inspiration from senior bands last year. I think, my perspective on like, being in a band changed a lot when we became close to some of the senior bands. And, it was kinda, it was cool to see how much they like, loved what they were doing.
Vanessa: Same thing that Lauren said, like specifically the two bands like TBD and Rage of Volts. Most of the band members are gone since they were seniors so they graduated. But, watching them perform made me want to continue and improve because I want us as a band to reach that level. With their stage presence and everything.
Nicole: I don’t really have an inspiration. But for like music in general, I’d say like my mom because she told me to do piano. And also, I never really saw Battle of the Bands until my friend Zac (gee I wonder who that could be) brought us to watch them during lunch. So, when I saw the bands perform, I also felt kinda inspired like “oh, that’s cool I wanna do that.”
Q: Is music and bandmating just a hobby or is it a part of a goal and/or dream?
Lauren: I think it’s always been a hobby for me. I’ve always just enjoyed it and it’s a large aspect of my life and my personality too. A lot revolves around it.
Vanessa: I’d say it’s also been a hobby, but this year, I personally we set our goal at least next year to go to the Greek Theatre, Bach Rock, Shakespeare. That’s a goal of mine, maybe ours.
Nicole: I think it’s definitely just a hobby for me. Everything is really fun and I don’t really stress out too much because, to be honest, keyboard’s pretty easy in this band. So. yeah I don’t have a goal really.
Q: What’s the plan? Do you think it’ll change? Why?
Lauren: I think our band constantly changes. The instruments we play, the music that we play. I think we’ve learned to adapt to the circumstances we get in.
Vanessa: I was going to say that as well. I feel like a good thing is to always be able to adapt with our situatuon. Especially since we’re kinda limited with the people we have. This year especially since a person left. So yeah, always being able to adjust whenever the situation aries. And the plan as well, just keep playing, keep improving, playing for Battle of the Bands, yeah.
Nicole: Yeah. I think, well me personally I don’t have any plans, obviously I just kinds joined, but I say we do adapt well to a lot of different things like playing instruments and different types of music.
