W hether they’re playing in class or at a recording studio, Table the Group “Table” paves the way for young musicians with unique sound Photo by Emma Rose Neal by Samantha Parr Banana Soup: W The ‘spunk rock’ student band by Kyla Seeley hat once started as an inside joke between two friend groups blossomed into a successful student band: Banana Soup. Sophomores Toby Lamorte, Evan Schaefer, Tristan Thuesen, and Nate Wolford shine as members of the up and coming band. The name, Thuesen and so I was kind of curious to see if I could play with them, and pretty soon, I just hopped in the band.” keyboard player Toby Lamorte said. All four have sang, either with a school chorus or casually, for a majority of their lives, but some were and Schaefer explained, originated from a term the two of them created in elementary school, and stuck with them. Thuesen created the band, along with Schaefer and Wolford, during 8th grade and Lamorte joined a few months afterward. “I saw them play at this event in Fairfax, and I had heard some of their songs, 7 The Jolly Roger | April 2020 fairly new to their current instruments. Wolford played guitar for eight or nine years, about Lamorte eight played keyboard years, Thuesen has been playing bass for four and a half years, and Schaefer only began playing drums until the band’s beginning, about two years ago. Banana Soup’s music is heavily inspired by ’90s bands including Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers. When asked for about their musical style, Schaefer said “We kind of take grunge, and mix it up with a little rock and then we add a little bit of some reggae riffs in there and sh*t, and mix up the soup pot.” “We call it ‘spunk rock.’” Wolford added, explaining that the name came from its fusion of surf, punk, and rock. A performance highlight, they agree, was their biggest show at the prestigious Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley. A has made significant musical strides in a short amount of time. Dexter Hixon, Joe Hawley, Gaelen McKee, Aidan Ng, and Blake Costello assembled the band at the beginning of this year in Performance Workshop, the music composition class at Drake. Just like that, Table was born. One key member of the band is Blake Costello, or “Blake the Chemist,” a senior who has been composing music on his keyboard for years. Hixon, a sophomore and the youngest member of Table, said that this fellow bandmate inspired him to take the Performance Workshop class. “I went to a BTC [Blake the Chemist] concert, and I was like ‘Wow, I want to do that!’ and now BTC is in my band,” Hixon said. The group assembled and pondered over a name, which ended up becoming “Table.” The senior bass player, Joe Hawley, said the name was actually his mom’s idea. “It’s just one word and one word that doesn’t mean anything with the band. It’s just a weird name,” Hawley said. To place a genre on Table would be difficult as Table’s music is diverse and
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