By Avalon Kelly
Last April, Westmont’s very own rock band, The Table, performed for the first time at the district-wide Battle of the Bands. Originating as a jam group from Westmont Cross Country, the band is set to release their first album, We Are, by the end of this year. The Table really emphasizes their “community,” according to Senior guitarist Ojas Joshi. Drummer Bennett Kelly loves that the band has brought him “a great group of friends” to “hang out and joke around with while creating some unique music.” The band has shared some fun insight into their origins, inspiration, upcoming releases, and more:
Who are your members?
Bassist Ryan Chaudoin (alumnus), Keyboardist Arijit Ghoshal (alumnus), Singer Akash Ranade (alumnus), Guitarist Ojas Joshi (Senior), and Drummer Bennett Kelly (Sophomore).
How did your band form?
We formed almost out of happenstance. All of us (except for Bennett) were a part of cross country, and we just started jamming together for fun because we all played a variety of instruments. Just the feeling of making music together, it’s super communal. Then, after one of our jammers went away to college, we asked Bennett to come play drums for us. We continued to jam together in Ojas’ garage for fun, playing an increasing amount of Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) every session. Then, Battle of the Bands came along and we just decided to call ourselves The Table because we needed a band name. All the pieces had always been there, now we just had a name. Fun fact, we came up with the name in an Evans’ study hall. The power of room 58!
Where do you get your musical inspiration from?
RHCP, Foo Fighters, Young the Giant, Metallica…but mostly RHCP.
What is Battle of the Bands? Did you guys compete?
Battle of the Bands was a district-wide competition run by Branham’s ASB teacher. It was the first occurrence of the event, and we signed up to play against seven other bands from around the district. We played “Dark Necessities” and “Californication” by RHCP, two of our classics. All of the eight bands got to play in the first round, and two were selected to move onto the finale by a panel of judges. We progressed to the final round with “Dark Necessities,” but were scrubbed because of technical difficulties. Oh well, it was fun anyways. And someone should do it again this year…Westmont ASB?
I hear you have music coming out soon…
YES! We are releasing a single sometime in the first week of October, a revamped cover of “Dark Necessities.” After that, we will release another single, our first signature song, 8PACKA**, something we’re really excited about. A very theory-heavy song, with a lot of genres of music: rap, alt-rock, and jazz, plus some satirical lyrics. After that, our album, We Are, should come out by the end of the year. We will have nine songs on the album, with four originals.