From Mom's Garage to OCSA Spotlight

Samuel You

With OCSA students being some of the busiest there are, it’s a surprise that so many pursue such fervent musical pursuits, even outside of their conservatories. Here’s a look at OCSA’s exciting variety of musical groups, in, around and off campus.

Ruby Rose (PM ‘25) and a couple of friends formed Skookum, a fairly new punk band with an album releasing soon. You can find them on Spotify!

What’s the name of your group? Is there a special story behind it?

“My band is called Skookum. It’s another way to say Bigfoot, so we based it off of that, we’re like, Bigfoot-themed.”

What type of music do you produce? What is special about your genre?

“We chose to play punk music and a little bit of reggae, because that’s what we just found fun. “

Hudson Garcia (DM ‘24) and an off-campus friend formed The Pain, Killers earlier this year, with a unique focus on experimentalism, taking unique strides with their music.

What’s the name of your group? Is there a special story behind it?

“Well, The Pain, Killers started with me and my friend, Collin O’ Connor, the only other member in the band, he reached out to me wanting to start a hardcore band. That was the original intent, but then we went garage sale hunting one day, and found a digital drum machine so we decided to structure our band around that instrument, so we became a two person experimental band.”

What type of music do you produce? What is special about your genre?

“Our music is interesting. It’s been described to me as “too experimental”. We use electronic sounds and make… pretty When prompted for closing remarks, Garcia responded by stating “Kill the Pain, and don’t do bad stuff.”

Savannah Tweedt (PM, ‘24) and her friends have been playing for TI-85 since they were little. They perform local gigs and have an EP, “So far, so good” out on Spotify as well.

What’s the name of your group? Is there a special story behind it?

“Well, the band I do mainly is called TI-85, it’s with a bunch of other friends. It’s a band I’ve been playing with since I was 10 years old, but nobody goes to OCSA. Yeah, I’ve been playing with them since I was really little. Since I’ve known them for a long time, our chemistry is something that’s really valuable, and that shows when we’re performing, since we’re a super high energy group.”

What type of music do you produce? What is special about your genre?

“Primarily we do indie rock music, and (the group) chose that because it’s a blending of all of our music interests, and it just comes out naturally for us.”

There’s lots of wonderful music to be found on and off campus, with a variety of backgrounds, genres and mediums. With so many OCSA students embracing this culture, someone you know might secretly be an aspiring songwriter or musician.