PlainPlainstatestate Local rock band plans for future together

Roslyn Dobbins

Matthew Revilla, 20, felt sick to his stomach as he stepped onto the raised platform at the Anchor Bar & Grill. This was the band’s first performance. His red and white guitar was slung over his shoulder, resting on top of his watermelon print button down.

Senior Katherine Gilberti stood to his left in her lemon shirt with her wood bass guitar. Senior Nathan Moudy sat in the corner, behind his bright orange Pearl drum set.

The venue was small, but that didn’t matter. The colors surrounding them were as bright as their future. This was the beginning of Plain State of Mind.

At first, it was just Nathan and Matt, not even a band yet. It was two guys messing around, learning songs together. They had tried to officially get together as a band several times with other people, but each time it fell through. They didn’t give up on their shared dream and decided to give it one more shot.

“This time something clicked, and we really just knew that we wanted to make something come out of it,” Matt said.

Nathan put out an ad on Instagram, looking for anyone interested in joining them. Katherine was the only person who responded. Though she had barely touched the bass before, she was ready to

Before they could call themselves a real band, they needed a name. After every practice together they would spend 30 minutes racking their brains for a name. They would look around the room in search of stand-out names.

Pink Duct Tape. Cricket Poster. Nothing seemed to work.

“We were just like, ‘Dude we just got plain states of mind right now,’” Nathan said. “So that’s really how it started, just our brains were empty.” After a visit to the Anchor, Matt made a connection there who encouraged them to come out and perform. The band was nervous, but after some time they had a set list prepared and finally

The Anchor was a smaller venue, but it was a start. The band set up in the corner of the noisy room, on a small raised platform laid with fake grass. Both Nathan and Matt had experience performing before, but for Matt, playing on a stage singled out was entirely different. Katherine and Nathan were both filled with that good kind of nervous excitement, but Matt was scared. It was up to him to sing the cover songs they had prepared.

Matt pushed through the nerves as they began their first song. Starting was the hard part. As they continued to play, everything came together and settled down.

Learning covers was a good place to start for the band, but they all knew that wasn’t the dream. They wanted to create their own songs. They wanted to release their own album and maybe even go on tour over the summer.

“That’s a lofty goal but we’re going to try to work on some more new music, because we don’t want to be a cover band,” Katherine said. “We want to have enough music where we can play a show with mostly our original songs.”

Matt was the only one who had worked on writing songs before, so naturally he took the lead in the process. He already had a few songs written from his past work with basic riffs that he could modify to fit his current group of people. Once he had a rough draft, the rest of the band came in to add their own spin to it, changing lyrics or the instrumental parts.

That’s how their first EP was created. They had the songs written - now they had to produce them.

Walking into the recording studio felt surreal. It was small, with everyone crammed in, but it felt exciting nonetheless. The process was different than they were used to. Recording their songs wasn’t the same as just playing the song together. They had to record their parts separately, keeping in time with a metronome.

The band was unfamiliar playing with a metronome, and had turned it off after a when they practice,” Josh said.

Getting everyone together to practice wasn’t always easy, but when they could it was always fun. Whether it was practicing a new song or having an impromptu karaoke night, the band enjoyed their time together, sometimes even getting the occasional noise complaint.

Nathan was always brimming with infectious energy, while Katherine was the glue that kept the band together and steady. Matt had the musical knowledge that helped him build songs, and Josh had his years of experience with music. When they got together, it worked.

Though they all had slightly different music tastes and styles, the band was built on their collective love of rock music. Matt can’t say exactly what their final sound will be like, but he knows he’s excited to hear it.

“I feel like already I’m kind of starting to get an idea of how everything’s going to come together,” Matt said. “With Josh, you can hear a lot of his music tastes in the way that he solos, very technical and fast. He just has this kind of way of just making it flow. I bring really fat chords and power chords with like these driving riffs. Nathan, you can hear a lot of the music that he likes in the way he plays his drums and Katherine, as time goes on, she opens up more and more and she’s finally started kind of trying to take some creative liberties.” few attempts, preferring to follow the beat of Nathan’s drums. Not only were they recording their songs for the first time, but they were doing it with someone new.

Josh Leeming, 20, had been playing guitar for 15 years of his life and reached out to the band through the Band Mix website. The band gladly accepted him, and went into the recording studio only a week later.

Josh said that playing with the band has been a blast, despite balancing practice with attending University of Texas at Arlington.

“I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a challenge to keep up with my school commitments and the band, but it’s been a lot of fun because they’re really efficient

The band is slowly growing, and even scored a gig at The 156 Ice House, a much bigger venue. Matt knows that any change in location comes with a certain amount of anxiety, but he also knows the more they play the better they will get.

The band is committed to moving forward with their music together. Though they all have various plans for their future, they aren’t ready to let their dream go.

“You just kind of get lucky with who you run into,” Nathan said.

Boombahs thingswelike Library displays

Test kitchen

A few weeks ago, a new test kitchen opened in the commons! The new line offers specialty food that is alternated every week, and the food is made right in front of us. Offering more variety in the lunch food, the new kitchen is a great addition.

Fact of the day

As part of the school’s celebration of months dedicated to different people groups, the announcements usually feature a fun fact about the group being honored. The facts were a good way to celebrate Black History Month and Women’s History Month.

A cute way that the library celebrates different months is setting up book displays that correspond to each month. Seeing a compilation of books with minority protagonists during history months may be what it takes to get someone to pick up a book and see through someone else’s eyes.