Music Makers: Students Upload Music to Spotify, SoundCloud

Media by Micah Roeseler

Jonathan Pirrello, sophomore, and Carlos Vences, sophomore, open for Hazmat at Red Flag. Pirrello did vocals and Vences and Pirrello alternate who played lead guitar.

Though she never had planned to join a band, Lily Belknap, junior, now plays guitar for the alternative band Hazmat. 

At first Belknap mainly wanted to focus on playing music by herself, but she grew an interest in Hazmat after seeing their social media. 

“When I saw that there were three other girls who were doing all the same things I enjoy, I was super interested in knowing them and being in the band with them,” Belknap said. 

The band first started by playing covers of alternative songs such as “Take Me Away” by The Aquadolls, as well as pop songs like “Brutal” by Olivia Rodrigez that they altered to sound punk. 

More recently, they have shifted their focus to creating their own music and now have about 10 original songs. 

Like Hazmat, many students have uploaded music or are in the process of uploading music online.

Hazmat themselves are releasing their first single, “Blood,” Friday, Feb. 18 on Spotify.

“I think it has a lot of clever wordplay and I really like the guitar part, and it has a really cool drum fill that I really love,” Belknap said.

Their lead singer, Sara Ahmadian, creates the lyrics for songs, and then passes them along to the rest of the band. Belknap works on the guitar and bass parts of their songs, and then collaborates with her band members to finish the song.

 

Sometimes they are able to finish a song within three to four practices, but the process can take weeks when they find themselves “liking but not loving” a song idea, Belknap said.

Hazmat has gone through this process with the help of Carl Nappa, a popular producer in St. Louis who is known for his work with the famous rapper Nelly. From helping them release music, to offering advice about the industry, Belknap said she finds Nappa to be a large help to her band.

They have found difficulties with the content of their lyrics. Hazmat uses their songs to voice their anger at society, focusing a lot on sexism and their feelings as women in the music industry, Belknap said. 

“We don’t want to just be shut down because people think we’re ranting, but we also want to speak our true thoughts on these issues that we feel are important to us,” Belknap said. 

The band also has plans for potentially releasing an EP this upcoming spring.

Rayan Khan, sophomore, has many hobbies but has always had a special interest in music.  

“Music’s definitely the one thing I’ve had a passion for, so that’s why I’ve probably hit it more hard,” Khan said.

Throughout the entirety of Winter Break in 2020, Khan worked with one of his friends to make his song “Chains,” which was released on SoundCloud. They thought it would be interesting to try, and Khan said that he found it to be a fun way to spend time during the pandemic. 

Khan didn’t have access to any special recording equipment, so he decided to use WeVideo.  He wrote the lyrics himself, got a beat from YouTube and used that to create his song.

Though he made his song mainly as a way to fill time with a friend, he said he is definitely going to continue creating music.

“I think you learn more about yourself, whether it’s writing, whether it’s singing, it just kind of reveals more about yourself without knowing it,” Khan said. 

Jonathan Pirrello, sophomore, is the lead singer for the band NineVolt. They play psychedelic and surf rock, and have started off with only covering music with songs such as Aneurysm by Nirvana. 

After playing his first gig in December, Pirrello has started putting more of his focus on writing music, as he said that only playing covers can pose limitations to their band. 

“We kind of want to do something different from what other people around us are doing,” Pirrello said. 

Pirrello works with another one of his bandmates to create their music. They work separately first to come up with ideas, and then swap notes to receive feedback from each other. 

Pirrello finds that being unique is the hardest part of creating music, and said that he could write multiple songs but not find any of them to stand out. 

“I think all good music comes from a desire to do something different,” Pirrello said.