Through junior Keira Oliver’s life, music has become her emotional and creative outlet. After finding her passion for singing, she began to write her own music. Being influenced by a variety of artists like Taylor Swift, Miguel, and Aretha Franklin, her writing style became quite unique. She is inspired by the way these artists can tell a story through their writing and aspires to do the same. Music became her passion years ago and Oliver is now ready to showcase her musical talent.

“Music is a stress relief for sure,” Oliver said. “If I’m singing, all of the sudden I just feel calm and relaxed. I like being able to express myself and communicate how I feel about things in a way that you can’t always do by just talking.”

Eager to perform and showcase their group, Amethyst includes senior Everett Remstedt on bass, alumni Victor McClintok on guitar and friend Logan Cozart on drums and lead vocals. Forming less than a year ago, the band has been recording and mixing their own original music, putting it out on all streaming platforms. Amethyst has performed at a plethora of venues including the Firebird and Fubar.

“We played for a touring band at the Firebird called Ratkey, and it was really sick,” Remstedt said. “There was a lot of people, and we booked all the other bands that played with us, so we knew them. It was a lot of fun playing with everybody.”

Unlike the other artists performing, junior Rafael Millangue will be sharing his classical piano playing with the crowd. Even though he has been playing for over eight years, this will be his first time performing in front of a live audience. Millangue feels the piano allows him to express himself in ways that words can not convey. After joining concert band, he found that his previous piano experience helped him excel in playing other instruments, which led him to continue playing throughout highschool.

“The piano is a very versatile instrument. It’s similar in layout to mallet percussion which I now play.” Millangue said. “I like playing the piano because it has a vivid soundscape, and you can use it for many different styles.”

Performing for the first time as a solo artist, senior Aaron Moore will be sharing his unique sound while playing guitar, as well as singing two covers of his favorite songs. With his main style being punk rock, Moore draws a lot of inspiration from his favorite artist Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day. He is inspired by the way Armstrong can get the crowd excited at a show and hopes to being the same energy to his upcoming performance.

“I feel like I have played in different bands and groups before, but I have never really been able to show my individuality,” Moore said.

Starting as a joke freshman year when now seniors Jalen Thompson and Allan Stacy were in Pre-AP U.S. History teacher Mr. DeYoung’s class, the seed was planted where DeYoung would join his students on the stage. This year, the three will finally live out their dream of performing together. In the last year DeYoung began learning the bass guitar on his own time. DeYoung is ready to make his debut to the stage with the new band Make Good Choices.

“Allan Stacy said it was a moral imperative and my only option [to perform at Bananarama],” DeYoung said. “[I’m excited] to become a rockstar.”

As last year’s champions, Bleach is eager to perform at their last Bananarama. The band consists of seniors Kaleb Mylenbusch on drums and Jackson Steevens on guitar, along with their friend Lance Johnson on bass and lead vocals. They have put out their own extended play album (EP) entitled “Think Too Much”, and they are getting ready to release a second, entitled “Prove Them Wrong.” With a classic rock sound, Bleach pulls a lot of their inspiration from The Beatles.

“Our parents always showed us great music growing up which gave us some amazing idols to look up to,” Mylenbush said. “We love just playing music because it not only brings us together but brings everyone else hearing it together.”

Wanting to share her love for music, senior Kamille Johnson is adding to the excitement of senior year with her first ever live performance. She fell in love with music at a very young age, listening to her parents’ old CD collections which exposed her to many genres of music and expanded her versatility. Alternative and indie style music became her favored styles with her biggest inspiration being Twenty One Pilots. Over the years, she discovered that music has a bigger meaning to her and those around her.

“Music is the universal language,” Johnson said. “No matter what language you speak, everyone, all cultures listen to music, it’s just so connecting.”

Debuting as an official group, The Ladder is bringing a unique performance to highlight each of the band member’s strengths. Made up by freshman Alex Zykan on the ukulele and lead vocal and drums by freshman Alex Zykan, the band is ready to share their musical talent with a crowd for the first time. Both members are striving to make a career out of their band, so they have been working hard and hope to gain more members to share their passion.

“We had wanted to make a band since the beginning of the school year,” freshman Alex Zykan said. “It was a really last minute decision [to do Bananarama].”