It’s no secret that the LHS Wind Ensemble, the school band, is the best around; it won the Super State Competition last year, but there are many other notable student bands that most of the school population doesn’t know about. Just a few of these bands include Their Tribal People, The Escapers and Union Saint Claire.

Their Tribal People

   Their Tribal People is a band made up of Max Niemann, junior; Jake Chatfield, sophomore; Lloyd Chatfield, senior; and Bobby Crandell, junior. This indie rock group grew from friends with the same music teacher to playing multiple shows a month.

  “Lloyd, Jake and I originally started it just because we had the same guitar teacher,” said Niemann, recalling fall 2011 when the band formed. “We were all friends with Bobby, and he had never played drums before but he had a drum kit, so we started practicing at his house and that how it all started.”

  The group plays covers of famous hits as well as original songs. According to Niemann, they have written 20-30 original songs since forming. Set lists often include covers of Hey, by the Pixies and Cold Spring, by the Cymbals Eat Guitars. Some originals include “SS,” “Mellow Does,” “Unknown Man,” “El Peop” and “In the Corner.”

  Their variety of songs has led them to land frequent shows at the Aloha Lounge and Cook Memorial Public Library. They have also played in Barrington and Des Plaines and may even have an upcoming show at the Elbow Lounge in Chicago. At Libertyville Days last year, the group met Tom Morello, LHS alumni and lead guitarist from Rage Against the Machine, after a show, and they later played a show on the Brainerd building stage.

  “The coolest place we ever got to play was the stage in Brainerd for a documentary for the Save Brainerd Foundation,” said Niemann.

  The band will receive even more publicity when they record their first EP in the upcoming months. Right now, their fans can find their music on their Soundcloud and Facebook pages.

  Their Tribal People dreams of one day making it to the big time and playing for thousands of fans around the world.

   “[Becoming professionals] is the dream,” said Niemann, one of the guitarists and singers in the band. “That’s what I want to do with the rest of my life: I want to play music. I know that’s what everyone else in the band’s dream is so, if we could make that happen, it’d be awesome.”

Union Saint Claire

  Union Saint Claire, a band created by seniors Sharon Li, Matt Truskowski and Ingrid Reid and junior, David Simley have a rather unique name. According to Li, the idea came from an intersection in St. Louis that Simley, a guitarist, saw. The streets were Union and Saint Claire. The group decided that would be a great band name, so they used it.

  Union Saint Claire plays all originals. According to Li, they have written about eight songs. The process of writing is a team effort with this group. Overcoming personal struggles, relationships and living in the moment are common topics that are expressed in songs like “Frolie a Deux,” “Newer Than The New New Song Song” and “The Fire Song,” all of which are Union Saint Claire originals.

  “We [Simley and Li] like to write together,” said Li. “I usually write the lyrics and the melody, but he’ll write the guitar parts.”

Union Saint Claire has yet to record any songs. They are, however, trying to get some of their original songs recorded. Fans can look to Facebook to find out more about this group, or they can go to a show and hear first-hand.

  According to Li, the Library Band Jams that occur once every few months are the best to play. These shows have free entrance, allowing for all types of music fans to attend. This attracts all kinds of music fans and allows for bigger crowds to be exposed to the indie-punk style that Union Saint Claire plays.

  The Band Jams are also the most fun shows to play because of the rules, or lack thereof, according to Li.

  “They [the library staff] don’t care what you do, so one time we crowd-surfed David. Literally we picked him up and crowd-surfed him. It’s crazy,” Li said.

The Escapers

  The Escapers are a group of juniors with common musical interests that decided to start their own band. Zach Wilson is the singer and one of the two guitarists. Rob Senezcko also plays guitar and his twin brother Nick plays bass. Simley plays drums for the band.

  The Escapers look to bands like Nirvana, the Arctic Monkeys and the Strokes for inspiration. They all like the style of music that the bands mentioned play.

  This group may have the most experience of all of the bands mentioned: they play frequent shows, recorded an EP and even had their own radio appearance.

 “We’ve played 20 shows over a period of a year and a half, with breaks with no shows for a couple months here and there,” said Wilson. “We usually play every two or three weeks”

  They have played shows at countless venues including Libertyville Days, Aloha Lounge, Cook Memorial Library, Mickey Finn’s and Souled Out in Libertyville; Palatine Fest; The Alley in Highwood; The Cubby Bear North in Lincolnshire; Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago; The Oasis in Grayslake; and Penny Road Pub in Barrington,.

  It’s no surprise that The Escapers have played so many shows as they have written over 25 original songs. Wilson is the primary writer but in some songs like “How am I supposed to know?” other band members have stepped in to help write the music.

  With all those songs, the Escapers were able to release their own EP last year. The band members claim that it is their crowning achievement as a band so far.

  “The EP we released on June 15 is the biggest thing that has ever happened to our band,” said Wilson. “We hope the next one, due for release before the end of the year, will be much bigger though.”