Two Up and Coming Culver City Bands to Keep Your Eye On
I Pledge Allegiance
I Pledge Allegiance is a metal/deathcore band out of Culver City consisting of four current and past Culver City High School Students: Lachlan Wills (Guitar/Vocals), Peter Hassel (Drums), James Tanaka (Bass) and Malachi-Rah Robinson (Guitar). Tanaka and Wills (President and Vice President of Culver High’s Hardcore/Metal club) played in a black metal band together for two years before forming I Pledge Allegiance, who have been channeling a deathcore sound for the past three or so months.
The band has been heavily inspired by early/late 2000s death/metalcore bands like As Blood Run’s Black and Chelsea Grin. Earlier 90s metal bands like Pantera have also influenced their drummer, Peter Hassel, which manifests in the band's precise rhythm section and heavy drum breakdowns, characteristic of the genre. While the metalcore scene is not the most dense on the Westside, the band's members have grown accustomed to making the commute to downtown LA, a SoCal hub for hardcore, death, and emo bands.
Each member was drawn to music in a unique way whether through formal training in school programs or casual listening, but were brought together by a shared love of hardcore, heavy music. “We just really liked the music, and wanted to play it. You know we listen to a lot of it, so why not do it ourselves too?” said Tanaka. The group has only been playing together for a short amount of time but have already performed live at CCHS’s Springfest, this past march, which was their first set in front of an audience together.
“It was super fun, but it was also pretty stressful. I was definitely a little nervous going up there” said Wills about the experience. They were the first of four student bands featured in the lineup, and performed a short, high energy set, masking any nerves they felt with the certainty and conviction of veteran performers. The members attributed the ease of their dynamic to each member’s individual skill at their instruments, and said that everyone's musical ability really aids in the process of writing and performing. “We just have really good chemistry,” said Hassel. The first time they played, together they managed to completely play through a cover that Hassel had never heard, something incredibly difficult to pull off and the sign of a great musical dynamic.
On top of performing live, they have started working on recording their original music, a process Willis described as “shabungles,” but rewarding, and they shared that they hope to improve their setup with better equipment and start releasing their work to the public.
Through it all, the band has used music as an artistic outlet and a form of individual expression, to share what they care about, and what they find interesting, or cool, with people they normally wouldn’t be able to, like the student body at Spring Fest. Lead guitarist Malachi-Rah Robinsonshared that music is his way of sharing ideas, and that he feels it brings people together in a way that very few things are able to. Although the metalcore scene in our community is small, I Pledge Allegiance have proven that it is mighty, and they hope to continue writing music, recording, and playing live together.
For updates about the band, you can follow their instagram @i.pledge.allegiance.band, and keep an eye out for upcoming shows.
Subject to Change
Upon sitting down with Subject to Change in Culver High’s music production classroom, I asked them to define their sound. “Well that’s in the name, it’s Subject to Change” replied lead singer, and rhythm guitarist, George Montgomery with a grin. The group is a new, genre blending rock group, made up of Montgomery, Josiah Joya (Guitar/Vocals), Silas Adzentoivich (Drums), Ari Cosato (Bass), and Zahara Lazor (Vocals), all current students at Culver City High School. They have played together for about a year and a quarter according to Joya. “No, since like a month before the talent show,” chimed in the drummer. “I’d say like half a year” asserted Montgomery, before the group came to the agreement that the band has officially been playing together for about four or five months.
While this is everyone’s first time playing in a rock group, several of the members have had formal training in other instruments like trumpet and violin, and Lazor is a classically trained vocalist. Many of the members have also been heavily involved in Culver City’s music programs, playing in marching band, concert bands, and jazz ensembles over the years. They first started out as a group playing classic rock covers, like their winning rendition of The Beatles’s “Don’t Let Me Down” they performed at the recent Talent Show, but have since started writing and recording original music.
When asked what type of music they have been working on I was surprised to hear them answer casually with classic rock, funk, jazz fusion, and emo in succession. I was once again stunned hearing them explain that their influences included 90’s nu metal band Helen 55, funk pioneer James Brown, and a hardcore/trap fusion slam band, Infectious Jelqing. The union of these different styles and techniques means that what Subject to Change is making does not neatly fit into one category, but is the result of each member's diverse musical palate appearing in their work. Their approach to creating music could be seen as a lack of focus, but each member's individual expertise allows them to blend these different genres seamlessly, and create a sound that is original, and distinctly them.
They have certainly had a busy few months of performing, taking gigs ranging from school events like Springfest and the Talent Show, to one member's birthday party, and even an old folks home. On top of starting to play live more, Subject to Change have focused much of their energy on recording new music, and plan to release it on Spotify in the coming months. “Don’t even get us started. It’s… been a process,” said Adzentoivich of their experience producing their own music. They have been working out of a cramped shed in the lead singer's backyard, which currently holds their drumset, amps, mixing board, tape deck, a MacBook backup, and on most weekends, all five members climbing over equipment to get around.
Joya explained their experience with recording by saying “Overall it’s a really difficult process and journey. It’s fun, and there are some funny times, but it’s very intense.” Most nights they record, the group is in their DIY studio space for 6 or more hours, even spending a night on the floor of the shed after a late night session working on their submission for the Young Producers Group (YPG) SoCal Beat Battle.
The Beat Battle is a song contest for young producers in the Southern California area which the band heard about through Mr. Aron, CCHS’s music tech teacher. They have submitted their original song, ”Running Out of Time” to the competition, which will be adjudicated by a series of industry professionals working for Spotify. They stand to win a variety of valuable production related prizes, like free MacBooks, Monitors, Keyboards and more, all of which could set them up for success as they begin to put out and record more music.
For Subject to Change, music is much more than a pastime and carries a deep significance with each member outside of just enjoying playing together. Playing music, and playing in a band has carried each member through some of the toughest parts of life, whether that was grief, substance abuse, or mental health struggles, and served as a form of motivation, inspiration and expression in those dark moments. Adzentoivich, who serves as the main engineer for the band, started learning production in freshman year, shortly after the passing of his father, and he used music as a way to carry himself through that difficult chapter of his life. “It was definitely my way of dealing with the grief of that loss, and music has really pulled me out of some bad times,” he said. Other members expressed a similar sentiment, sharing the different ways that playing music has not just been a fun hobby, but something much more meaningful, even lifesaving on occasion. For them it has been a means of forming strong connections with people who share their passions, and has been a way of feeling seen, and understood in their most difficult moments.
For updates about the band, you can follow their instagram @subject_2_changeband, and keep an eye out for upcoming releases on streaming.