“Is it me or am I going crazy? all my teachers think I’m lazy, the days go by all blurred and hazy back at school again.”
Who Knows? is a local band, with three members from Oswego who started off as friends doing jam sessions but turned into a band that quickly got appreciation from fans and people in the music industry. The members include singer and guitarist Tyler Baker (17), bassist Zach Frye (15) and drummer Ayden Schepp (17).
“Me and Aiden went to a friend’s house to jam one day, and after a few times of playing together we decided to start a band,” Baker said. “We were looking for a bass player, then a girl we knew had introduced us to Zach … we liked him and threw him in the studio the next week and now here he is.”
Who Knows? has a sound that one would refer to as punk or alternative. It has a Dead Kennedys or Adolescence influence. Nonetheless, the members’ sound is original.
“We play mostly punk and alternative stuff, but we try to branch out as much as we can especially on the new LP,” Baker said. “We love punk/alternative, but we don’t want to be set to one genre our whole lives. We all have different music tastes, so we want to explore what we love.”
Currently, the band has one EP, three singles, a demo and an LP out on iTunes, Spotify and Bandcamp.
“Our first single was recorded on a single vocal mic that we put on a stand in the middle of a basement, but it came out really janky and we put that out,” Schepp said. “Then, after that,we got a little more serious and saved up a little bit of money and paid our friend who is in a band called China Rose, and he had a studio set up in his basement.”
Using one’s own equipment may be time consuming, but it is more affordable than a costly studio. Then, the band knows that it is going to be exactly what it wants.
“After our old singer left, we re-recorded the album with Tyler singing at an actual studio called Gremlen located in Aurora,” Schepp said. “Now that we are recording our LP, we have our own equipment to record it cheaper.”
The band members were proud to be part of the festival Warped tour 2018 and share the same stage that 3OH!3, Less Than Jake and Real Friends once played.
“It was crazy that we sent our music to a company as big as Vans Warped tour and they liked us,” Schepp said. “That was the biggest mind blower like they wanted to hear us play.”
The band performed on the Full Sail University stage, and they were the first to play when the gates opened. The festival was completely sold out because it was the last cross country tour. About 22,000 people attended the festival.
“There was a sea of people that just swallowed the stage, but as for a standing audience there was probably about 200 people watching, which is probably still to this day the most people we have played in front of,” Schepp said.
The band has played many shows at different venues such as the Q-Bar, Ink 180 and the Bada Brew. From time to time, it plays with many other local bands that have the same sort of music such as Bad Jokes, Cherryhead and The Magnifiers.
“I like playing with Who Knows? because they’re great people and some of the best guys I know,” singer/guitarist of Cherryhead Jackson Giampa said. “They’re always fun and they do their part and are always supportive. They are some of the best people you will meet.”
Who Knows? most recent show was a benefit at The Waiting Room where they raised $933 for Ink 180. The band played songs off their “Not So Sad” LP that was released Mar. 1 as well as covers such as “Killing in the Name” by Rage Against the Machine that got the whole crowd moving.
“It was my first time going to a show like this, but these people sounded like professionals going crazy and doing their best work,” senior Gabby Di Persia said. “Everyone at the show was jumping, laughing and yelling and just honestly having a good time.”
The band is set to play at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California, on June 28 alongside famous bands Faster Pussycat and Bang Tango.
“I’ve had a list of top 10 and even top five venues that I’d love to play at, and The Whisky has always been the one I’ve wanted to play most,.” Baker said.