You know it’s not the same as it was. In this world, it’s just us.
Harry Styles’ “As it was” was just one hit performed at the annual Quadchella at Palo Alto High Schools’ Quad Monday and Wednesday at lunch during Spring Spirit Week.
Quadchella, an event hosted by the Associated Student Body similar to the music festival Coachella, was broken up into two sections. One for students to perform Karaoke and the second for bands, singers, dancers, and other groups to perform together. Bands included partial reunion of ‘Willy and the Four Boys,’ ‘The Secret Room’ and a K-Pop group.
According to AP Language teacher and former member of ‘Willy and the Four Boys’ Richard Rodriguez, an ASB member recruited him and other teachers to perform.
“We were asked to put together a group of performers that played together before,” Rodriguez said. “Myself, [Brian] Wilson, [Grant] Blackburn, [Steve] Sabbag and [Rodney] Satterthwaite used to be a part of a group called ‘Willy and the Four Boys.’ We were asked to put something together last minute but Mr. Satterthwaite and Mr. Sabbag couldn’t join us.”
However, according to journalism advisor and drummer Brian Wilson, the musicians performing together at Quadchella wasn’t an official group.
“The three of us, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Blackburn and I decided we were going to play,” Wilson said. “They had a conversation with Max [senior, guitarist, and singer] asking if he wanted to join us and maybe sing. Mr. Rodriguez doesn’t normally play bass, but we thought it would be helpful to have another guitarist so Max joined. The configuration of people who played was not any sort of existing band. It was spontaneous. It doesn’t even have name.”
The new band played hit songs like “Lonely Boy” by the Black Keys, “7 Nation Army” by the White Stripes and “Someday” by The Strokes.
Quadchella is also a chance for people to explore different types of music. K-Pop band performer and senior Allison Kwon said they performed the song “Ditto” by New Jeans as an easily entertaining song for audiences.
“It’s a really upbeat song,” Kwon said. “It [the song] has a nice atmosphere. It’s not too hard for someone who hasn’t listened to K-Pop to enjoy it.“
The final group to perform was the band ‘The Secret Room.’ Band members performed hit songs including “As It Was” by Harry Styles, “Treasure” by Bruno Mars and an original piece.
Sophomore Ella Suriani said she enjoyed the event.
“Live music is such a great way to express yourselves and I love that students are up there,” Suriani said. “The music is so great and I love it during lunch, especially because the performances are so good.”
