LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — Music is a staple of creativity that connects people worldwide and allows artists to cultivate their own sound and influence. Some students at Los Alamitos High School have decided to create their own bands to express their musical skills and share the beauty of music with others. Stay For Dinner, Your Moms Best Friend and The Lanais all have the same passion yet their different genres allow students to find their own sound and play the music that they want to be heard.
Stay For Dinner
Stay For Dinner is a local band that was collectively formed by Fabrizio Cuevas, Ryder Watson and Gavin Tirpak. The band reported that they all loved playing and making music together but were missing a drummer, so they invited their friend Mason Kelly who was excited to join them. Watson is a LAHS junior, Kelly is a LAHS sophomore, and Cuevas and Tirpak are former LAHS students.
They soon got to jamming in Kelly’s garage and looking for a band name. According to the band, Cuevas came up with their name out of nowhere, and they all just happened to like it and have stuck with it since. Soon after their band name was set, things began to pick up for Stay for Dinner as the band became more eager to create music together and play more shows.
Stay for Dinner gets lots of inspiration from emo, Screamo and Scam music genres yet also incorporates more calm and melodic parts in their songs with soothing vocals. Ryder explained they are a “nicer” screamo type band, and have therefore labeled their own genre as “Christmas Emo.”
“My favorite part about performing is seeing the true beauty of music and how it can bring people together. I love the feeling of having people standing around you that all share the same love for music that you do. I think it is truly a beautiful art form. Being able to play things you’ve created is so special to me,” Watson said.
The band currently has one album out, their self titled “Stay for Dinner.” They have a new album in the works which they hope to get out in the future at an unconfirmed date.
Check out their Instagram to the left for more band photos and information on when their next shows are, a link to the music platforms for their album, and another link for their Youtube videos of their past shows!
Your Moms Best Friend
Another band at LAHS is Your Moms Best Friend. The band first started out with Cash Trowbridge, Chris Blocher and Zach Blocher all playing together in a small room at the Blochers’ house. In order to create the best environment for them to play in, they converted the room into a rehearsal and recording studio. The band recently added a new member all the way from New York to the band to help them out with new music and vocals.
The boys explain how whenever they would be hanging out with eachother outside of the band they would always be with their moms. As a result, some of their friends had given them the name “The Moms Best Friends” and from there they formed their current band name: Your Moms Best Friend.
Your Moms Best Friend gets most of their inspiration from surf rock and indie pop bands such as Surf Curse, Skeggs, The Backseat Lovers and more. The culture of surf rock derives from the early 60s and often gives the genre’s songs a California vibe with lyrics about the beach, surfing, summer and girls. YMBF has taken inspiration from this while also adding their own twist to their original music.
Together, the boys have released one single back in March of 2024 that is titled “Make it Out” which has about 30,000 streams on Spotify. They have recently put out an extended play (EP) from Aug. 2024 titled “Remember this in the Morning” which has hit over 17,000 plays on Spotify. Their most recent release is titled “90’s Thriller,” and the boys have many songs up their sleeve that they hope to put out over time.
“Our favorite part of performing is seeing how our music impacts other people and seeing them dance and vibe to the sound we put out,” the boys said.
Click the links to the right to see more of Your Moms Best Friend!
The Lanais
The Lanais are another new and upcoming band who recently had their first backyard show on Feb. 7. The band consists of LAHS seniors Leif McFerson and Arin Chowdhury. They are joined by former LAHS students Hyde McFerson, Johnny Flaim and Ian McFerson. The band started after the three McFerson brothers found their drummer, Flaim. Soon after, Leif met their lead guitarist Chowdhury from his music class at LAHS. Within days after the last member was added, the band quickly got to work practicing.
The Lanais got their band name from the street that Leif, Hyde and Ian live on, Lanai Street. Their goal as a band is to spend a couple of years getting as tight as possible as a live band and make a name for themselves. From there, their hopes are to go on a long journey of recording and make unquestionably great music that can resonate with everyone.
The Lanais are heavily influenced by The Beatles and infuse their music with the same infectious energy. Leif explained that the history of The Beatles playing endless hours of live music in nightclubs during their early years made him realize that he too wanted to experience that. Together, their hopes are to bring that type of music back to life while simultaneously adding their own modern-day spin to it.
“The fact that John Lennon was my age when he formed The Beatles makes me feel like reaching the level that they did isn’t too far out of my grasp,” McFerson said.
The boys write all of their own music, share it with one another during their practices and then teach their songs to one another. Leif finds the easiest way for him to write new music is by sitting down with his guitar while playing through a few different chords. He’ll start humming over the chords and as soon as he finds a melody he likes and then start piecing together a fully structured song. The Lanais favorite part of performing is the adrenaline that kicks in when playing and the indescribable feeling that takes over their body on stage.
Owen Silverman, LAHS class of 2024, contributed to this article.
