Music is everywhere. All around us, students experience the art of music through headphones, concerts and listening to the latest artists. For some Sun Devil creatives, music can also be an expression of themselves and their identity, and they choose to display it through the work they create here on campus.
There are plenty of student bands across all four campuses, groups that allow fellow students to come together and jam out. With plenty of venues across the Valley, these bands have found Phoenix to be a great scene to get them started.
Right Rosemary
Right Rosemary is a student band composed of Jules Schubert, Kyler Paden, Riley Blocker, Blake Manke, Jacob Treat and Zoe Nichols.
Right Rosemary started in ASU's pop music program. Blocker, a junior studying popular music and French, recalls starting off with just Paden and Schubert meeting each other in the practice rooms.
"It was originally just us three ... and we just got into one of our program's practice rooms," Blocker said. "Kyler just rented us out a little drum room, and we were able to just all hang out and make music together, and we realized that we had a really good fit."
According to Blocker, the name Right Rosemary stems from the Victorian era, meaning of rosemary being a symbol of remembrance. The right part stems from the positive emotion associated with the right hand, leading to a name with the definition of "always remember."
"There is this sort of like hidden meaning of like, 'Yes, we remember,'" Blocker said.
Right Rosemary performs a variety of music, and tends to experiment with new styles at new venues. They recently performed at Devilpalooza after winning the ASU Battle of the Bands.
READ MORE: Battle of the Bands 2025 grows new community through music in Phoenix
With this success, Right Rosemary is on its way to becoming a bigger part of the ASU music scene.
One Trick Dog
One Trick Dog is a student band comprised of Sage Sakala, Jacob Zeitlin, Jacob Henderson, Kenna Kelly and Chris Corbett.
The band started when Sakala, a junior studying fashion, and her bandmate, Kelly, would make songs together early in their college career. Their roots started in Tucson when Kelly attended UA, and now they play in both Phoenix and Tucson.
"Music just really inspires us and seeing live music is just a way to express yourself," Sakala said. "If you have something going on, it's a way to work through it."
One Trick Dog primarily performs R&B and soul-inspired music, with a little bit of jazz mixed in — but one of the band's prime focuses is lyricism.
"Sage has a notebook of just lyrics, and then so many more lyrics," said Zeitlin, a junior studying physics. "She'll hear one of our instrumental ideas and be like, 'Oh, I have something for that.'"
Writing songs together has led to a familial relationship among the band. Sakala mentioned how it's brought their members even closer together than they were before.
One Trick Dog usually plays around the Valley every other week. They perform more house shows and in DIY venues. At ASU, they've performed at the Album Listening Club.
As part of the ASU music scene, it can be hard to get started.
"Even if you don't play music, you should come to shows. It kind of creates a huge, huge community," Sakala said.
Calle Rosa
Calle Rosa is a student band comprised of Ian Harders, Allyson Garrett, Drake Kinerk and Emma Pivin. Their name stems from the street Harders and Kinerk record on, a testament to the roots of the band itself.
Their band doesn't stick to one genre, but they're happy with however their audience labels them.
Bands like Calle Rosa also have to decide how they are going to play with their music at their shows.
"We definitely try every single show, we want to have something be a little bit different," said Harders, a senior studying marketing. "So sometimes we'll do a jam ... and for one of our songs, we would extend the intro and make it a little bit more spacey and slow. Then we'd all had time to do a little solo, or have a little bit of space to do some improv."
Getting ready for shows is also a sizable commitment and process. With different set lists and a lot of memorization required, each band member mentioned how they had different ways to get ready.
"I like to take our recordings," said Garrett, a junior studying elementary education. "I'll record a whole set ... It'll be 30 or 40 minutes, but then, I'll listen to it in the car so I can kind of reflect."
Calle Rosa performs every two weeks around ASU and the Valley. They are playing Saturday, May 3, at MYSPACE in Downtown Phoenix.
These student bands offer a variety of styles, but all give listeners a sense of the importance of the ASU music community.
"I think we wouldn't be able to play shows without another very strong community at ASU of musicians who have inspired us," said Harders.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Braccio and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at gachatht@asu.edu.
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Gokul is a sophomore studying actuarial science. This is his fourth semester with The State Press.
