Since their first year at Occidental, students Ben Rashleigh Torres (junior), Liam Williams (junior), Cate Norton (junior) and Abby (junior) have been in a band together. According to guitarist and vocalist Torres, the band calls themselves Barstool Deskjob.
Torres said the sound of Barstool Deskjob falls into the categories of indie rock and grunge. According to Abby, who has asked to keep her last name anonymous for privacy, the band does not like to define themselves by a specific genre, but rather prefers experimenting and incorporating ideas from all styles of music.
“We’re so much bigger than a genre,” Abby said. “We just have so many songs that encompass so many different styles that don’t have enough of a true line between them.”
Abby said a major part of the band’s physical identity is the gas mask she wears at every show.
“As an openly trans person, you get a lot of questions about how you’re choosing to present […] I kind of hate it,” Abby said. “When I put on a gas mask, it removes myself from the person and creates something else.”
According to bassist Norton, she met drummer Abby in their first-year seminar along with former band member Toby Snyder. Norton said that Snyder met Torres and guitarist and vocalist Williams in a music theory class, and the five members then started a band. Torres said Snyder was a part of the band during the first semester of their first year before leaving.
According to Abby, the band’s songwriting process begins with either Torres or Williams introducing a song to the rest of the band. Abby said the band members then add their own personal adjustments and style to the song.
“We all have our own styles that we’re bringing in, and that coalesces into something that then becomes our distinct sound,” Abby said.
Abby said the band’s favorite thing is to play their music at live shows.
“I think the end goal of a band is always to play a show; It’s always to do something to be able to show other people,” Abby said. “I don’t generally feel the drive to practice for practice’s sake. I’ve never felt like I needed to get better for myself. I only have that external motivator, and that’s why shows are so important to me.”
According to Torres, the band’s first concert was at the KOXY practice room show during their first year.
“I had only played a few shows before, and it was a high school band, so we were all standing up there very stiff,” Norton said. “I hadn’t really gotten into the performance aspect of it.”
According to Torres, Williams had never suffered from awkwardness on stage, as he had far more performing experience in high school.
“Playing with Liam on that stage [was] insane because he was jumping around, and throwing himself with the music,” Norton said. “[Wlliams] showed me performing is more than just being technically correct.”
WIlliams said in high school, he was part of a band that had played together since the beginning of eighth grade. According to Williams, during the COVID-19 quarantine, the band stayed together and practiced almost every day.
“We all still got together and would practice pretty much every day because nobody had anything to do,” Williams said.
Williams said his former band played live as much as they could throughout high school, which helped him improve a lot.
“A show is a really fun [time] to put everything to the test,” Williams said. “You gain so much experience from playing a show […] One show is worth 10 band practices in terms of how much we improve.”
Abby said she has been playing in bands since early childhood.
“I’ve been in bands since I was nine and I’ve been playing shows in garages really consistently since then,” Abby said.
Torres said the band has played at the Hotel Ziggy on Sunset Boulevard.
“[The Hotel Ziggy show] was really fun because I got to say we were playing a show at Sunset Boulevard,” Torres said. “All my people from the East Coast were like ‘Wow, that’s so cool.’”
Williams said he appreciates being a part of a collaborative song-making process, as opposed to being an isolated song writer.
“When you’re with a group, you’re also able to approach music in such a different way than you’re able to on your own,” Williams said.”You can play something that would just sound so boring and bad on its own, but with the band, it sounds so cool together.”
According to Norton, the band is working on finishing their yet-to-be-announced debut album, which is planned to be released before the end of the calendar year.
“I was doing singer-songwriting stuff for like a long time before I got to Oxy and I was just not feeling it,” Norton said. “I was ready to give up on music because I wasn’t going anywhere. This band definitely helped me rediscover my love for music.”
Contact Marco Zapien at mzapien@oxy.edu
