The drum sticks slowly pull together — one, two, three —  signifying  the start to the student-led band’s passionate riffs, rhythms and rhymes. Almost two months since their start, El Chavos has been creating and developing their sound, brand and set-up; so far, the band has accomplished a substantial amount of growth.

“Originally it was three of my guy friends who were like ‘yeah, we’re starting a band,’ and they wanted to make music because they were a part of School of Rock,” Nadia Sommerville (11) said.  “I jokingly said ‘yeah let me join,’ on Cal, the lead singer’s Instagram post. He texted me afterwards …  ‘Are you being serious when you say you wanna join this?’ and so I was like ‘yeah,’ so now I play bass in the band.” 

A name can mean everything to a band; it represents  the brand and the history in only a few words. El Chavos has a name with a story that is a little bit different from your typical  band. 

“Long story short, the kids at School of Rock called me El Chavos because they didn’t know my name,” Cal Winsett (10) said. “Harrison and I were joking around, and we were thinking of band names, and he just said ‘El Chavos and The Zits’. We thought we’d come up with a new name in the future, but Xander said ‘why don’t we just drop ‘The Zits?’. Everybody was like, ‘that’s cool,’ and so we just stuck with El Chavos.” 

Coupled with school and other extracurriculars, El Chavos’s start has been slow, but they have great passion and excitement for what they do. 

“It wasn’t very long ago, we’re still very fresh,” Sommerville said. “With all four of us in one room we’ve only had one practice, but over time, for me, it was like ‘oh we’re just gonna make music.’ It’s a casual thing. It’s still silly and goofy and it’s us messing around, but if we put effort into it we can be serious.”

El Chavos strives to have fun while making music. Even their motto, “by party people, for party people,” exemplifies what they stand for and hope to accomplish. Rather than following the norm for most musicians, the band chooses their own path. 

 “A lot of people are just about the money, and they do what people want, but we’re just doing what we think is fun and we like to get up there and have fun for ourselves,” Winsett said. “Hopefully everybody else thinks it’s fun.” 

The question is: Where will the band go from here? It takes courage to continue a passion, and El Chavos feels equipped to delve into their future together. 

 “I hope that we’ll get recognized by somebody, and they’ll be like, ‘that band has potential,’” Sommerville said. “Then maybe if we can strike a deal somewhere and put out some music then we can get big enough to where that’s a career. For right now, on the more realistic side, I think the future is more of us making music and being a unit and becoming a beacon of light for people who want to listen to some cool music and have a good time.” 

The band as a whole is an avenue for creation and inspiration, for an escape from daily life, for experimentation and exploration . There’s still room for El Chavos to grow and really become something — their hard work and comradery is definitely something they feel is worth investing in. 

“Most of my musician friends aren’t really into this kind of pop-punk kind of stuff, which is kind of my jam, but it’s a way for me to do what I love,” Xander Sinclair (10) said.  “Most of the music has been me and Harrison writing, but hopefully in the not-too-distant future it will change and become a lot more dynamic. I really hope it can go somewhere.”