By Katie McGregor
Staff Writer
Some of the South Bay’s most talented musicians, including the Mira Costa student band Thiftis, duked it out with riffs and chords at the Manhattan Beach Old Hometown Fair’s annual Battle of the Bands on Oct. 2.
Thiftis is a pop-punk band that features seniors Andy Hershey on lead guitar and vocals, Max Wohlmuth on rhythm guitar, Joey Nichols on bass and Colin Olson on drums. Their sound is heavily influenced by bands such as Thrice, Blink-182 and Alkaline Trio.
“It was definitely fun playing at the Hometown Fair,” Wohlmuth said. “We had been practicing a lot during the two weeks before it and the practices were pretty serious. Playing was a lot more fun than the practice, and it was really cool to hear our final result.”
Thiftis competed against five different bands and artists from around the South Bay and Los Angeles area. Although they did not win at the Battle of the Bands, the band views the experience as a valuable learning opportunity.
“Thiftis brought good energy to the stage. All of their songs were catchy, and the vocal harmonies were great,” senior Joe McMahon said.
The first-place winner was Goodfellas, a “country folk” band from Manhattan Beach. The second-place prize went to Ayline, a pop singer from Redondo Beach, and Taylor Collins, a blues rock band from Torrance. The other competitors included PLEJ, a rock and pop band from Redondo Beach, and Oak Street Blues of Pasadena.
“The band got a great reception from the audience. They played a very energetic set despite the fact that they had never played an event or show of that size,” McMahon said.
Thiftis played a 10-minute set of three songs, two of their own, called “Marxxx” and “Shift,” and a cover of “In Exile” by Thrice. Overall, they were happy with their reception from the audience, although the band would have loved to win the competition.
“All in all, it was fun because that was the first time all of us played together in a real show,” Nichols said. “We had a good time, regardless of the judging process.”
The band is a relatively new band at Mira Costa that was started by Hershey, Wohlmuth, and Olson during their junior year. Nichols joined the band in January to round out their line up. Soon after, they decided on the name Thiftis.
Thiftis has yet to record any of their songs, and The Battle of the Bands was their first major show.
“Thiftis was great at Battle of the Bands,” senior Kerianne Grant said. “I definitely want to see them perform again.”
The band plans to record and is looking forward to being able to play other shows. Nichols and Hershey are responsible for writing the music, but every member of the band works together to produce the final product.
The band wants its sound to be unique, and members hope their music will not be compared to bands in the same pop-punk genre that are considered unoriginal.
“We are planning on recording when we get around to it. With school, we are pretty busy but we’ll find time,” Wohlmuth said. “Hopefully, people will like the kind of music we play and word about Thiftis will get around. Honestly, I’m happy with where we are now and progressing will just make it that much better.”
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