Noise, noise and more noise — five Oak Park students who share in their passion for music formed a new band at the end of last semester. With this shared passion, students — sophomore Stephen Burt, juniors Sammy Archer, Jake Iazzetta, Sean Greenfield and Jason Paras — now meet regularly to create and perform punk music.

The band’s most recent performance served as a finale for the February rally, in which several of the members played a cover of the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”

Burt is the lead guitarist, Archer plays drums, Iazzetta sings, and Greenfield plays trumpet, while Paras plays bass.

“It happened [because] of marching band,” Burt said. “We were in the band room one time and I was like ‘Sam hop on drums.’ It was so fun. We didn’t stop.”

The band’s formation wasn’t instantaneous. Burt planned on starting a jazz combo at the end of last school year, but it didn’t happen.

Eventually, Burt and Archer’s loud jam sessions in the school band room led to them meeting Iazzetta. Together, they started writing songs in October 2016.

However, they couldn’t do it all on their own. With a need for more members, they looked to the school’s band program — eventually finding a bassist and trumpeter.

“I play trumpet, as well as any instrument we would need in the band outside of the normal guitar, bass drums and singing,” Greenfield wrote in an email.

In addition to punk music, Los Besos — which means “the kisses” in Spanish and is a tribute to Burt’s grandmother — plays jazz, funk and fusion music.

“Have you ever been angry and you hit something and it helps? It’s kind of like that,” Archer said.

Band members said they like getting together as much as possible in Archer’s garage. They play originals and covers of punk music.

“We got a lot of originals. We make up [stuff] all the time — our jam sessions are really fun,” Burt said.

The band draws their inspiration from a variety of sources. Greenfield, Iazzetta and Paras create their own chord progressions and melodies during their individual free time, while Archer and Burt draw inspiration from other musicians, such as Fidlar and Makeout Videotapes.

“It’s hard to match all of our schedules at the same time, but when we get together it’s magical,” Greenfield said. “I think it will continue to be awesome as long as we keep it at it.” 

Currently, several of the band’s songs are on Bandcamp. They also have a gig at Chain Reaction in Anaheim Sunday, March 19.

“It’s a good way to make high school feel a little less repetitive,” Iazzetta said.