Student band Saguaro releases new EP

Taya Hehn

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Photo submitted by Saguaro

A student band named Saguaro released a new EP ‘Good Morning’, represented by a colorful painting. The sun as a face relates to the title of the EP, and the cacti relates to their band name Saguaro, a type of cactus.

On Oct. 8 of this year, an indie rock band named Saguaro came out with a new EP called ‘Good Morning’ containing four songs. These include: Canyon Home, Painting Stars, Puzzle Pieces and Good Morning Sun.

There are four band members, with three freshmen in college and one senior in high school. Hannah Doyle is the lead singer and plays the guitar, Isaac Reiner is on the bass, Levi Hutton is on the drums and senior Leah Cosgrove is the lead guitarist. They formed back in 2018, with one of their members joining in 2019.

“The band formed after Levi and I performed with a band at the same coffeehouse event Hannah did. We ended up playing a few gigs together before finding Leah, but we eventually came across her online and now we’ve been together for just over three years,” Reiner said.

The production of the EP took almost two years, and the recording took nine hours. The band tried to record on Garageband themselves at first, but the recordings were lost.

The recording of the album then was “almost entirely handled by Daryl Bolicek of Wild Horse Recording, which is a studio local to Stillwater,” Reiner said.

Doyle writes all of the songs for the band, and she likes to incorporate her own life and experiences into the process.

“When I am writing the lyrics and rhythm I am more or less inspired by my own thoughts and feelings. I usually get a specific feeling after something happens to me or I think of a specific phrase that pops into my head as part of a song. I then listen to songs that I want to pull inspiration and mess around with it until I feel ready to bring the song to the band,” Doyle said.

‘Good Morning Sun’ was the first original played by the band and was performed at “Stillwater’s 2020 Battle of the Bands,” Cosgrove said. More creations came after that.

“Over the course of 2020 and 2021 we managed to create more songs, three of which ended up on the EP. We practiced the songs and played them at our live events until August of 2021,” Cosgrove said.

The band can spread a message through their songs, and Doyle hopes people can find themselves in her lyrics.

“Since a lot of these songs are sort of like my own creations of what I see in specific people and/or situations I have been involved in I mostly just hope that people can listen to our music and relate to it in their own light. As long as I can touch someone somewhere and let them know their thoughts aren’t alone as music has done for me, I personally feel accomplished,” Doyle said.

Songs on the EP include guitar solos all done by Cosgrove. Guitar solos add a fast buildup to the songs and shine a light on the instruments creating the sound.

“Trial and error, improvising, and memorizing scales all have their roles in writing a solo, but when it comes down to it, creating a guitar solo is all about creating something that sounds good to me,” Cosgrove said.

With all of their hard work and effort, the band is going strong. There are plans the band has for the future, and they wish to continue creating music.

“We have begun putting together more pieces and hope to release an album potentially next year! We are always working on new songs,” Doyle concluded.