After winning first place at the Rising Stars Showcase at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival on September 2, the student rock band Phonophobia has made quite the name for themselves. Composed of Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS) seniors Braeden Keffer, Grayson Hough, Gus McComb and Jason Gallardo, the rock quartet, after winning that first place in September, has gained a large fanbase. From performing at a Tri-M (the music honor society for grades 6 to 12) recital in 2022 to that first-place finish at the Labor Day Festival in 2024, the band has come a long way from its origins. This reporter interviewed Phonophobia ‒ which, ironically, means a fear of music ‒ to discuss their journey from jazz trio to rock band.
The band first consisted of Hough on saxophone, Keffer on piano and McComb on drums in 2022 when they were doing a recital at a Tri-M event held at ERHS. The trio performed the jazz piece On Green Dolphin Street. Despite the last-minute preparation ‒ Keffer recalls that the trio did “two rehearsals … both in the week of the recital” ‒ the performance went well. The lineup was finalized when Gallardo, a classmate from Keffer and McComb’s freshman geometry class, agreed to join the band after eight months of persistent requests from Hough. “And now he’s so happy with us,” Keffer joked.
Phonophobia transitioned from jazz to rock around their performance at the ERHS Fall Coffeehouse in 2023. The band felt that rock better matched their interests and resources. It was through this transition that their positions were finalized: Keffer on guitar, Hough on vocals, McComb on drums and Gallardo on bass. It wasn’t a smooth transition, as the original trio went on hiatus after the
Tri-M performance until the summer of 2023 when Gallardo joined. Despite this, Gallardo feels that rock matches his vibe much better, reflecting that “if they told me we’re playing jazz, I would not have joined them.”
The climax of their journey thus far was the Rising Stars showcase, which was a last-minute decision. Phonophobia applied just hours before the deadline. But the moments before the performance weren’t all smooth sailing. McComb recalled that the band didn’t have parking near the Greenbelt Community Center – the venue where the showcase was held ‒ “so [they] had to haul [his] drum set a quarter mile.” Furthermore, his bass drum “kept running away” during the first half of their set because there wasn’t a rug for the drum set to keep it from slipping.
Phonophobia’s powerful performance also heavily contrasted with the mellow performances of earlier acts, so they weren’t sure if the audience would receive the music well. Luckily for them, the audience complimented how well they did, and the band ended up winning first place.
So what’s next? Phonophobia is currently working on original music and will eventually release a Spotify and a YouTube account, per a suggestion from Hough’s deacon. “I got out of church, and the deacon was like, ‘How’d your band go?’ I said, ‘Oh, it’s on Instagram.’ He was like, ‘I don’t have Instagram, you should post on YouTube,’” he recalled. For the future, the band has plans to go independent after high school, joking about bankrupting a label in the process. But for now, one can follow Phonophobia on Instagram at @phonophobia.band, and contact them at phonophobia.band.official@gmail.com.
Njeri Kamenwa is a junior at Eleanor Roosevelt High School writing for the News Review.