By Dylan Sciacca | Reporter
Many students spend their leisure time hanging out with friends or scrolling on their phones, but the Ethan Yassa Band spends this time rehearsing for upcoming performances.
The Ethan Yassa Band is focused on bringing live music back and doing it in a way that is not commonly seen, especially at a college level. This student band is growing fast and is already making an impact on the Waco music scene.
The band has a singer, drummer, pianist and two guitarists. The band members met through their fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Georgetown sophomore Ethan Yassa is the lead singer of the group. He said that he joined the band for his love of music.
“I have always valued music,” Yassa said. “It has always been a critical part of my life, and I just wanted to bring that aspect from home with some friends that I have met here.”
The band started in March, making them a band newer to the live music scene. Since then, they have already done events both on and off campus. On campus, they have performed in front of Kappa Alpha Theta CASA Cookout and Concert, a philanthropy event that Theta puts on every year. They also played off campus at Freight, a local sports bar, late last year.
Plano sophomore, Arshiya Sharma, is a Theta who was impressed by the band’s talents.
“I first saw them play at Freight this past April, and I thought they were really good,” Sharma said. “So from a sorority, we hired them for our philanthropy event, and they played really well. I think their individual talents, when they come together, really compliment each other.”
While being off to a quick start, the band still has big goals that they want to achieve. To them, that means they want to get more creative and expand their audiences.
“Goals we have are definitely writing our own music … and definitely becoming more public with where we are performing,” Yassa said.
Even though the Ethan Yassa Band is still in the early stages of performing, the group has already performed in big events, putting them on the map. They plan to keep exposing themselves to big stages for future success. To the band, it is about more than just making and playing music, it is about connecting to Baylor and the City of Waco and reviving the live music scene. Ultimately, they hope to impact Waco in a positive way and keep live music relevant.
“I think the live music scene is starting to go down, in the entire world, being replaced by electronic music and stuff like that,” Yassa said. “Live music doesn’t only bring entertainment, it brings community.”
