P-Sets and Coronets: Profile of a Yale Band
From the outside, Yale’s music scene looks much like what you would expect: the flashy orchestras, a cappella groups, and marching bands capture the classy, sophisticated, and preppy milieu that once characterized the now-bygone days of the Yale Man. This is a zeitgeist that Yale’s administration advertises to the world, but it fails to capture the ever-changing reality of what campus actually looks — and sounds — like today. For example, when has the atmosphere that Yale attempts to convey ever pointed to the emergence of an undergraduate alternative rock band?
Noah Gershenson, DC ’21, looks just like what you might expect from the lead guitarist of garage band — his long brown hair, thick-framed glasses, and scruffy beard disguise a surprising charm as he talks to me passionately about the “underground” music scene at Yale. He sits alongside vocalist and bassist Delia McConnell, TC ’22, and drummer Jack Berry, MY ’22, in the living room of AEPi, currently repurposed as a rehearsal space for their thriving ensemble. Together, the trio makes up the band known as Window Seat.
The three describe their union almost as a given. Recounting their origins, Gershenson recalled, “We jammed, and it was a lot of fun, and we just… kept doing it. And here we are.” Gershenson had facilitated the union of the group, having met Berry and McConnell independently through a linguistics class and WYBCx Radio, respectively. After several jam sessions, the trio officially formed the band — then known as Vape Naesh — in the spring of 2019, and debuted at the YCC’s Battle of the Bands last April. They changed their name to Window Seat over the summer when they realized how serious they were about the band.
Each member of Window Seat has a long history with music that seems to both parallel and complement that of their bandmates. They have all played music since they were young, and each had been involved in several bands prior to the formation of Window Seat. While they had each known that they were interested in joining a band at Yale, they had not expected to fall in with each other so quickly, or so easily. “This is my favorite band I’ve ever been in,” McConnell said, followed by the quick agreement of her bandmates. “Usually, it’s either you like the people and you don’t take it seriously, or it’s just for music but you don’t really like the people, but this is like — we like each other and we take the music seriously.”
For them, the band goes beyond a hobby — it is an activity that each places as much importance on as any other activity. “This is my primary extracurricular.” Berry said. The band rehearses once a week, but they also write all of their own music from scratch, with each member constructing their own part of the song as they go along. They gather inspiration from various sources — from bands they look up to, like Green Day and Modern Baseball, as well as from real life events. “Noah’s songs are mostly about ex-girlfriends,” Berry chirped, to Gershenson’s quick protests. Regardless, the three assert that the development of a song from an idea to its physical manifestation creates a sense of unmatched achievement that they cannot find anywhere else on campus — and their dedication to the craft is getting them more attention on campus every day. “People know our words — and we don’t even know our words!” Berry exclaimed.
Gershenson, McConnell, and Berry make up just one of many student-formed groups and performers on campus. They’ve played with Yale bands Toil!, TRØPIC, Sargasso, and the solo artist Hero Magnus. McConnell described the band scene at Yale as having been difficult to break into, but once breached, it quickly became a very welcoming environment. The bands see each other on campus, and have the opportunity to discuss recent gigs and their projects. “It is kind of separate [from the rest of Yale], but once you’re part of it, it’s more connected.” Regardless, much of the rehearsal and planning time of the bands occurs independently, and separately from the rest of Yale. There is no form of overarching coherence, and the members of Window Seat seem to like it that way.
Window Seat has already played four gigs this year, at the O61 Conglomerate in Saybrook, 216 Dwight St., Benjamin Franklin Four Courts, and at the Autumn Music Fest at Toad’s Lily Pad. They’ve also recently been in touch with a recording studio and hope to record some of their songs this semester. And, as always, they’re working on new songs to present to their ever-growing audience. Window Seat is here to show us that the era of the Yale orchestra is over, and the day of the Yale band has just begun.
