Many Cal High students enjoy making music by playing in bands and taking inspiration from world-renowned artists.
One up-and-coming student band is Lad’s Edition, whose members include senior Jonah Cunningham (lead guitar and vocals), sophomores Mojo Maldonado (bass guitar), Tilak Goddeti (keyboard), and freshmen Oonmaan Virk (drums) and Atharv Sanoop (rhythm guitar).
Maldonado is also the guitarist for Friendly Fire, another band formed by Cal students.
Lad’s Edition joined forces in late December after meeting in their concert band class, where they realized they shared a common passion for rock and metal music, pushing them to form a group.
The band spends their time in class during the week discussing what songs to play next, and then practice every weekend in Virk’s garage.
“We’re all really passionate about the band and everything we do,” Virk said. “We think it’s all for the best of us.”
Until this point, their biggest gigs have been performances at birthday parties or family events. But Virk hopes to perform at a school rally or in the courtyard during lunches in the near future.
A lot of local bands got a start playing on campus, including some who participated in Cal’s 2025-26 talent show. One of those bands is Death of Creation, which consists of four seniors- Dmitrii Morov (guitar and vocals), Elias Du (drums), Sia Lele (vocals), and Lee Mau (bass guitar).
Similar to Lad’s Edition, Death of Creation formed last semester in their commonly shared marching band class.
“We started out wanting to cover ‘Demolition Lovers’ by My Chemical Romance, which we still haven’t played,” Morov said.
Other bands that performed in the talent show include Whimzee and Odd Blond.
Odd Blond is one of the few students bands that didn’t form because of a shared class.
In fact, most of the members don’t even attend Cal.
They met through School of Rock, a music school located in San Ramon, and formed the band in December.
“The biggest challenge is working together when we learn things differently,” junior Riya Sullia said. She plays the drums for Odd Blond. “We all interpret music differently, so trying to come together and figure out a middle ground is kind of challenging.”
Nevertheless all of the band members share a passion for music.
Students also aren’t the only ones forming musical groups. A group of teachers have also come together to share their musical skills with students.
Partial Credit is a band of teachers and counselors who often perform live at different school events, such as rallies.
The band was first created by AP Government teacher Brandon Andrews and former AP U.S. History teacher Scott Hodges, who retired in 2021 and recently passed away. Other staff members in the band are teachers Jake
Martin, Scott Tinneti, Andrew White, Stacy Starkweather, and counselor Jonathan Sawyer.
The group has been together for the past seven years despite band members changing.
“There have been so many iterations of [Partial Credit]over the past decade or so, and it’s been quite on and off,” Martin said.
Cal student and teachers bands express their creativity and love for music as a whole, and they contribute significantly to the school culture.
“It’s mostly a way to express yourself,” Morov said. “You feel your emotions and you express them through music, and you get to share that with other people, and there’s a beauty to that.”
