Backstage right before their first performance, band members junior Sarah Carr, and sophomores Tanner Treger, Will Elias, and Cole Malecki, realized they did not have a name yet and needed one before going on stage. Looking around frantically, they noticed someone wearing a SpongeBob shirt, so they quickly decided to name their band “Spünge,” and it stuck.

“We spell [our name as] Spünge with a “ü” because we didn’t want [our name] to just be a word, we wanted to be a little more unique,” Treger said. “We’ve been together since [the] beginning of this year, and we practice every week.”

Each member of Spünge had previous experience playing different instruments, which they now play in the band: Treger is the lead singer and occasionally plays guitar and keyboard, Malecki is the guitarist, Elias is the drummer, and Carr is the bassist. 

“[We all] wanted to find other people [to play in a band with],” Treger said. “I knew [Carr] from choir and she [told me] she was trying to learn bass. I went around and found people who played other instruments so that we could actually come together and play.”

At the beginning of the year, Carr said she was nervous to join the band. But now she is glad she joined, and has a lot of fun playing with the other members and performing for crowds, she said With her Bass, Carr has developed a newfound confidence. Carr says she’s often nervous while singing for a crowd, but while playing her bass, she doesn’t feel that way, and can enjoy herself a lot more.

“I was [hesitant to] join [the band] at first because I’m the only girl and [the only] junior,” Carr said. “But I’m really happy I joined because [being in a band is] a fun way to make music. Playing bass is so much fun because I can have a good time and just enjoy it [without it being too] nerve-racking.”

On March 18th, Spünge performed at the Laughing Academy’s Teen Rock Band Night. The band had previously played at South’s Battle of the Bands and V-Show, but this was their first performance with all four members present and playing together, Carr explained.

“We got to rehearse [at the Laughing Academy] the morning before [the performance] to practice because we didn’t have all of our songs fully memorized,” Carr said.  “That was our third performance, [but] it was our first time where all of us played together. We performed our setlist [and] added a couple of new songs like “Pleaser” by The Wallows, [and] played some songs that we usually play like “505” by the Arctic Monkeys and “Sunday” by The Strokes, [which some people] know from V-Show.”