It started, like so many great things, with a TikTok trend.

The “devious lick” hashtag asked students to “take an unusual” item from school and record themselves somewhere else with it.

What would a group of six teenage musicians take? Well, the infamous band director shirts, of course.

“It all started when we were sleuthing around in the band storage room upstairs,” said Slover. “This shirt is well known for being the shirt only drum majors get. And so we, the devilish little boys that we are, took them all.”

Our comical stunt not only put a smile on Band Director Mrs. Kessler’s face, but created new friendships and a new super group, The Band Boys.

Soon our group –  junior Koen Brown and seniors Andrew Terkildsen, Nick Slover, Andrew Kaiser, Gus Matkov, and myself –  was on Instagram with @lfbandboys, where we found our winning formula: hands crossed, feet apart, serious face, and sunglasses.

The shades are the most crucial part; however, what makes every photo different is the background and meaning behind it.

Traditionally, the pep band only plays at football and basketball games, but we wanted to play at every senior night, a strenuous goal but one that could be accomplished with lots of work and planning. We contacted many coaches and so far have played at field hockey, soccer, cross country, swim, hockey, and volleyball. We were such a success we were asked by multiple sports to come back and play again.

“There’s a lot of sports that don’t get the recognition they deserve,” said Slover. “It’s important to give everyone recognition and not just the flagship sports like football and basketball.”

Whether playing a powerful brass tune like Seven Nation Army or Koen Brown’s trumpet serenade, we brought our passion to just any event that would have us.  One of the best was the Antioch playoff football game. We played  football games before, but this wasn’t like the rest. It was a freezing October night with pouring rain. To make matters worse, we were shirtless.

Despite the brutal weather, the Scouts won 27-6 and moved on to the next round. I like to think we did our part in adding a bit more spirit to get the Scouts on their feet and cheering.

This energy is what the Band Boys run on and continue to provide every senior night.

But with the football playoffs ending in Cary Grove and winter sports not starting for another couple weeks, we had a long time until the next senior night. That’s when we all had a thought.

“You know what,” said Terkildsen. “Let’s do the talent show.”

We immediately got to work, deciding to play a mashup of Funkytown and I Feel Good arranged by the Lucky Chops, who gained their popularity from their exquisite dance moves and lively playing in the NYC subway system. At first, it seemed easy to just get up on stage and put on a good show, but we quickly realized that wasn’t the case and that each of us had a crucial role in the group.

In band class, it’s easy to duck down under everyone else and not play when you don’t know the notes but when you’re in a smaller group, you really have to step up.

“We really enjoy that small group collaboration but it challenges us in ways we haven’t been before,” Terkildsen said. “The talent show gave us a lot more freedom to do what we wanted; however, with more freedom comes more responsibility.”

Some of that freedom included dancing.

“Talent show allowed us to do choreography and dance moves that we couldn’t do before,” said Matkov. After performing with the cheer and poms team during the halftime show on senior night, we were eager to perform and dance again. We came in every Thursday morning and with many out-of-school rehearsals, we had put together a show.

As the days until the talent show dwindled down, we were excited and nervous. Our dress rehearsals went well, but we were missing the emotion, the chef’s kiss.

We were missing the experience of a live performance.

On the first night, We had power, enthusiasm and, with a little Band Boy spice, put on one of our best shows. All of our nerves and jitters left after that night and not only were we excited for the nights to come, but others were too.

All three nights of the talent show were major hits and what made each night better than the last was the variety.

“Our outfits changed every night,” said Kaiser. “We never really had a set plan, it kind of just came naturally.” One night, we changed our outfit 30 minutes before we went on. Going into the talent show, we knew that we wanted to wear the yellow blazers. We could wear whatever under them but the yellow needed to be the show stealer. They were fun, bright and incorporated the Lake Forest colors; it was perfect.

The musical aspect also changed every night. With different melodic elements and dynamic variation, the show had more flavoring. It was something new for the people who came to multiple nights and also refreshing to us.

We were all proud of ourselves and it was exhilarating when all of those long and hard hours paid off. Back in the fall, the Band Boys were nothing more than a small traveling marching band; now, we have an act.

There are lots of potential events that the Band Boys could play and many more songs that we could play; however, besides just playing at new places, there were more important things to think about, like what will happen when almost all of us graduate?

“We can find more people with school spirit,” said Brown. “There will be people but I’m a little unsure.”

As the year is wrapping up and we get closer and closer to college, we want to continue the Band Boys spirit and finish strong. We hope that in coming years, other band students will want to continue the Band Boy legacy and carry on the tradition to play at every senior night.