In February of 2024, a group of musicians from McIntosh’s band and orchestra programs formed an indie band called “The Id.” Junior Alex Gomez and seniors Carson Toenniges, Gerry Perez, Santiago Perez and Karina Nirenberg, through a series of concerts and tuning their instruments, eventually became friends. And from that friendship came a band, “The Id.”
Toenniges plays guitar and piano, Gomez plays bass, Gerry plays guitar, and similarly to Gerry, Nirenberg plays the guitar and is the lead singer, and Santiago plays drums.
How The ID started
On Feb. 24, 2024, Toenniges sent a text message to junior Gomez, asking him if he wanted to be in a band.
“I was like, sure I’ll join if other people join because I was kind of embarrassed to be in a high school band,” Gomez said.
Gerry sent a message out in the McIntosh Orchestra Groupme asking, “[We’re] looking for a drummer, anyone know how to play drums?”
Despite not being a drum player, singer/songwriter Nirenberg messaged Gerry and asked to be a part of the group.
“I’ve always wanted to be in a band. I got my ukulele in fourth grade, and then over COVID-19, I got a guitar, and I don’t know how to play well, but I knew enough to play chords and write songs,” Nirenberg said.
Before Nirenberg knew about the “Id”, she wrote music on her own.
“I have written over 100 song probably, and they’re just sitting [there.] I have stuff in band lab, I have stuff in my notes app, because little bits and pieces come to me,” Nirenberg said.
As the group continues to make more music, the other members have started pitching in on the lyric writing process.
“Me, Carson and Gerry have started to split up the songwriting work a lot more evenly. Like I’ve written lyrics for two songs. It’s pretty equally divided. At least now, it wasn’t before, but now we all come into our own as musicians,” Gomez said.
The final member of the “Id”, Santiago, also Gerry’s identical twin brother, was discovered in his basement playing guitar during a band practice.
“I saw Santiago down here, and he was genuinely the best [guitarist] at McIntosh. So I just said, you’re in the band too,” Gomez said.
The group realized since Toenniges and Gerry were already guitarists adding Santiago as a guitarist would be too much. So, the group decided that Santiago would play drums.
Band Inspiration
The “Id”’s inspiration comes from various alternative and indie-style artists. Artists such as The Beatles, The Cardigans, and Hers are some inspirations for band members. However, for lead singer Nirenberg, most of her inspiration comes naturally.
“When I write vocal melodies, it just kinda comes to me. It starts as improvisation and then eventually just dreams into something good,” Nirenberg said.
Nirenberg is involved in McIntosh Theater. She has had to make some adjustments to the way she sings in a band compared to her singing in theater.
“I was over pronouncing and I had to fix it cause I sounded like I was on stage, but that’s where a lot of my influence comes from,” Nirenberg said.
The band has made three demos called “Hot Honey,” “Emilie,” and “Nothing, Everything.” Bassist Gomez takes inspiration from artists such as The Thundercats and John Lennon. He incorporates these genres and sounds when playing for the band.
“One of our songs, I hit octaves in a cut-time part. So it’s a bit like a faster and funkier kind of beat for the bass line,” Gomez said.
Band Challenges
The group doesn’t face much conflict as they are all friends and have all connected through music. With all the members’ backgrounds creating great music with each other has never been an issue.
“We’ve never hated each other, everything we’ve written has been put in. We’ve never had a song where it’s like, it’s just not going anywhere,” Gerry said.
One member isn’t able to make it to practice, but the members still manage to keep him in the loop. Though, he does help the band financially.
“Santiago works seven days a week. We just tell him what to learn and he learns it. Santiago is our sponsor. He doesn’t come to practice just so he can fund the drum set,” Toenniges said.
Other members also have a busy schedule outside of the band.
“I do theater and I also work so, Sundays are really the days when we can get together,” Nirenberg said.
Toenniges and Gerry live near each other, so they are able to record and practice more than the rest of the band.
“Carson lives five minutes away from me. Since we live so close together, I would say 90% of the practice is just me and Carson and maybe, 10% are with the rest of the band,” Gerry said.
Music Production
The band has released their demos of “Nothing, Everything” and “Emilie” on YouTube and SoundCloud. Songwriter Nirenberg explains the meaning behind “Nothing, Everything.”
“Nothing, Everything is just about [how] you realize after a relationship that you didn’t mean as much to them as they meant to you,” Nirenberg said.
The group used multiple different melodies to find the one that worked best with Nirenberg’s lyrics.
“The chorus for Nothing, Everything was supposed to be for a totally different song, but then we were like wait, it could work better with Nothing, Everything,” Toenniges said.
Both were supposed to be released on all streaming platforms on Jan.10, but they had to delay the release.
“Due to technical issues, we unfortunately have to announce that we will have to push back the release of “Nothing, Everything” and “Emilie.” We want to make sure this release is perfect for you all, and we appreciate your patience,” officialtheid via Instagram.
The Future of the ID
The members are all seniors and as graduation is soon approaching, the band was asked if they plan to stay together after high school.
“Yeah, definitely. If not in a band, at least definitely making music.” Gerry said.
For lead singer Nirenberg, this experience has changed the way she wants to write and play music.
Guitarist, Toenniges, believes the bunch will always come back together no matter the distance.
“We’re all people that, if this breaks up, and we all go different places, we’ll make a new one, and then we’ll meet back,” Toenniges said.
Nirenberg believes this experience has made her not want to go back to doing it by herself.
“This is the first time I’ve ever made music with other people other than just myself, and now I can’t imagine not doing it,” Nirenberg said.
You can follow the band on Instagram @officialtheid and Tiktok @theidband.
