Some people make music to foster human connection. Some people make music to share art with the world. And some people make music purely for the sake of making music. At MHS, these three student bands are pursuing music, each with different influences, ideas, and inspirations.
Senior Adrian Dale Dinapo is the bassist of Six Degrees, a band built on a foundation of close friendship, he said. Their main influences include shoegaze, math rock, Japanese culture, and the anime “Bocchi the Rock!”, he added.
“[Bocchi the Rock] is about guitar losers,” Dinapo said. “High school girls — one is really shy, and she gets peer pressured to join a band and she gets really nervous. I used to be socially anxious, so I thought ‘Wait, she’s kind of like me,’ so I should probably start music or something like that. I could get out of my own shell too.’”
The band features three guitarists, one bassist, one keyboardist, and one vocalist, Dinapo said. Dinapo is the only member of the band currently attending MHS, as the other members graduated in 2025, he added. Six Degrees isn’t just about music: it’s a way for six friends to stay connected despite the forces pushing them apart, Dinapo said.
The name of the band — Six Degrees — is derived from the saying “six degrees of separation,” Dinapo said.
“‘Because [the other members] all graduated, we’re all separated,” Dinapo said. “But sometimes you come back to the band to be together.”
Junior Ryllie Dulay is the drummer for an indie pop rock band influenced by artists like Vacations, Beabadoobee, and Laufey, he said. They have four members, all of whom are MHS students: a keyboardist, a guitarist-slash-vocalist, a bassist, and a drummer, he added.
“We’re called Kaluluwa. It’s ‘soul’ or ‘ghost’ in Tagalog,” Dulay said.
Spontaneity is at the heart of Kaluluwa’s discography, Dulay said.
“We have a shared playlist that just spits out songs that we all listen to sometimes, and then I’d rather choose that if we’re going to cover something, or we just make up something on the spot,” Dulay said.
Dulay’s ultimate dream is to pursue something related to music as a career, he said.
Dulay has “a desire to play music and share music with people,” he said. “It’s fun — music connects us. It’s a worldwide thing. Music is everywhere. It’s part of our lives, and it’s something past a language barrier.”
Dulay fears that with the rise of generative AI, art and music will become even less profitable.
“Music is really hard to make money from,” Dulay said. “That’s the only problem with music. I think my dream job would probably be something in music, but I’m not sure if that’s attainable in the current industry,especially with the rise of AI stuff, too.”
Kaluluwa is still practicing every week and covering songs such as “Freaks” by Surf Curse, Dulay said.
Senior Anthony Villalobos is the guitarist and vocalist of Fleaball, a band with influences ranging from Alex Turner, frontman of the Pixies, to cultural music from the Caribbean and Mexico City, Villalobos said.
“We were just saying random phrases, and then I liked the sound of ‘fleaball,’” Villalobos said. “The way I like to think about it is a derogatory name for a dog.”
For as long as he can remember, starting a band has been his dream, Villalobos said.
“At a certain point, I realized that if there was anything I wanted to do in life, it was music, so I’m just trying to manifest that in any way I can,” Villalobos said. “Even if it’s not being in a band — if I’m a music teacher or I’m a SoundCloud rapper — whatever it is, I want to do music.”
Villalobos’ dedication to music can be traced back to his childhood when his grandfather taught him a little bit of piano, he said.
“I was exposed to [Mexican] music a lot, and so that really influenced my taste in music, and what I like to make in the songs that I write,” Villalobos said. “I’ve written a few songs in Spanish. I haven’t played them yet, but [Spanish-speaking musicians] are definitely influences on me.”
Fleaball’s sound has many other influences, Villalobos added.
“I think soul music from the ’60s and ’70s are really major influences on chord progressions.” Villalobos said. “As for singing, I used to really admire Kurt Cobain, and — I forget the guy from the Pixies – but I just really like the kind of grungy, rougher sound on vocals.”
Currently, Fleaball has four members, including two drummers and a guitarist-vocalist.
Five years from now, “I’m not too sure if I’ll still be with the band that I have now, but I know I will definitely still be doing music, if that’s by myself or with different people,” Villalobos said. “But hopefully, we’ll all still be together, still playing music and doing something with it.”
