Colorful flashing lights, blasting music, fun outfits, and visual performances are what the famous Indio, California, music festival Coachella is all about. It was also the homecoming theme. Following this theme, two student groups and a guest performed for the school during the homecoming dance: senior Norah Lee sang with her band Eternal Moon, junior Will Schweiker performed with his band Suncrest, and Heritage High School’s senior Jack Bateman performed as well. These musical artists showcased their talents on stage, with audiences cheering on the wide range of music from melancholy acoustics to anthemic rhythms and distorted sounds.
The lead singer of Eternal Moon, Norah Lee said she “had a great experience performing for [her] friends” alongside her band members, including guitarist and junior August Miller. The band formed in 2020 through the “Bach to Rock” program, but ultimately separated from the program in 2023 to develop their band independently. Since then, Eternal Moon has performed in Loudoun County’s “Battle of the Bands,” as well as the First Fridays in downtown Leesburg.
Eternal Moon collaborated with Suncrest and Bateman to develop their setlist, timing, and equipment usage. Being the first performance, Lee described her feelings of being “a bit nervous before playing,” primarily due to the high potential of technical difficulties.
The experience went smoothly, and Lee exhibited her artistic element on stage.
Lee and her band played the songs “Hot for the Teacher” by Van Halen, repeatedly apologizing to the teachers in the audience with a smile on her face, as well as “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus. The glam rock and dance-pop songs sharply contrast each other, but were the perfect mini-setlist for the group. Lee states that “Hot for the Teacher” was chosen because “of the irony of it being played in a school, also it’s one of [their] favorite songs to perform,” while “Party in the U.S.A.” was a major crowd pleaser that had everyone singing and clapping along.
Following Lee, Will Schweiker’s band, Suncrest, took and rocked the stage.
Schweiker’s band formed in 2024, and currently has two songs out, “Stargirl” and “Latin.”
“We started in July of 2024,” Schweiker said. Both of the songs that Suncrest has released are alt-rock songs. “The songs don’t really have a certain meaning or story to them.” The band currently has 200 monthly listeners on Spotify and cover many other artists.
Schweiker was asked to play at the dance by the school’s SCA.“I was approached by [SCA member] senior Colin Diem during my guitar class, and he asked us to play two weeks before homecoming,” Schweiker said. The band gladly took on the job. “The band and I thought it was a cool opportunity. It was cool to see my friends and people I know from school to see us play for the first time and hear our songs,” he said.
Schweiker plays lead guitar and can do backup vocals. “I started because I just really liked Guitar Hero and bands with awesome guitarists in them, like Van Halen,” Schwieker, who has been playing guitar for seven years, said.
As for the style of his music, Schweiker finds inspiration from many famous musicians. “My musical influences come from certain guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Mike Eizinger.” He also has been influenced by notable bands “My influences also come from my favorite bands like Queens of the Stone Age. Deftones, and Incabus.”
As for listening to the music, Suncrest’s songs are readily available for everyone to listen to. “Our music is out on all platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.” •
