Deli Hours unofficially formed at the beginning of their freshman year in 2016 when the original band members, Otis Gordon ‘20, Lauren Juzang ‘20 and Jasper Richards ‘20, met.
“[Richards] and I met [Juzang] officially for the first time one night on the beach,” Gordon said. “[Richards] and I were both amazed by [Juzang]’s unique voice. Next thing you know, we’re in the studio recording our first song together ‘Cactus Love.’”
The band members play alternative music that is influenced by jazz, R&B and indie styles but are open to trying out different music styles, Juzang said.
“We make indie-R&B-alternative music is the best way to describe it,” band vocalist Juzang said. “When we write, we just write something that we think sounds good and that we feel proud of, not necessarily to fit a genre. Inspirations come from everywhere.”
The band is often influenced by their friends, their surroundings and the members themselves, Richards said.
“Our inspiration comes from [Gordon]’s and my love for the genre of jazz,” Richards said. “We are both in jazz band together, so the music is around us daily.”
The members of the band also expressed that being close friends in addition to their common knowledge of music theory connected their group.
“There aren’t any defined roles because on every song there is a different stratification of power,” Gordon said. “On some songs, [Richards] has a specific vision for the lyrics and chords and on others, [Juzang] has an image of what direction she wants the mood and lyrics to go to. I feel like this is the best way for us to create the best sound because we can constantly come up with fresh ideas.”
Recently, the band started booking more professional gigs.
The band invites additional student members to play with them based on what instruments they need for a particular song, Gordon said.
The band finds guest players from the school jazz band.
“We’ve started working with a few recording engineers who we know who also help with production, but the main parts we can do ourselves,” Juzang said. “We’ve started branching out to more professional studios.”
Because of their professional gigs, the band now records their music in professional studios, Richards said.
“We have used Logic on my laptop but recently have been going to my friend’s studio,” Richards said. “Our music production has been getting better and better as we have started to narrow down what type of sound we are going for.”
The band is now working on a new album in addition to performing gigs at places such as Aviator Nation on Dec. 7 and Buffalo Exchange Sherman Oaks on Oct. 20. Grace Burton ’20 booked the gigs and will play trumpet for them in future shows.
“I’m super excited for this year with the band because we have so many things to look forward to,” Juzang said.