A Minor Change

Set against a backdrop of white Christmas lights and paper hearts, on a stage barely a foot off the floor, the band Snow Day in May debuted as freshmen on the East music scene last year.

A roomful of hands clapped out a beat in unison. Expectant faces gazed up at the band. The musicians’ eyes, bright from the adrenaline of the stage, stared right back. The relentless shouts of “one more song” kept their hands moving and their lips singing through three songs.

At Coalition’s Love146 concert, dressed in their AC/DC shirts and their plaid button downs, the unassuming freshmen received praise for their unique interpretation of riff-driven rock. Eyes were on them.

But just weeks later on the day after April Fool’s, guitarist Deegan Poores decided to leave the band, bringing down their carefully constructed mix of music styles.

“I didn’t want to play that kind of riff rock anymore, I wanted to take more of an alt rock direction,” Poores said.

He Facebook messaged the band. At first, the others thought it was a joke, until the band’s other guitarist Jake Ledom talked to Poores and texted the other members a confirmation. Just like that, Snow Day in May lost one of its founders.

“I was in the school, and I was pacing back and forth in the hall,” lead vocalist and keyboardist Guanghao Yu said. “Someone thought I broke up with my girlfriend.”

The loss dealt a heavy blow to the band. Although they’d never had an official leader, Deegan became an unspoken figurehead since eighth grade, when he and Yu pulled together a collection of school friends and neighbors to form Lusitania, Snow Day in May’s origin. Out of all the members, Deegan had the most experience in performing, collaborating and running a band in general.

“When he left, the leadership role was left up to us,” Yu said. “We also needed to adjust [our music style] to the new lineup with one guitar.”

While faced with these challenges, the band hasn’t had many opportunities to solve their problems.

They haven’t had a practice in months.

‘Can we do it this Saturday?’

‘No, I have baseball.’

‘Can we do itthisSaturday? This Sunday?’

‘No, we’re going to Schlitterbahn.’

‘I have to do homework, I can’t.’

“Everybody just had their own obligations,” Yu said. “We are just trying to compromise to make it work.”

Now sophomores, with a summer behind them, they’re working to recover. Yu especially is reaching to pull the band back onto its feet, asking about possible practices, looking into potential gigs and searching for new members to fill the hole that Deegan left.

It’s not their first member loss. The band originally consisted of Poores, Yu, Ledom, SM South freshman guitarist Will Schultz and BVNW junior bassist Zac Johnson. Last fall, Schultz moved to Iowa and Johnson moved to Florida, but not before both quit, and not before Johnson left them with the new name of Snow Day in May. Under the new name, the band picked up drummer Mikey McFarlin and bassist Logan Fancolly.

The slow breakdown of the band didn’t begin with Poores leaving. It began with something the band was once praised for: their unique clash and mixture of styles, from jazz to classic rock to heavy metal. Somehow, along the way, this talent fractured into painful creative differences.

Even the remaining members have trouble finding common ground in the songs they want to cover. McFarlin especially stands apart. While the other members at least all fall into the rock genre, McFarlin is much more jazz-oriented. He is even considering leaving the band, but he still acknowledges the excitement of playing and creating music together. It’s something he doesn’t want to leave behind.

“When we do have the feeling of synergy, I feel like that’s the best part,” McFarlin said.

For the members, four of whom have never been in a band before, that synergy was a new feeling that hooked them from day one. The first practice of Lusitania was in Schultz’s basement. Yu sat at a little electric keyboard, Ledom perched on a couch with his guitar, Poores was on drums, Schultz strummed his bass and Johnson plucked at his guitar.

“We went over “What’s My Age Again?” and when it came together for the first time, it was exciting,” Yu said. “I’ve wanted to play in a band all my life, and I was finally achieving that dream.”

There are still days when fooling around with songs brings the band back to lighthearted times.

McFarlin remembers when they sat down with “Paint It, Black” by The Rolling Stones and just played it, faster and faster, until it all fell apart into laughter.

It’s those moments crammed into a basement, when everything clicks and their playing is at its best, that continues to inspire and unite the band.

Snow Day in May still has hope for the future. Their next chance to perform is at Coalition’s Love146 concert, a year after their previous success. They are well aware that it is their lack of unity holding them back and breaking them apart. According to the members, they still have time to fix their faults.

“I think [all the members] are very good and they have their own ideas and diversity, and they all bring things to the table,” Yu said. “We just need to make those things work together as a whole.”