“We play a lot of Hot Cross Buns.”

Many have acknowledged Homestead students for talents of all sorts. One of its newest gifted additions is Whyte Noise. Starting off as Dark Chocolate and the Marshmallow Centers, the band formed in August 2014 and consists of an eccentric group of juniors: Erin Meskimen as lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Max Mitchelson as lead guitarist, Jesse Honigberg as bass guitarist and Jonathan “Yanni” Chudnow as the drummer.

They opened for the 2014 AFS Show, played for a small group of friends and are currently venturing for opportunities to perform. Some possibilities include next year’s post prom, a side-show at Summerfest, the Miramar Theatre in Milwaukee, Summer Sounds in Cedarburg and the Fourth of July Parade in Mequon-Thiensville. They are hoping to record their songs and plan to shoot multiple music videos in the near future.

The band identifies as an alternative punk rock band with an incredibly short attention span. The name “Whyte Noise” was crafted through Meskimen’s and Mitchelson’s combined creative intuitions, referring to the unique droning noise produced in a lot of their songs.

Despite lively answers from the group on their style of music, such as “we’re very jazzy” from Chudnow, the alternative punk-esque sound is clearly apparent in the music they write. Amongst the original songs written, there is Blind Yourself, which is “about turning away from political injustices” and Prohibit Me, which reflects “the way the media views women and their roles in society,” according to Meskimen. An additional original composition titled In Color, focuses on American consumerism, according to Mitchelson.

Practices with Whyte Noise are nearly always held on Wednesday afternoons in Meskimen’s basement and frequently get interrupted with punk rock renditions of Hot Cross Buns. According to Mitchelson,“We play the songs and then get really distracted. We take a break and end up watching a movie.”

“It’s very unproductive,” Meskimen said. When managing to suppress distraction and avoid hilarious antics, they “work on the songs that need work,” Honigberg stated.

When asked why each member wanted to be in a band, a scandal revealed itself: Jonathan Chudnow was never meant to be part of Whyte Noise.

Mitchelson took this opportunity to uncover that he originally intended Jonathan Bartlett, not Chudnow, to be the drummer for the band. “When Chudnow showed up at practice, I was confused but let it go,” Mitchelson said. This shocking discovery left Chudnow humorously disgruntled the remainder of the interview.

Both Meskimen and Mitchelson were communicating with the Jonathans separately. Bartlett had been brought up to speed by Mitchelson on the band, yet Chudnow had been the one invited to the first practice by Meskimen without any knowledge of why he was being invited to her house and leisurely arrived without drum sticks. Eight months passed without anyone realizing this miscommunication, aside from Mitchelson, who kept silent.

Relief washed over the group when finding out Chudnow was the Jonathan who joined the band, seeing as he is the main reason Honigberg joined as well.

Aside from being asked by Chudnow, Honigberg said his other reason to join was that his dad plays guitar and his brother plays drums. They sometimes play songs together and his father told him he should start a band with some friends.

The past eight months have allowed the foursome to collaborate and grow together as a outlandish set of friends with very whimsical nicknames. The affectionate sobriquets Chicken Strip (Meskimen), Thick Cut Bologna (Mitchelson), Cold Cuts (Chudnow), and Lil’ Pork Loin (Honigberg) developed, truly capturing the diverse nature of the band.

With a diverse group come diverse inspirations. Some musical influences amongst the band members include Paramore, Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, The Who, The Pixies, Pink Floyd, The Ramones and Arctic Monkeys.

The bandmates collectively agreed that the only three words that could possibly summarize their group were “nice like rice.”