After members Lily Pesikoff (junior) and Soren Covell (junior) studied abroad last semester, the band Spirit Foul returned to the Occidental music scene Feb. 8 at Tic Tac Toe Pizza.
Drummer and vocalist Pesikoff said Spirit Foul started because she and Eli Kramer (senior) were in several of the same music production classes and wanted to create a band together. Pesikoff said she and Kramer knew Nate Pittroff (junior) and asked him to join the band as a guitarist and vocalist.
“We knew Nate and asked if he wanted to come and jam with us,” Pesikoff said. “The day of our first practice Soren was sitting at a table with Nate. We said we were looking for a bass player, and Soren said he played bass. And so Soren just showed up to our very first practice.”
Pesikoff and Covell said Spirit Foul’s music style is modern indie rock.
“[Our music] is whatever you want it to be. It’s indie rock at its core, but it’s also lit rock,” Covell said. “One thing that makes us really awesome is that we all have different music tastes.”
During the Spring 2024 semester, Spirit Foul performed at the Programming Board’s annual SpringFest. Pesikoff said the band took a hiatus until the Tic Tac Toe show because Pesikoff and Covell were studying abroad in Vienna and Prague, respectively.
Pesikoff said she released her first solo song while abroad, but was worried about reentering the Occidental music scene upon her return to campus in the spring.
“We were all really excited to play with each other again, so practicing for the show [at Tic Tac Toe] was easy,” Pesikoff said. “[The crowd] was so heartwarming. To tell college students one of their first Saturday nights back to spend their evening supporting us and have them actually show up was so nice. It’s like, you could be anywhere in the world and you’re here.”
Covell said he is happy the band is back together, and that he took a break from music while in Prague because he was burnt out and wanted to rediscover creative inspiration.
“Going abroad helped me get back into my flow. I’m happy [the band] has still got it. It’s just the beginning, contrary to popular belief,” Covell said. “I want to release our music. There’s definitely going to be more shows at Tic Tac Toe Pizza.”
Covell said he is planning an electronic and rap music show at Tic Tac Toe Pizza on March 1. He also said he is releasing new music under the alias Lucas Soar!, his personal music profile.
Kai Frazer (first year) said he learned about Spirit Foul’s Feb. 8 show because he is in class with one of the band’s members.
“They had great stage presence and were very in the pocket. They were a very good band. It was packed,” Frazer said. “The atmosphere was very ‘Saturday night college.’ You can tell they’ve been friends for a while. They played Fetty Wap, which was hilarious.”
Owner of Tic Tac Toe Pizza Jacob Boghossian said the best part of the event was that Tic Tac Toe’s neighbors did not complain at all.
“There were about 200 people here, mostly students. All of the students were very well-behaved,” Boghossian said. “They cleaned up their trash and there was nothing broken on the ground. Everyone was within their limits and there was no destruction of property.”
Boghossian said the restaurant has always received tremendous support from Occidental students.
“[Students] like our pizza. They keep us going,” Boghossian said. “In a way we’ve always wanted Oxy students to have a home here.”
Matan Birnbaum (senior) helped organize the event. Birnbaum said they asked Spirit Foul to perform at Tic Tac Toe after visiting the venue with jazz and commercial voice instructor Loren Battley.
“We came down after class to get pizza and ask if the owners were interested in doing something with Oxy,” Birnbaum said. “I threw three or four shows with KOXY last year at Sycamore Glen and a couple house shows around campus as well, but I’ve always wanted to find a permanent spot to do stuff.”
Boghossian said the show on Saturday night was the first live music event Tic Tac Toe has hosted, but that the restaurant wants to host more live entertainment in the future.
“We want to consistently have events. We definitely want to do more live music, and we also want to do a comedy night for amateur comedians,” Boghossian said.
Birnbaum said they want to provide a place for Occidental students to experience live music off campus.
“It’s really easy to stay in the Oxy bubble if you’re on campus all the time. I want to give people the opportunity to play with LA bands,” Birnbaum said. “My hope is that, with Tic Tac Toe’s help, we can turn this into a third place where people go when they’re not at home or at work.”
Contact Josey Long at jlong2@oxy.edu.
