The pandemic isn’t bringing a group of San Diego teenagers down. In fact, four local teens said they were able to perfect their musical talents thanks to the extra time they had.
Conner Farrell, Jason Nierenberg, Isabelle Bain and Ryan Marshall are behind Black Licorice, an alternative rock band that will unveil its new single, “Coughdrops and La Croix” on Friday.
The members, who are between the ages of 17 and 19, said the pandemic gave them the time they needed to self-reflect and develop their musical talents.
“It really let us catch up with everyone else who had been around for longer, and gave us time to build up our recorded catalog of songs without having to worry about playing live,” said Farrell, the lead singer and a student at UC San Diego. “I’ve been able to deeply self-reflect this entire period. I think the pandemic has clearly been hard on everyone, but also a great opportunity to work on ourselves.”
Bain, a student at Miramar College, said they were all able to develop new techniques with the time they had at home.
“I think we took the time to better ourselves and musicians and study new techniques and styles of playing,” Bain said. “While the pandemic is bad for the music industry, the initial quarantine was great for personal growth as musicians.”
Excited for the release of their new single, which will be available online, the bandmates said they hope to provide music audiences will love.
“My goal with the music is to have people enjoy it and have it mean something to them,” Nierenberg said. “If someone does not take something away from the music, I feel like it was a waste of time.”
For more information about Black Licorice, go to blacklicorice.net/.
