2020 Gumbo Final - Book - Page 99
Group Therapy
T
Get to know Louisiana State
University’s own piano rock band
heatre sophomores Rain Scott-Catoire, Sophia
Brazda and Sydni Myers share their original, selfcomposed lyrics and alternative piano rock tunes
with the University campus through their band,
Group Therapy.
Group Therapy had its debut concert on May 3 at the
French House, performing the upbeat “Contraband,”
“Words” and “Fate Is You.” The group received major
support from friends and family as well as the LSU
School of Theatre community. The band is ready to
share their music with the rest of the University and
the world come fall with an EP they expect to make
available to listeners through Spotify and Apple
Music.
That night, they had a sleepover where they shared
stories and secrets, including a poem Brazda had
written in high school about having a crush on her
then-boyfriend’s best friend.
“I was reading this little poem I had written with a
very basic melody to it,” Brazda said. “Then I looked
up from my phone because I was terrified to see
their faces and they were both beaming at me.”
Scott-Catoire immediately asked Brazda to let her
put music to the song. The next night, they met up in
the School of Music at a practice room, and ScottCatpore conceived a bouncing eight note chord to
accompany the lyrics. Since then, the group has
focused on original songs.
The name of the band surfaced in a practice room
after a series of vetoes from Scott-Catoire, who
required a meaningful name for the band. The group
reflected on how cathartic their practice sessions
were, leading to Brazda’s winning suggestion of
Group Therapy. The rest is history as the women
decided it matched exactly what they were doing.
“What’ll happen most of the time is one of us will
write a song that has a melody and lyrics and then
we’ll bring it to each other,” Scott-Catoire said. “We’ll
all contribute to it so that we can all build this thing
together, but the basis, it starts with one of us getting
inspired.”
Story: Lia Salime
Photo: Zachary Ochinko
Design: Gabe Henderson
A classically trained pianist, Scott-Catoire composes
the music while also providing vocals along with
Brazda and Myers. All three students have incredibly
strong voices that, when harmonized, create a sound
that commands any listener’s attention.
Group Therapy unexpectedly began during a fateful
night in the spring of 2019 in Brazda’s dorm room,
the designated hangout spot due to her roommate’s
continual absence. Though the women were friends,
Brazda and Scott-Catoire did not know each other
well. Myers had brought Scott-Catoire along to hang
out.
While most bands experience dry spells of creativity,
Group Therapy has the opposite problem — they
have an outpour of it with 22 songs in various stages
of development. As they prepare to release the
music in the fall, they expect the emotions to be as
strong as the melodies.
“The problem with having a band centered around
group therapy sessions is that everything comes
tumbling out at once,” Brazda said. “So, when it does
hit the Internet, it’s going to be with a bang.”
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