Baton Rouge pop-punkers Of Loyalty didn’t always sound the way they do now.
“We were going to be more of a hardcore band,” said graphic design junior Austin Ryan.
Inspired by the sounds of With the Punches and Blink-182, Of Loyalty eventually chose to pay homage to its pop-punk roots, toying with its sound until everything fit.
The only problem was the lack of a local pop-punk scene in Baton Rouge.
“It was non-existent before,” said graphic design junior Brandon Coffee.
So, instead of turning away, Of Loyalty decided to create its own.
Of Loyalty’s writing method melded directly into the pop-punk style. While the members initially wrote in more progressive styles, the band quickly realized if it wanted to be pop-punk, it needed to change a few things.
The band’s name, much like its choice of genre, had to be narrowed down.
“It was sort of random. One of us came up with the name ‘Nothing But Loyalty,’ and we were tinkering around with that name and came up with ‘Nothing Of Loyalty,’” Ryan said. “We then felt it was too lengthy of a name and a lot of bands we were listening to at the time had two word names, so we just dropped ‘Nothing’ and became ‘Of Loyalty.’”
The band then started focusing solely on writing choruses that would catch people’s attention.
“We all wanted to play something that sounded cool,” Ryan said.
Of Loyalty, which also includes University students John Cleer and John Anny, manages to catch people’s attention during live performances. At an Of Loyalty concert, it is common for Luke Cook, business management senior, to wear a horse mask. The band also incorporates chants into its songs, which is most evident in the song “No One Can Escape the Color.”
In an attempt to expand the scene, Of Loyalty commonly books shows with bands that fit into other genres, hoping the audience likes what it hears.
“Then some of those hardcore kids may see us,” Ryan said.
Of Loyalty will record a demo soon, and they’ll be at Here Today Gone Tomorrow Thrift Store on March 19.
“We all wanted to play something that sounded cool.”
