Beyond the racks of the thrift store, Here Today Gone Tomorrow, local band Della got its start.
In the horseshoe shaped building, past the dresses and handbags, is a separate room. Before passing away, the venue’s manager, Jason Kiefer, used to make the space available to rent as the only all-ages music venue in Baton Rouge. That is where the then-high schoolers who created Della began.
“Basically, he provided you a space to play, and you’d have to get yourself together and everything. You had a PA and microphones and that was it,” said psychology freshman and guitarist Matthew Polito.
Polito said when he first started to form the band with architecture freshman and bassist Jack Burleigh, he wanted to name the band first. Della’s name came from the name of vocalist and Southeastern Louisiana University student Sidney Nesom’s dog. Polito always heard Burleigh and Nesom talking about Della, a hunting beagle who died during a hunting trip.
Without knowing Della’s unfortunate death, he liked how the name was short, sweet and didn’t confine the band to one image.
Shortly after, Della added SELU student and drummer Jason Guidroz and then-mass-communication freshman and guitarist, Ryan DeJean.
Polito said, since forming, the band has stayed true to its alternative and indie sound. Della draws from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Arctic Monkeys, Cage the Elephant and Modest Mouse for its influence. Nesom said experimental is another way the band describes its sound to avoid being confined to a genre.
Nesom writes the band’s lyrics and uses its inspirations as an example for lyrical structure. Polito writes the instrumental aspects of the songs and pulls from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitar style. He said he learned how to play guitar from its songs so that specific style is heavily prevalent in Della’s music.
Along with moving on to higher education, Della’s members are making strides musically. Becoming of age allows the band to play bigger music venues.
“Now that we’re old enough to play bars and not in high school anymore, definitely places like The Spanish Moon and Chelsea’s [Café] have been really inviting towards us,” Polito said. “It’s a really good environment for us to transition out of playing in thrift stores.”
Polito said Della played Spanish Moon recently and is in the works to set up a show at Chelsea’s Cafe. Another venue on the list is Blue Bayou and Dixie Landin’ Amusement Park.
Right now, Della gets its music to locals through live performances. The band does have recording equipment at Polito’s home, where it practices, but Polito said the equipment is only of high enough quality to use as personal recordings.
Della will be recording a two-song EP with the help of friend Logan Wagner. Wagner is also a musician and plays in local band Nice Dog. Polito said the dates to use his equipment are set, and the songs should be released soon.
As for balancing school and music, the members agreed school is a first priority, but if the opportunity for music were to come knocking, they would take it.
“When we all first started college, Jack went to [University of Louisiana at Lafayette], me and Sidney went to [SELU] and [Matthew and Ryan went to] LSU,” Guidroz said. “We still stayed together and worked with it, so I guess we just kind of want to give it a shot. And honestly, if opportunity came, I would leave school to go and do music.”
Since then, Burleigh has transferred to LSU, making schedules easier to coordinate between two universities instead of three.
Polito said they don’t put too much stock in this dream currently and instead, focus on balancing course work and band practice. He said the group practices separately during the week then come together once or twice a week to practice as a band.
As opposed to the members’ course work, Guidroz said practice and performing is about having fun, writing music and seeing what comes naturally.
“We want to get it done because it’s fun. If it ceases to be fun [and there’s] too much professionalism in it, then what’s the point? You’re ruining the whole thing,” Polito said.
You can reach Meg Ryan on Twitter @The_MegRyan.

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