With members from both the East and West Coasts, the student band Coast found its name close to home.
The 5C band only began performing last spring and has already become a familiar presence at student events, house shows and open mics around the Claremont Colleges. Featuring music from Radiohead to Michael Jackson, Coast largely focuses on recognizable covers that bring the student body together to sing along.
Before Coast became a recognizable name around the 5Cs, its members came together more casually. Lead singer Alina Shah PZ ’28 joined after drummer Siraj Saker PZ ’27 invited her to sing with him. She, Saker and former member Ben Cerbin PO ’26 began hanging out and playing music together before Orion Roven HM ’27 joined the group in late spring.
Their very first performance as a group was at the Hive’s Tiny Patio concert in March. Shah said the group spent a lot of time casually jamming together and did not initially expect the band to become as serious as it has.
“We’ve been just jamming together for a really long time, and we didn’t think about how serious it would get and how many people would enjoy listening to us play,” Shah said. “It was just really nerve wracking. But it was really fun, and then it obviously bridged a much bigger thing for us.”
From there, the band continued to grow. When Cerbin graduated from Pomona College last spring, Nathan Noronha HM ’28 joined to fill the gap left behind.
Noronha’s first performance with the band was at the Shindig hosted by On The Loose last spring. Despite having previous experience performing classical piano, playing as part of a band felt very different for him.
“It makes it way easier to perform with a group of people than performing by yourself because you can kind of feed off of each other,” Noronha said. “Not all the weight is on you.”
Coast’s performance at Shindig last spring also stood out to Roven for a different reason.
“It felt like all of the variables were against us,” Roven said. “The equipment was terrible. We hadn’t really rehearsed. Like, there was the end of the semester. Things were just kind of messy. But we still just had a blast regardless.”
The same laid-back approach carries into how Coast chooses what to play. For Noronha, there isn’t a clear path they take to fill their list of music.
“We just play whatever sounds fun,” he said.
Noronha plays guitar, piano and bass for Coast, but the members’ roles aren’t ever strictly defined. Members often switch between instruments and who sings. Roven similarly began primarily on keyboard before picking up bass guitar last semester.
When deciding what to perform, Roven said members typically create a shared note filled with possible songs before narrowing the list down together.
Before the band comes together to practice, he continued, each member repeatedly listens to the songs until they become familiar. Afterward, during rehearsals, the group sometimes listens to each song together to make sure everyone understands its structure and where each member fits in.
For several Coast members, some of their favorite performances have taken place at 709 House, a nearby house for Scripps College students that often hosts evening revelries. Noronha pointed to the crowded environment as part of what makes those shows memorable.
“It’s just so fun when it’s like a small space, but a ton of people, because it just becomes so loud,” Noronha said. “Everybody knows the songs and they’re all singing along.”
For Naya Dermenjian SC ’27, who lives in 709 House and helps organize the parties that Coast has recently performed at, having the band at their event is an opportunity to bring the 5C community together.
“When Coast plays at our parties, people who typically would not be interacting with each other are actually all in a crowd together, spending time dancing together,” Dermenjian said. “That is something I have not seen before [at a 5C party].”
From the band’s point of view, the 5C live music scene is becoming more prominent this semester.
“When Coast plays at our parties, people who typically would not be interacting with each other are actually all in a crowd together, spending time dancing together,” Dermenjian said. “That is something I have not seen before [at a 5C party].”
“I feel like a lot of people are bored of the same DJ sets and house music playing and everything,” Noronha said. “It’s good to know that people are into live music.”
Anaya Lakhani SC ’30, who saw Coast during their performance at the CMC senior apartments earlier this semester, said that the band created a unique vibe, one that seemed livelier than that at parties with DJs.
“It was fun to have people interacting directly with the musicians instead of just someone behind a laptop,” she said.
For Shah, that growing audience sometimes announces itself in unexpected places. Students have approached her at parties or while she is walking around campus after recognizing her from Coast performances.
“It’s just so weird that I’m being perceived,” Shah said. “But it’s really cool to see how many people really enjoy live music and how it’s become a kind of thing.”
Coast has been a source of connection in more ways than one. Roven said that since many of his classes are filled primarily with Harvey Mudd College students, the band has allowed him to move beyond what he calls the “Mudd bubble” and form friendships across the consortium.
“I think that this band has been a really good way for me to kind of branch out and make friends outside of Harvey Mudd,” he said.
The band members themselves have become some of Shah’s closest friends as well; their time together has fostered relationships she believes will carry on after they leave Claremont. Over fall break, several of the members spent time together in the Bay Area, attending a Warriors game and having dinner at Noronha’s house.
“It’s huge,” Noronha said. “I love everybody in the band. We’re like a family.”
What began as a group of friends playing instruments together has now grown into a family for Coast members and lively entertainment for the greater 5C community.
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