Try not to freak — or “geek” — out over this new student band.
“I love being able to make something really cool with people that I like to be around,” guitarist Jaidan Marano ’25 said.
geek was founded during the fall semester of 2024 and is currently composed of bassist Dean Gennosa ‘25, synthist Taylor Friedman ‘26, drummer Conrad Tilroe ‘25, singer Sedha Byrne and Marano.
Thus far, the band has performed live at LIMS concerts, Art Jams held through Art Society and recently a “Tiny Desk”-inspired concert in The Lafayette’s newsroom.
“We’re a different sound,” said Marano.
The band members said that they do not follow a specific genre and are more inspired by bands that have made an impact on them musically, like Stereo Lab, Sweet Trip, Men I Trust and The Sundays.
“Almost every single time that we write a new song, whatever I’ve been listening to kind of bleeds into what I make,” Gennosa said.
One of geek’s first songs, “hound,” is about Marano’s dog — named Belle — but other songs “don’t really have rhyme or reason,” Marano said.
“french braid” is about a romantic missed connection and “saccharine” is about someone with “co-dependency issues.”
The members of geek said that songwriting is a collective process and that melodies are always composed before lyrics.
“It’s like working with a really restrictive poetic format,” Gennosa said.
“I come into practices sometimes with my own thoughts and views of how a song should sound,” Marano said. “Then someone will give their insight and it’ll be so much cooler, and I’m happy to hear it because I feel that’s how you make good music.”
The band members said they chose the name “geek” somewhat arbitrarily. Gennosa said there was an accidental connection because the word relates to people interested in technology and geek incorporates technological elements in its music through synths.
“I like how it rolls off the tongue,” Gennosa said.
The decision to write “geek” and geek’s song titles in lowercase was because the style is “less imposing.”
Gennosa and Marano were originally members of indie rock cover band Empty Threat before they decided to form geek in order to write and perform more original music.
“We just wanted to make a shift in our sound,” Gennosa said.
Gennosa and Marano originally contacted Max O’Rourke ‘26 to be the bassist for the band and O’Rourke helped them connect with Friedman, who he had previously given bass lessons.
“Max is kind of the glue guy, and he’s not even here,” Gennosa said about O’Rourke, who is currently studying abroad.
Byrne, who attends Rockland Community College and is dating Gennosa, stepped in when there was an empty spot in the band.
“We originally had a different singer and guitarist that kind of dropped out,” Gennosa said. “Sedha came in kind of last minute, but it really worked out. I feel like our sounds match really well.”
“This is definitely my favorite part of the week that I look forward to,” Byrne said about visiting on the weekends.
Compared to other Lafayette student bands, Friedman highlighted that geek is one of few who writes its own music. Her synth is also another addition that makes them unique, according to Gennosa.
geek’s members said their EP “what’s so wrong with that?” will be on Spotify soon. They also plan to release a music video by Ethan Riddle ‘25 for geek’s song “sweet thing.” The band will continue playing shows through LIMS.
Performing has “definitely bled into how we write stuff now,” Byrne said.
“We are just gonna try and play a lot, because obviously me, Conrad and Dean are graduating,” Marano said. “We want to try and get as much done as we can before we go.”
A correction was made on March 14, 2025: A previous version of the article mispelled the first name of Jaidan Marano ’25.
