The band of first-years Kaylee Williams, Mac Tito and Jose Padilla was originally named “Sex Talk in the Chapel,” an ode to Lafayette College’s orientation sexual conduct seminar in Colton Chapel. The name didn’t stick, but the band did.
“We just kept coming up with random words or ideas, and we couldn’t agree on any of them, except ‘Small Talk,’” Williams said.
The band introduced its first original song to an audience of students at a Lafayette Interdisciplinary Music Society event last Saturday, using audience applause to name it “Waiting” over “Lose My Mind.”
“We like the sound that each of us adds,” Tito said. “I feel like we all each add our own flavor into the song, and that’s what makes it so special.”
“There’s a lot of — musically, you would say ‘space to fill’ — a lot of voids when we’re playing music,” Padilla said. “We all just find a way to work with that limitation, but it’s not really a limitation, because we make it work.”
Names aren’t the only thing that has given the band trouble. Though instrumental collaboration comes naturally, writing lyrics, not so much.
“It’s like trying to write an essay, and your professor is giving you the most vague instructions, but you’re the professor and you’re just mad at yourself,” Tito said about the group.
“We’re all just really close friends and we get along and we love practicing, and there are a lot of bands out there that are maybe just there to make music,” said Williams, the guitarist and vocalist.
Tito and Padilla met over the annual admitted students event and decided to be roommates, later meeting Williams through a mutual friend and solidifying the idea of the band.
The trio has been working with others to bring more sounds to their sets. A member of fellow student band Quest contributed to Small Talk’s performance on Saturday night as a saxophone player.
“Small Talk and Quest are really good, personally, for me, I like alternative kinds of music,” said Connor Terribile ‘29, who attended the Saturday set.
Small Talk will play at an upcoming Lafayette Association of Visual Arts event and Spring Fest, along with other student bands.
“I really appreciate having the opportunity to play just music in general,” Tito said. “Life would be so boring if there was no LIMS or no Small Talk.”