During COVID-19, having any kind of ties to the entertainment industry was difficult but senior Josh Robinson and sophomore Scott Wyatt were still able to begin their own band, Holes in Socks. Wyatt and Robinson said they started Holes in Socks in January of 2020 and started performing the following summer. 

Wyatt said finding places to perform for a live audience was virtually impossible so they began to perform on live streams. 

“With COVID happening, you can’t play restaurants or live venues or anything due to the restrictions of how many people can be in a certain place and masks and everything so we’re making up for it,” Wyatt said. “We’re doing some live streams and stuff like that so people can watch from home, and playing COVID safe gatherings and events.” 

Wyatt and Robinson said during these live streams, not having an audience to give them energy and applause has been hard and unrewarding for them as a band. 

“The big difference is that audiences really don’t exist anymore. Like one of our gigs we played, it was a big live stream. And there was no audience,” Robinson said. “So it was really, really strange to be playing music that you’d worked on for a long time, not hearing applause.”

Aside from playing in front of a rowdy, excited crowd, Wyatt said playing in Holes and Socks and the school band is completely different. Wyatt said getting to play the music that he likes with people who enjoy the same music brings him joy that the school band doesn’t. 

“My favorite part of being in the band is just being able to play with other people, because I’ve never really had an opportunity like this to play guitar, in a four piece band,” Wyatt said. 

Although guitar is something he picked up recently, Wyatt said, he is extremely passionate about it and is happy he started playing.

 “I just know the main thing is I love playing music. I love people who also like that music.”

Robinson said he too loves being able to play music with his friends and have people he can talk to outside of school. It is nice to have friends that he can interact with during the pandemic, Robinson said. 

“My favorite part of being in the band is having people that I can talk to music about, who share common interests and also an opportunity to play music because right now you don’t get that often,” Robinson said.

While this brings the band members joy, fan and senior George LaHood said watching and listening to Holes and Socks is very entertaining and he is amazed by their talent. 

“I  took pictures for them and also just for personal pictures. It was super fun, I just kind of ran around and took pictures,” LaHood said. “They have a good stage presence and they’re very entertaining. Sometimes I would stop taking pictures because I was so focused on the show. It was so good I did not want to put the camera down.”

Wyatt and Robinson said they are glad they have not had to stop playing with the band during the pandemic. If someone in the band was exposed to COVID, Wyatt said, the band would just become more diligent about their mask wearing and social distancing. 

Practicing in the Robinsons basement has made continually practicing easier for the band during the pandemic Wyatt said. 

“Occasionally we practice at the Hancock’s house, which is our bass player and Jack is our other vocalist and he plays piano, and keyboard,” Wyatt said.“And occasionally we do it at their house but probably 90% of the time our reversals and live stream events and stuff like that are at Josh’s house.”   

To promote their performances and their merchandise they use multiple social media outlets such as instagram, youtube and TikTok Wyatt said.  

“We just wanted to get ourselves out there more,” Wyatt said. “We put Instagram ads out and started marketing shows we are playing and doing all sorts of stuff. Our Instagram is @holesinsocks and all our individual socials are on that page.”