For many students, time after school is spent in clubs, sports or studying. However, for freshmen Aubrey Senter and Vivian Lowry, their afternoons consist of creating new songs and learning chords for their band.

Senter and Lowry formed Jupiter’s Moons, an indie rock band, this past summer. Senter is the bassist and co-vocalist and Lowry plays rhythm guitar and is a co-vocalist. 

“Over the summer, Vivian and I decided we wanted to start a band and it was a spontaneous thing,” Senter said. “When I was in my old band, Vivian was like ‘I want to be in a band too.’ Most of our music is similar to indie pop or indie rock.”

The duo has mostly taught themselves how to play instruments and write songs. With little formal music training, they have turned to online resources and social media to learn new skills, such as chords and drum rhythms.

“I’ve always had a strong love for music, so I’ve pretty much just taught myself everything I know,” Lowry said. “My dad and sister helped me a little, but mostly it was just YouTube videos to learn what the chords are.”

For songs and lyrics, the band draws ideas from artists and music around them. Its name comes from Senter’s and Lowry’s favorite planet. 

“Our favorite planet is Jupiter, and we just really liked the sound of the name,” Senter said. “We were thinking each band member can be like a different moon of Jupiter.”

Currently, the band is in the process of creating more new songs with hopes of producing and publishing music in the future. They have played two live shows, at the GSA’s (Gender-Sexuality Alliance) Pride celebration on Oct. 29th and at Howdy ATL Biscuit Cafe. 

“The GSA show was very fun,” Senter said. “It was a celebration with live music and food to promote the GSA club. It was a cool experience, but for some songs we had to switch around instruments since we only have two people.”

Although they have only done two live shows, Senter and Lowry have enjoyed them. They performed covers of songs by girl in red, No Vacation, and Sales. They also performed an original song written by Senter, titled ‘Bubble Gum.’ 

“My favorite thing about performing live is knowing that people are actually interested and enjoyed something that I was a part of,” Lowry said. “I have terrible stage fright, but Aubrey is always there to tell me that I didn’t do as horrible as I thought.”

The impact of family and friends helped increase the members’ passion for music. Senter drew inspiration from her older brother, Elijah Senter, and his band Nakid Ailen 

“I really started getting into the things I’m into now, like punk music, in seventh grade, because I’m following in my brother’s footsteps,” Senter said. “ I listened to the same music he does and wanted to start a band.”

Elijah Senter and Nakid Ailen took a creative approach in their music, gaining inspiration from the DIY scene and the punk community in Atlanta. The DIY scene refers to bands and music groups that are similar to underground punk music but also groups who don’t necessarily fit into a certain genre of music.

“We kind of chartered our own course, and we got the most out of it,” Elijah Senter said. “I would say we kind of made our own shows and invited our friends and made something from the ground up.”

Nakid Ailen and Elijah’s music knowledge has helped guide Senter in creating songs and forming the band. 

“We [Nakid Ailen] practiced in our basement; so, she got inspiration by just kind of hearing us practice, and last year, she started coming to shows on her own,” Elijah Senter said. “I think that’s what got her into it, just how fun the shows are.”

Within the Midtown and Atlanta communities, other young bands like Nakid Ailen have helped pave the way for new bands to break into the music scene.

“There is definitely a supportive music scene for us to join,” Lowry said. “Our band brings me a lot of happiness because it’s really fun to go and play music with them.”

Although Jupiter’s Moons has only two members, they hope to expand by adding new members and producing more original songs in the future. 

“We plan on promoting our band and playing more shows, so we can get to know musicians at Midtown who are interested in joining a band,” Senter said. “The GSA show was helpful to get our name out, so hopefully we can do more like it and put out music as well.”