Walking into the basement where Hyde Park practices, the space is exactly what you would imagine when you think about a so-called “garage band.” There’s an unfinished floor with white splotches where the floor has chipped away, giving a speckled effect to the bluish-grey of the rest of the room. Guitar picks litter the table, the floor and the chairs; it seems that anywhere you look, the triangular pieces of plastic are scattered across the surface.

A lilting guitar melody floats up from where the band members are sitting, accompanied by hesitant vocals that are nearly drowned out by loud, profane conversations. Feedback from an amplifier hums from a forgotten corner of the room as the entire band gathers around a computer with song lyrics typed up to go along with the acoustic melody being played.

Hyde Park, named in part after the street on which they rehearse, was formed this summer with a very different lineup. Now comprised made up of juniors Justin Crebo and Mitchie McDaniel on bass and vocals respectively, sophomore Gabe Barron on drums, Naperville North junior Andrew Doubek on guitar and Lincoln Park High School alumnus Alex Ceja on guitar, the band has gone through a lot of tumult. Member changes include kicking out four members since the band was created. They’ve had a total of seven members.

“The people that have similar interests to us generally are very negative people, so it’s hard especially to collaborate with those people because of this wall they have,” McDaniel said.

Despite past struggles, the band shows a positive outlook on the future.

“In one year, I see ourselves playing someone else’s basement show, and in five I see [us]ourselves playing our own basement show,” Ceja said, eliciting laughs from the rest of the band.

“We’ll be playing bar venues in five years, at least,” Barron added.

All jokes aside, the band has a lot of aspirations when it comes to the future of the ensemble.

“Recording is a big [goal], I think,” Ceja said.

“Yeah, recording and playing shows,” Barron elaborated.

Hyde Park members also showed passion for the music. Anyone with who had a guitar in their his hands was playing a riff on the lower two strings or strumming a chord progression absent-mindedly. During one of these moments, McDaniel played something that piqued the band’s interest.

“That’s pretty good,” Doubek said.

“Did you come up with that?” Ceja asked, pointing at the guitar. McDaniel nodded.

“That’s our big f—ing hit right there,” Ceja said. Everyone laughed.

While the band might not be fully formed yet in terms of its group sound, each member has unique musical tastes.

“A lot of [my musical influences] are modern bands like Neck Deep, Knuckle Puck, Balance and Composure and Tiger’s Jaw,” McDaniel said.

Barron had a very different set of influences.

“I listen to a lot of death metal,” Barron said. “Musical inspirations are Black Dahlia Murder, Thy Art is Murder, Faceless [and] White Chapel.”

The other members of the band have interests varying from pop-punk to metalcore. This amalgamation of genres comes together to form what looks like a hard rock fusion band–since they haven’t been together for very long, it’s hard for them to know what their style is.

Though it might be nice for someone on the outside to see that a group of people who have separate inspirations is able to come together and collaborate, the band members say that the creative process isn’t as smooth as they want.

“It’s terrible,” Ceja said. “We don’t really have a process.”

While they might not, Hyde Park seems to have it together enough for Ceja to play a fully formed original song. Though rough at first, they have been successful enough in songwriting for Ceja to play a fully formed original song.

“I wish I remembered the third verse, though,” Ceja joked as he played through the verse section of a song that he wrote, at a loss for the words to accompany it.

“Ship’s Sinking, Captain, All Hands on Deck,” however, is the only song he played, since they are still a very young band. In fact, this was the first rehearsal that Doubek and Crebo attended.

Despite pitfalls, the members of Hyde Park know that they want to keep performing together. They want to write some music and start recording it soon, and afterwards that start playing some shows as well. For any updates, you can follow them on Twitter @HydeParkBand.