Gathered in their small basement practice space, Obi plays through their show set, afterwards playfully tossing around jokes and profanities.

Obi is composed of bass guitarist sophomore Atticus VonHolten, drummer sophomore Sam Allen, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist sophomore Max Limesand and lead guitarist sophomore Henry MacKinnon.

Obi may be a high school band, but they have something in common with the likes of Modest Mouse, Cat Power and Snoop Dog: they draw inspiration from animals.The name Obi stems from a unique encounter with a specific animal.

“(Obi) was a dog at a party we went to,” VonHolten said. “We weren’t there as the band, … but we were all attending it.”

MacKinnon believes the band formed from boredom combined with inspiration.

“(We were just) four guys who had nothing better to do,” MacKinnon said.

The band is reluctant to define the music that they make, preferring to label it as idiosyncratic.

“I don’t even know,” Limesand said. “It’s just weird and inconsistent.”

The band formed in elementary school but only recently began seriously producing music.

“We want to keep going with it, definitely”[/pullquote“Max and Sam and I have all been friends since we were in kindergarten, (and) we met Atticus in seventh grade,” MacKinnon said. “(We) were playing army or something like that, and there was a drum set in Max’s basement, and we started tapping on it. We were like, ‘Hey, we should make a band.’”

Originally, they struggled to find musical roles where each member’s abilities could shine.

“We went through a bunch of different phases of finding parts for each other; Max was originally the bass player, then we met Atticus,” MacKinnon said. “… (Atticus) originally played keyboard. He was awful.”

Obi also enjoys the companionship that comes with being in a band, saying their practices are fun and light and that they hope to stay together.

“At a practice, there’s a lot of swearing at each other,” MacKinnon said. “Not in a mean way … We fool around a lot, run our set once or twice and then we’re done. If we find some success, it’ll benefit us that we’re good friends.”

They are currently mixing and producing their self-titled EP (extended play) and playing at parties and local venues in between albums. They recently released their EP as a CD and on Soundcloud.

The band is already planning their next album.

“(We plan to) record more music, write more stuff, try to play more shows. We want to keep going with it, definitely.” VonHolten said.