Kate Buehrig / Contributor

Looking for new bands can be a daunting and arduous process. However, students at USD can check out The Microblades: a powerhouse trio right here on campus. The three members came together through a  high school French class and a  Nextdoor ad (an app for neighborhoods to get tips/help/connect with others). The band is composed of lead singer, guitarist and USD sophomore Giulietta Randell, drummer, back up-vocalist and USD sophomore Lauren Deerinck and bassist Imogen Collis, who is a student at MiraCosta College. 

Collis and Randell met in French class at Canyon Crest Academy in Carmel Valley. They initially  practiced together on and off, trying to find a third, reliable hard-working member for their band.  Randell explained the difficulty when searching for a third member.

“In the past when I had been in a couple different groups, oftentimes  it’s just hard to find a dedicated group of individuals who you can respect. Someone who is competent and professional.” 

Through posting an ad on Nextdoor they found their third with Deerinck. It was a perfect match, “We live so close together, it’s like ‘Oh, I have drums at my place let’s practice there’ it’s made practicing really easy” Deerinck said. However, for her freshman year of college Deerinck attended Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles. After starting to gain some traction in the local music scene, Collis and Randell would drive the three hours from San Diego to LMU to pick up Deerinck for gigs.  

The first show The Mircoblades ever played was also the first time Deerinck had ever performed in front of an audience. One of their favorite experiences performing was at SOMA (their third performance ever as a band), an iconic venue in San Diego that has been graced by the likes of Billie Eilish and Green Day. Learning how to improve as a musician comes from performing in front of live audiences, a fact that Randell talked about. 

“Playing in front of people is like the time where we learn to problem solve quickly, also how to bounce off the audience,” Randell said. 

Deerinck had learned how to play the drums for a little under a year before she joined Collis and Randell on stage. Playing has been the best practice for The Microblades.

“I noticed my most growth as a drummer after we started playing shows,” Deerinck said about her confidence as a part of The Microblades.

The Microblades have played together for a year and half. Through performing at shows, they gained the attention of a local radio host, Lou Niles. Niles is known in the San Diego music scene to have a sense of “the next best new musical talent.” He gave The Microblades a platform for their music on the radio, as well as encouraging them to submit for the San Diego Music Awards. They often play shows with other local musicians. 

“You are surrounded by so much talent, like in the music scene there are so many talented musicians and just being able to talk to them about philosophies and music is really eye opening,” Deerinck explained. “I am really grateful to have that experience and talk to those people.” 

These connections with other musicians help them build their portfolio of venues to play and rapport among the San Diego music scene. 

Currently, The Microblades describe themselves as a vintage rock band whose sound really can’t be tied down. 

“All three of us, we like to associate ourselves with different decades in music history,” Deerinck said. Until now, the triad has released three songs on major music platforms, transcending genre limitations, a testament to their commitment to expanding their musical expertise. They follow each other’s instincts when writing and recording their music, riffing off one another to find the ideal sound. 

“It starts off, I am writing a demo of a song or some lyrics and I’ll send it via messages to [Collis and Deerinck] to see what they feel would add to the project,” Randell said. “Our second song ever released, I initially wrote with the idea it would be a folk/rock type of song. And then [Deerinck] came up with a drum beat that was more pop-punk and that ended up being the version we released.” 

The Microblades’ most recent song, “Cowboy,” is nominated for Best Pop Song at the San Diego Music Awards. When talking about how this award affects their band Deerinck said, “This is a really big step for us, gaining this recognition, especially in San Diego. This is huge,” Randell added. “It makes me realize people are actually listening to us, taking notice of us.”

The recognition for The Microblades hasn’t stopped there. The SDMA (which the public votes on) is not the only award that “Cowboy” was nominated for. The music video made for the song was also nominated at the Innovative Video in Education (iVIE) awards. 

“Cowboy” was their second music video, and filming this music video was quite the ordeal for The Microblades. The video was shot in the Anza Borrego Desert and it involved driving a vintage car into the desert, by Deerinck, who learned how to drive stick shift the day before. Since the trio isn’t represented by a label, all of the heavy lifting (literally carrying drums for miles through the desert) falls on the band members’ shoulders.

Their dedication to being musicians is what drives them to keep playing shows. Fame isn’t the goal for The Microblades. They are having fun and enjoying the love of the music, which can be seen through the countless hours they’ve spent driving on LA freeways to various concert venues or even playing a show underneath the freeways in downtown San Diego. They perform in a wide variety of venues from breweries and vintage shops to DIY shows and a music festival at the Garden Amphitheater, Deerinck shared the band’s past playing experience.

“Under the freeway at night… was like super underground, literally,” Randell said. “It’s rough out there, it’s cold, there’s no stage, sometimes they have to break out a generator. It’s like a dustbowl, people mosh.” 

Both Deerinck and Randell attest to the luck their band has encountered, from finding each other in a sea of unreliable musicians to being nominated for Best Pop Song at the San Diego music awards. Now, after performing for almost a year and a half together, the band hopes to perform at more iconic venues, like the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and the House of Blues San Diego. 

Before they reach these heights, The Microblades have equally exciting things coming up in the foreseeable future. Their next show is at The Look House on March 16. Later this year, they will be releasing their first EP for all to listen to.

The Microblades are a vintage rock band made up of three USD students. Photo courtesy of @themicroblades/Instagram