For third-year English student and singer Gabby Puyat, the wait is over.
Her band, Wait For It, is the first electronic dance music group in Spring Sing history. Two-thirds of the band will perform: Puyat and Bentley Montes, who attended UCLA for two years. The third bandmate, Curtis Kale, is not a UCLA student and will not be performing because Spring Sing requires that at least half of the participants of an act must be current UCLA students.
Montes said he left UCLA in his third year to pursue a full-time career as a DJ. It was his DJ career that lead him to Puyat, who said she met Montes about a year ago at at a Pi Kappa Phi fraternity party he was DJ-ing.
“I was really into what he was playing,” Puyat said. “So I asked for his card and we connected from there.”
Montes said as they got acquainted, he found out Puyat was a singer, and as the annual Spring Sing concert approached, the two opted to collaborate and debut their band Wait For It. Montes then reached out to his friend, Curtis Kale, who also produces music in the area to join the project.
“Ever since I was a freshman, (Spring Sing) was a bucket list item,” Puyat said. “It was probably like four months before auditions, and I had this vision. So, I contacted him and we made our song.”
The band will be performing its original song “Remember,” which they wrote together. Montes said at first it sounds like a love song, but it’s actually about remembering someone forever.
“It’s about loss, like losing somebody in your life,” Puyat said. “I had just lost my uncle at the time … That’s what I think about when I sing it.”
While the band has done some smaller performances, Montes said Spring Sing will be Wait For Its’ main debut. He said the song it’s bringing diverges from the mainstream pop EDM of Calvin Harris, but is still a crowd-pleaser.
“It’s fun, melodic party music,” Montes said. “We’re still working out our sound, but I don’t want it to be pop-inspired EDM, I want it to be something different.”
As Spring Sing approaches, Puyat said the nerves are kicking in, but they just want to have a good time on stage.
“Everytime I get up in front of a crowd, no matter how big or small, I’m always going to be nervous,” Puyat said. “We’re just going out there to share our music and share what we believe in.”
Puyat said she feels honored to be part of the first EDM group to perform in Pauley Pavilion for Spring Sing, and Montes said they’re ready to show UCLA what they can bring to the genre.
“This isn’t our first rodeo,” Montes said. “We were born on the stage.”