It’s nearing midnight on a Friday in Gardena.

The streets are dark, empty and silent. But inside CideShow Rehearsal Studios, rooms along the maze of hallways are filled with the sounds of instruments as bands rehearse.

Four sharp clicks of drumsticks is the quietest the room ever gets.

Hanbyoul Lozano, 20, glances at his bandmates from on top of the wooden drum riser, about 6 inches off the ground, before snapping his drumsticks together.

Suddenly, he’s slamming the drums, fully immersed playing the song “Ruminate.”

The rest of the band immediately joins in. Zeuz Carrillo and Masai Garcia on electric guitar and Josefina Campos with her bass, standing at the microphone.

Through several twists and turns is Room I. Within the room’s carpeted floors and soundproof ceiling, Campos’s vocals accompany Carrillo and Garcia’s electric guitars, supported by Lozano’s drum beat.

Together, Campos, Carrillo, Garcia and Lozano form Speaking of Her, an alternative-rock band composed of current and former El Camino College students.

The band has performed a handful of gigs, including a performance at Brittania Pub in Santa Monica alongside other rising artists, including The Psychedelic Flys, Evolana and Berrak.

Gigs the band has performed have been by invitation from venues as well as other bands, with a recent show that occurred on May 9 at Junior High, an event space in Glendale

Each member – either self-taught or guided by mentors – brings their own musical histories to the stage.

Carrillo began teaching himself guitar as a quarantine hobby during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was because of quarantine, I picked up a guitar because I had nothing else to do at the house,” Carrillo said.

Forced inside due to social distancing regulations, Carrillo would pick up his guitar to learn how to cover some of his favorite songs. Before long, he was creating songs of his own.

Carrillo, 20, was attending ECC as a music major when he met Garcia in professor Jonathan Minei’s guitar class at El Camino in fall 2023. One day, Garcia passed by as Carrillo filled the Music Building hallway outside of their class with the strums of his guitar.

Garcia eventually joined him for a quick jam session and began writing songs shortly before his first year at the college.

This quick jam session became the start of something new. The two quickly realized their musical chemistry and continued to play together. They spent the semester covering songs on their guitars, something Garcia had been doing before attending ECC.

“It’s really the biggest kind of payoff,” Minei said. “[Students] are playing guitar – not for the grade or the class, or to finish an assignment – but because they love the instrument.”

Minei runs the guitar program at El Camino. As a professor, Minei encourages students to play their instruments together.

“The guitar, from its inception, has always been communal,” Minei said. “The guitar is happiest when it’s accompanying the singer or accompanying another instrument.”

Campos was also one of Minei’s students. Unlike Garcia and Carrillo, however, she was taking Minei’s songwriting course.

Campos, 20, also grew up around music.

After singing for her elementary school choir, she eventually picked up the electric bass in middle school – a recommendation for a beginner-friendly option from Jefferson Middle School’s band director. However, in high school, Campos transitioned into pit (stationary percussion instruments) for West High School’s drumline, taking a break from bass.

Carrillo and Garcia heard Campos playing her music when the two visited her songwriting class together on the last day of the semester.

“Dude, she would sound so good with our music,” Garcia recalls saying to Carrillo, visions of what the three could produce filling his thoughts.

The duo spoke with Campos after her class, inviting her to join their music journey. About a week later, Campos, Carrillo and Garcia met for a jam session. Campos then joined the two as a singer, also returning to the bass, filling the band’s bassist position.

However, the band still needed a drummer.

Lozano, who is majoring in psychology, first began playing the drums in his eighth-grade steel drums class at Magruder Middle School in Torrance.

He then played on and off during high school before eventually making his return to music during his senior year as a drummer for North High’s drumline, as well as percussion for his church.

One day, Garcia and his friends went around campus, interviewing students for fun.

Walking around with their own instruments, they came across a student and asked him if he played any instruments himself, while also mentioning that Garcia was looking for a drummer.

The student didn’t play the drums and referred Garcia to a friend who he knew did.

This friend didn’t end up playing for the band, but introduced them to Lozano, who eventually became Speaking of Her’s official drummer.

“Once it got to this point with the four of us, it was solid,” Campos said.

With Carrillo and Zeus as guitarists, Campos as a lead singer and bassist and Lozano on drums, Speaking of Her was formed.

The name “Speaking of Her” came naturally to Campos as the four bounced name ideas back and forth via group chat.

The four currently balance work, band activities and, for Campos, Lozano and Garcia, school.

The beginning of the band’s journey really began kicking off in an extra room in Campos’s father’s home in Torrance. During the summer of 2024, the four would spend up to seven hours rehearsing music together.

However, after Campos moved into her mother’s apartment, the band lost their practice room.

But the band still found another solution – paying $35 for four hours using a space at CideShow Rehearsal Studios in Gardena.

However, with school in session, band activities fight for time.

“We’re all building our lives simultaneously,” Campos said. “But we definitely dedicate the time that we do have to the band and to music.”

Thus, the members of Speaking of Her meet at the rehearsal studio two to three times a week, whenever their schedules align.

Through the narrow maze of CideShow Rehearsal Studio’s hallways is a room booming with the sound of the band’s music.

Carrillo, his black curly hair framing his face that is studded with eyebrow and lip piercings, strums his electric guitar, filling the air with its distinct pitch.

On the other side of the room, Garcia plays his own guitar, his intense strums contrasting Carrillo’s more precise notes.

Bouncing along to the beat, Campos contributes the bass notes to the song before singing into the microphone. Her shoulder-length hair flairs out at the ends, moving with her head as she moves to the instrumentals. She’s dressed head to toe in an outfit inspired by 90s grunge, showing off four tattoos – one of which Campos got done in Vietnam.

Campos’s smooth, honey-like vocals seem to fit the grungy, loud instrumentals, capturing the emotional stories of the band’s music.

In instrumental breaks, Campos turns to her bandmates, slightly swaying. She offers her guitarists a smile.

Speaking of Her also brings their friends to their rehearsals – a continuous pillar of support for the band.

Lauren Udagawa typically attends their rehearsals around three times a month.

Udagawa met the band through Lozano, whom she’s been friends with since the two were in high school. First attending their rehearsals a little over a year ago in spring 2024, Udagawa’s presence became constant as she grew closer to the band.

“Each member has always been talented and brought a lot to the table since the beginning,” Udagawa said. “They’re not afraid to be experimental with new ideas into the songs they work on.”

At rehearsals, Udagawa comments between songs, helping with volume mixing and creating an enthusiastic atmosphere.

“I just overall really enjoy listening to live music and Speaking of Her’s music fits the genre I enjoy listening to,” Udagawa said. “They do a really good job of translating human emotion very beautifully into songs, whether it’s heavy or lighthearted.”

The band’s discography currently consists of six songs: “Silver Glasses,” “Serene,” “Uza,” “Mirror,” “Dino” and “Ruminate.”

With each song, the creativity poured into each piece is clear. While each tells a different story, they all share Speaking of Her’s style: grungy, loud and filled with emotion.

“Mirror” is played immediately after “Uza,” with a seamless instrumental transition.

The transition was brought in by Carrillo and features a loud break where each member shines on their instrument. Their respective sound blares out the speakers, but blend together cohesively to form the instrument break.

“We just wanted a section where we really just play together,” Garcia said, earning nods and smiles of agreement among the rest of the band.

The band’s collective favorite, “Dino,” combines all of their favorite repetitive elements from the collection: noisy and “almost angry sounding,” as Garcia said.

“‘[Dino]’ just feels like we’re just jamming together,” Carrillo said.

When the band isn’t together, the members still come up with ideas for music on their own. Members often bring their ideas to the band group chat so that songs begin to come together little by little even before the band meets up.

The band then meets up for group rehearsals to combine ideas and synthesize sounds.

“When we meet, it’s like a test,” Carrillo said. “It’s a very interesting process because it’s never like a plan; It’s always different and there’s always a lot of changes.”

The process usually begins with Garcia bringing in an idea for the structure of a new song. From there, the band has a few chords to work with.

The group then works to create the bass part for Campos, as well as work out the vocal melody.

Lozano and Carrillo’s guitar and drum elements are typically the last components for the songs, as the two’s work tends to come from improvising during rehearsal.

Creating songs as a band as opposed to a solo artist comes with its own challenges, Minei said.

“It’s like having kids,” Minei said. “You raise it, add your input, but at some point when it grows up, it has its own personality. Songs are like that – bands really have to work together to collaborate.”

Solo songwriters have the luxury of taking full creative control over songs. However, Minei pointed out that in a band, working with everyone’s ideas and finding new ways to bring them together can be difficult..

“It’s gruesome,” Garcia said while laughing. “It’s like we’re all just trying to fit different puzzle pieces, but sometimes the puzzle pieces change.

Still, a love for music and a commitment to the band are what make Speaking of Her grow.

“If it wasn’t for how passionate we all are about music, we definitely could not be doing it because of how difficult it tends to be,” Lozano said.

The music industry is a hard one to break into. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment growth for musicians in the next 10 years is only projected at 2%.

Still, a persistent passion for music is essential to what it takes to succeed in the industry, experts say.

“On top of talent, it’s a lot of perseverance and a lot of grit,” William Jae, an LA-based freelance composer said. “Having dedication, a love of the art and that inherent trait of curiosity and momentum to keep pushing yourself forward no matter what is essential to break into the industry.”

Jae has composed pieces ranging from punk rock and heavy metal to orchestral for projects with the University of Southern California, Los Angeles Philharmonic, etc.

Jae said that on top of dedication, like any other industry, an artists’ image and how they market themselves is another key component of succeeding in music.

“They really have to know where they stand musically, or they’ll be easily swayed by the masses and what the public thinks,” he said. “Having a strong identity of what you want musically is definitely the first step to show the world who you want to present yourself as.”

Speaking of Her gets most of its inspiration from ’90s shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine. Additionally, each member’s musical background comes together to create the band’s style, from emotional rock to rap and hip-hop.

“In high school, I listened to a lot of My Chemical Romance,” Campos said. “I think my vocals and my ideas tend to be a little more emotional because of that.”

On the other hand, artists like rapper Kenny Mason inspire Lozano’s style and the energy he brings to the band.

Since meeting, the band’s diverse music tastes have also melted into a shared pool of inspirations including artists like indie-rock band Panchiko and Japanese-rock artist Sheena Ringo.

Forming Speaking of Her allowed the members to not only chase after their passions, but create lifelong friendships with one another.

“For me, it was my first semester [at El Camino] and I was very nervous and timid… But just play and express what you love even if others might not understand it. You’ll find someone like I found [Garcia]: he understood and sat down and played with me,” Carrillo said.

Taking your passions to the next level isn’t as daunting as it seems. In the case of Speaking of Her, simply loving music allowed the four band members their creative journey as a band.

“Just play your stuff,” Carrillo said as a piece of advice for students wanting to explore making music. “Be really passionate with your expression. Just do what you like.”

Follow Speaking of Her’s journey as a rising band on Instagram (@_speakingofher) and Spotify.