Updated: May 12, 2025, at 12:31 p.m. 

Between headlining at the District’s indie music venues, organizing philanthropic concerts and establishing influential online music presences, graduating members of the GW music community are ending on a high note — and plan to keep their music alive long past graduation. 

Over the past four years, GW’s music players, journalists and aficionados have established themselves within both the student body and the greater D.C. music arena, aiming to rebuild the scene postpandemic. Many graduating musicians have found community, creativity and authentic connections through student organizations, like the Student Music Coalition and WRGW District Radio, and in independent projects, which they plan to build on postgrad. 

Graduating senior Max Cohen, a music and American studies double major, said he established the indie band Home Remedies with 2023 graduate Zach Basile during his first year. By acting as the blog editor for WRGW, Cohen said he was able to explore and integrate into the local music scene from the get-go.

Cohen said he plans to continue pursuing music in graduate school at New York University, where he will be studying music technology, and that he has “New York plans” for Home Remedies. 

He said due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an absence of University support, there was not a strong music culture at GW when he first arrived, which pushed student musicians to “look further out” for show opportunities outside of GW. He said he has noticed a significant recovery of smaller, alternative musicians and venues in D.C. in recent years.

“I’ve had a lot of fun playing music at GW, but my favorite memories are playing basement shows and small venues, like at Catgut or at Pie Shop and being with other musicians that I really respected and was excited by what they did,” Cohen said.

Before the pandemic, D.C. had a “small indie music scene,” and student musicians found varying levels of success — from launching a makeshift living room venue to performing at Coachella. Cohen said there were “basically no bands” at GW directly postpandemic as the shutdown shuttered the campus music environment.

Cohen and graduating senior Carolina Carmo decided to release a compilation on May 9 of local musicians’ music to commemorate the current “very strong moment” in D.C. music and give back to their community. 

“Plenty Happening,” a 27-song project featuring musicians, like Home Remedies, is raising money to support gender-affirming care through the Whitman-Walker Health center, garnering money from online and CD sales and tickets from the project’s release concert at The Black Cat last Friday.

Cohen said the project features entirely unreleased music, highlighting the District’s “criminally underlooked” role in the country’s alternative music landscape.

“I don’t see myself saying goodbye to D.C. music all the way anytime soon,” Cohen said. “The project, in a lot of ways, is like a farewell and a swan song, a way for us to give back, but it’s not a final goodbye. I will still be here for the shows.”

Fellow Home Remedies member, graduating senior Andrew “Gibby” Gibson, completed his studies in geological sciences and is preparing to rock the commencement stage this month. Alongside Home Remedies, Gibson said he is a part of a postpunk metal band Dundrum, a solo project titled Unlikely Animal Friendship and plays guitar in American-University-led band Berra.

Gibson said he began his music career at GW by joining the SMC, which allowed him to meet fellow student musicians and join a band which “skyrocketed” his experience at the University.

“It’s really been a defining part of my college experience, it’s been amazing,” Gibson said. “Every weekend or every day, I’m always doing something music related, which is really fun. It put a lot of strain on my GPA, but I think it was worth it.”

Gibson said his time as a student musician allowed him to become more in tune with the District by playing at clubs and connecting with others on the music scene. He said he wants music to be a part of his life postgrad but does not know what that would look like just yet.

“I’m always getting called to by music, I’m gonna have it no matter what,” Gibson said. “So whether that is getting money from it, doing it professionally, doing live sound or audio tech engineering or mixing or producing, being the main thing or on the side, but I’ll figure it out.”

Gibson said with many students graduating from the tight-knit community, bands are calling for the curtain to close and are pursuing other careers. But he said he feels hopeful the “framework” current musicians laid post-COVID will inspire new GW students to start their own bands. 

He said while the future of his music projects remains uncertain, he reminds himself that sabbaticals for bands are not uncommon. Gibson said learning how to live a double life as a student and a musician was difficult but delivered great memories, with Home Remedies selling out Songbyrd Music House in 2023.

“We were doing this really cool music thing but also really having to balance being students at the same time, and it was super hard, but it was mega worth it,” Gibson said. 

Keegan Harvey, a senior studying civil engineering, said he transferred from the College of Charleston in 2022 and quickly immersed himself within the local music scene, largely through meeting campus musicians at a Home Remedies after party. He said the number of venues in the area and opportunities for attending shows made D.C. a better environment to explore the community, as it’s “harder to get” live music in the South.

“It really uncovered how music can form a social community,” Harvey said. “Obviously now with the 21st century and how streaming has kind of taken away that connection, I feel like it’s been further emphasized if you have that infrastructure to have a community and live music and shows.”

He said GW’s music scene is “interconnected,” with many individuals involved with music being members of other groups on campus, like Skateboarding Club and TRAiLS, allowing divergent groups to come together to celebrate the “love of the culture.”

Harvey said he came to D.C. as a music-based “niche TikTok micro influencer” with around 65,000 followers on the platform at the time. Posting playlists and recommendations, along with “low-effort humor” content about music and pop culture, he has amassed around 139,000 followers.

Having been on a student visa, Harvey said he was unable to generate revenue from his online presence and has taken a break from regular content for the past year. However, he said he recently became a U.S. citizen, allowing him to now participate in brand deals and partnerships — something he hopes to lean into postgrad.

A current member of the basketball team, Harvey said he will be continuing his basketball career at Bryant University next fall, working toward his master’s in Business Administration. He said he plans on translating the lessons he’s learned about fostering a community from GW musicians, like Cohen, to revamp his online music presence as an “actual stream of income” after leaving D.C. in June. 

“I’m planning on — when I’m moving back to Rhode Island, and I won’t have as many friends around to distract me — to get back on that music TikTok content creation and build that up too,” he said. “That’s what I plan on doing. I want to be able to be a voice for the indie music scene.”

This post has been updated to correct the following:

The Hatchet incorrectly reported that Max Cohen joined Tiny Dorm Concerts. He was not in this student organization. We regret this error.