For a special quartet of musical 16-year-olds, releasing their first original song via music video was an incredible feat. But get this: it was live-streamed through an organization to raise money for global kids in need during the pandemic. This wonderful and extremely tight-knit group of talented young musicians is called ti85. 

The local band summons Texas Instruments’ famous graphing calculator TI-85 in their name, and Blink-182 in their primarily classic alternative rock sound. The history of the name is so ingenious that it seems like it came straight from music industry mythology. Drum virtuoso and founding member Savannah Tweedt, who doesn’t attend Yorba Linda High School (YLHS), was thinking of a headline-worthy title for her new band as she was doing math homework that fateful evening. Her ever helpful father offered some suggestions such as “pencil” and “calculator” which lead to the epiphanic name that has persevered to this day. Not only that, it perfectly captures the charming, youthful aspect of the ensemble. 

The award-winning rock group ti85 was created in 2016, through Music Maker Academy in Anaheim by drumming natural Savannah and YLHS’s very own guitar genius Dylan Warner (10). Triple threat Izzy Hernandez sings and plays the keyboard and guitar, while YLHS’s resident glam rocker Fionna Tucker (10)  sings and rocks the bass guitar. Their claim to fame comes from a collective effort to combine their own energetic and authentic talents to cover time-honored classics like Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and Blondie’s “Call Me”, as well as newer but equally adored hits like Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance.” Though they are predominantly a cover band, ti85 has one original song (more coming soon) called “The Thought of You” which brings The Cranberries and Foo Fighters to shame. ti85 have even created original mashups of iconic punk rock artists like Green Day and Joan Jett in American Idiot/Bad Reputation. 

Whether they jam in their garage, or fly to New York City to do shows, ti85 keeps busy. Large performance venues they have played at include: the Whisky a Go Go, The Glass House, Chain Reaction, House of Blues Anaheim, The Orange International Street Fair, and countless more. Adding to those, they have brought music to many local restaurants and private events here in sunny and artsy Orange County. As Fionna says, “It’s really important to support your local music scene to keep music alive.” A particularly special opportunity that they experienced was headlining some drive-in shows for Jacqie Rivera in Costa Mesa at The CAMP last year. 

As of right now, ti85 are keeping their attention on new original songs to further share their “crazy flamboyant state presence”, according to Savannah. She expresses her feelings on the bonds that she has created with her fellow band members, “They’re some of my closest friends and people who I trust the most. I’m very lucky and very grateful for the opportunity to be in a band with all of them.” Their hope is of course, that more teens will attend their shows and experience the joys of live music.

For updates on performances and release dates for original music, check out these links:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ti85official

Facebook: http://facebook.com/%20ti85official

TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@ti85official

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ti85band

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://ti85band.com/