Seniors Lorenzo Cook and Henry Schoonmaker come from different parts of the world but have a strong mutual passion for music.

Petite League, their two-person band, consists of Cook, a Bandier student from Brussels, Belgium, covering vocals, guitar and bass and Schoonmaker, a geography major from Boston, playing the drums.

Though the two were already musicians before coming to Syracuse University, this is the first time they’ve worked together. Cook has been writing music since he was 13 and was in a band during his high school years in Brussels.

Similarly, Schoonmaker played percussion in high school but didn’t start performing in a band until his sophomore year of college when he joined the four-man group, Conroy Blanc.

In 2014, the two formed Petite League, when Cook recorded his song, “Surviving October” and asked Schoonmaker to drum on the track.

The band name was inspired by a thought Cook had several years ago, when he was brainstorming a side project for himself. He came up with “Petite League,” which translates into “little league” in French.

During 2014, Cook wrote the music and lyrics for their first album “Slugger,” which was released online Oct. 26. The 10-track album can be accessed online for free at petiteleague.bandcamp.com and SoundCloud. They are planning to release audiocassettes as well.

“I wrote some in Syracuse fall semester of last year, (then) picked it up in London when I was abroad,” Cook said. “I wrote the majority when in LA this summer and finished it up this semester back in Syracuse. It has affected the way I wrote for sure.”

Cook and Schoonmaker took an unconventional approach to recording “Slugger” after they decided to turn down a big label.

When Cook had released two of his songs with a smaller label called Mermaid Avenue Records, he had given them the rights. After doing so, he was approached by a bigger label and decided he wanted to record the band’s music independently.

They wanted to see what they could do on their own, so they started recording at the band’s off-campus house, which they call “The Scarier Dome.”

They start by recording the guitars to a synthetic drum beat using an audio interface Cook has. Afterward, he records the vocals and removes the fake drum so the percussion can be taped.

“I mix it all by ear; I usually record a verse, then chorus, then another verse,” Cook said. “It’s definitely not a conventional way of recording or writing music, but it’s worked well so far.”

Once Cook’s portion of the recording is complete, Schoonmaker takes the wheel and experiments with beats.

“He’ll send it to me, I’ll think about it and I’ll jam to it,” Schoonmaker said.

Cook and Schoonmaker said their favorite song to play off the album is “My Black Lungs.”

“We thought of it about a week before we were going to record so we just threw it in,” Schoonmaker said. “It’s something you can just jam out to.”

The pair has many plans for growing their band. They plan on producing music videos and VHS sessions, a process in which old VHS cameras are used to record and then mix bands’ live audio.

Published on November 3, 2015 at 10:07 pm

Contact: rcplaut@syr.edu