Freshman Abigail Malkowski, freshman Dylan Benestelli, and sophomore Gianna Regec all play in the marching band, but they also play rock music in their band, the Redacted. 

Malkowski initially had the idea for a band in February 2025, but she didn’t know how to make it happen. After she joined the marching band in freshman year, she found more people who played instruments. 

“I met Gianna and Dylan through the marching band,” Malkowski said, “A couple people joined, and then a couple of people dropped it, and then it was just the three of us.”

They decided to name the group the Redacted. When government documents have sensitive information obscured or blacked out, it is called “redacted.”

Malkowski plays bass and sings, Benestelli plays the guitar, and Regec plays drums. Malkowski has about half a year’s experience, Benestelli has played guitar for three years, while Regec has drummed for 10 years.

The band’s first performance was at a January spaghetti dinner at St. Albert the Great in North Baldwin. They were all a little nervous beforehand, but Regec said that faded quickly.

“A lot of this stuff before the performance wasn’t really going my way when I was setting up the drum set. But after we played the first song, I felt really confident when I was doing it,” Regec said.

They covered songs such as “Only in Dreams” by Weezer and “Brain Stew” by Green Day.

“They play anything that is like that pop punk or the punk rock era of music from the 2010s,” band teacher Emery Palmer said.

They also admire some harder rock bands.

“We get inspiration from a lot of bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth,” Benestelli said.

They all separately learn a song and come together to practice it. They don’t yet have a consistent practice schedule, though they plan to start practicing more consistently in Palmer’s room during Highlander Time or at Regec’s father’s house. 

The group is starting to write their own music. Regec and Benestelli start with exchanging beats, and then someone else adds to it.

“I mainly write the lyrics as well, so sometimes I get an idea in my head and I’ll just write it in my notes app. We all do,” Regec said.

In the future, they plan to get more gigs at different places, become more widely known, and write more music. 

“Hopefully we continue writing actual music, because we’re just starting with covers,” Malkowski said.