SOUNDCHECK: On the Road Again to Bandcamp
Luke Carlson in the KSCU Office on Saturday, Nov 1. (Nina Glick/The Santa Clara)
Luke Carlson ’27 plays in three bands. And somehow, he never stops moving.
Bandcamp, the biannual student music event near Santa Clara University, is happening this Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, at Basecamp. This year’s lineup features Solace, Dental Insurance, Astrakinetic, and Hammered.
I sat down with the overtly busy Carlson—bassist for Solace, Dental Insurance and Astrakinetic —to talk about what audiences can expect, what it means to be a college musician, and the movement and love of music that drive him.
Looking toward Bandcamp, you’re in three of the four bands performing—that’s a pretty major commitment. What draws you to that?
LUKE: I just love performing. I could care less if any of these bands ever release music—I just like playing shows. I like making people happy, and that’s something I can do through my music.
It started about three, almost four years ago. I went to study abroad in high school, to Portsmouth, England, about two hours south of London. I joined the vocational school there, which had a music department, so for six months, school was basically just me being in a band. We managed ourselves, wrote music and got gigs.
When I was there, our college performance show—the final show—happened right when the war in Ukraine broke out. The department decided to make it a benefit show. It got enough attention that the local government said they would match our profits.
We ended up raising about £5,000 and got to send it to Ukraine. Seeing how it helped made me realize that I could really make a difference through music.
That’s when I knew I just wanted to play. I didn’t care about making money—I’d give it to whoever needed it. I just like playing.
Walk me through your musical roots—piano to drums to guitar to bass. How’d that happen?
LUKE: It started with my grandma and her two sisters.
They’re professional musicians. My grandma plays piano and flute in the San Jose and San Francisco Symphonies, her sister plays violin in the Chicago Symphony and their older sister plays viola for the Boston Pops and Symphony.
My grandma was like, “If you want to play any other instrument, you have to learn how to play the piano.”
So for about six years I took piano, and then there was school band. I started playing drums in fourth grade as a percussionist. There was a full drum set in the room, so I got my band teacher to show me how to play it—and I ended up being a drummer for the next ten years of my life.
After that, I picked up guitar for fun. But when I studied abroad, I was a drummer in this two-piece punk band—these guys were in leather pants, leather boots, leather jackets—it was ridiculous. Then the second week of school, they got COVID and I didn’t. So there I was, stuck at school with no band, and I was like, “Alright, I’m going to play bass for fun.”
Luke Carlson in the KSCU Office on Saturday, Nov 1. (Nina Glick/The Santa Clara)
As a bassist, how would you describe the bass’s role in a band?
LUKE: One of my favorite sayings ever is, “A good bassist knows when to shut up.”
That just means simplify. You don’t have to play the flashiest or most creative stuff to sound good—you just have to complement the rest of the band. It’s the lead guitarist’s or singer’s job to stand out, to grab attention. As the bassist, I have to stay in the back. You learn how to really fit in without overtaking anyone else.
Energy is my whole thing. I don’t stop moving. I don’t have to show off with my playing—I can just move around and have fun. That excites people. Even at Bandcamp, there’s a lot of standing around. People might be bobbing or jumping a little, but to really get them moving, you have to put in the effort.
As a bassist, do you consider yourself to have a playing style?
LUKE: Not really.
I have a lot of influences from Black Sabbath to blink-182 to Steve Wonder. I listen to a lot of different types of music, a lot of different types of bassists. I’m an amalgamation of all of them.
I play with my fingers, I play slap, I play with a pick, I do harmonics, I use a lot of techniques that my inspirations picked and made perfect. But I’m an all around-er.
What does preparing for a show look like for you?
LUKE: We have less than a week until the show, and I have to learn eight songs. To the average person, or even just a normal musician, learning eight songs in a week for three different bands, that’s almost unheard of.
Even when people do that, they have sheet music up on stage with them. I’m not like that. I can’t stand there and try to read music while I’m playing it.
I sit down and I practice. And I practice. And I practice. Just a lot of sitting down practicing.
I have playlists for each band, every cover that we’re doing and every cover that we’ve done, and those are pretty much the only playlists I’ve listened to. I don’t get a whole lot of time to listen to music for myself.
But it’s a lot. I have a rehearsal almost every night of the week. It’s a grind.
Luke Carlson in the KSCU Office on Saturday, Nov 1. (Nina Glick/The Santa Clara)
Bandcamp is arguably considered one of the two biggest events of the year. What can audiences expect?
LUKE: You guys are gonna have a lot of fun.
For freshmen who don’t know what’s going on—be there. Be at Bandcamp. That’s what’s going on. It’s a lot of students just like yourself, dedicating a ton of time and effort to sound good. Then we finally get this chance to perform in front of everybody.
When I came to Santa Clara, Bandcamp was my very first show, and I had never seen anything like it. And Basecamp is such an amazing house to have it at. There are leaves right over the deck. The backyard gets completely packed, shoulder to shoulder. You’re there with friends, and all of the bands will be playing a mixture of covers and originals.
Covers get people hyped—you know them, you know almost every single song that will be played.
And I’m gonna be sweating my ass off, moving around, trying to get you guys to move.
Are there any pieces you’re excited to perform?
LUKE: All the Astrakinetic originals are just so fun.
“Smoke Signals” has a waltz section if you’re feeling slow—and then “Minute to Midnight” is this really fast, train-speed movement in a funk song where you can really get moving.
And then Solace is doing an all-covers set, but almost everything has been arranged in our own style. People go, “Oh shit, I know this song.” Covers are just fun in general—getting to sing something people actually know.
One of the things I’m actually most excited about for this Bandcamp is how many guest features Solace will have…
What advice would you give to somebody thinking about picking up an instrument or joining a band?
LUKE: Do it. What’s the worst that can happen?
What was the last song you listened to?
LUKE: “Gorgeous Nightmare” by Escape the Fate
Plans for the future?
LUKE: I will never stop playing, I’ll never stop performing. I’ll be 75, 80-years-old picking up a bass in the garage with my grandkids.
I don’t care if I’m playing in a dive bar to 10 people, or a stadium to 10,000. I’ll still be playing the same way with the same love of music.
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Solace, Dental Insurance, Astrakinetic, and Hammered will perform this Friday, Nov. 7, at Bandcamp. More information available here.
See you there.