Lights, music and community: three words that describe the Double Wolf Dare Week (DWDW) event Wolfstock. On the evening of Feb. 24, students, families and friends gathered in the main cafeteria to watch the annual battle of the bands. 

Each year, the Wolfstock winner is determined by how much money gets put into a band’s labelled jar. This year, Meniskus won with $190, and they are now set to play at the final DWDW assembly.

Next Season

First, Next Season opened the event with “Stars” by HUM. Next Season consists of junior Luka Grice, senior Cooper Yarbrough, Edmond North graduate Emerson Wyrick and Santa Fe graduates Mau Chavez and Lila Cole. 

“I wanted to audition for Wolfstock because my passion is performing, and it’s especially fun when I’m doing it with my best friends,” Grice said. 

They also played “Dance, Dance” by Fall Out Boy, “Boys Don’t Cry” by The Cure and “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison” by My Chemical Romance.

“We chose those songs because we all really like them, but also because we wanted to do something different for Wolfstock this year,” Grice said.

As Next Season exited the stage, senior Wolfstock chair Shian Fletcher announced the next band, Meniskus.

Meniskus

Meniskus, who ultimately won Wolfstock, took the stage and played the Foo Fighters’ hit song “Everlong,” which was definitely a crowd favorite. The band featured freshman Daniel Coons on vocals, junior Pierce Mote on guitar, senior Brett Hamilton on guitar and others.

AFTERMATH

AFTERMATH opened their set with “My Own Summer (Shove It)” by Deftones. Hamilton played guitar and junior Caymon Bearden played bass guitar while singing backup for lead vocalists senior Alanda Pollard and junior Lyric Murrell. They closed off their set with “Misery Business” by Paramore.

“We wanted to pick songs that resonated with people but were also challenging and fun to play on our instruments as well,” junior AFTERMATH drummer Fiona Jilka said.

This year was Jilka’s second year playing Wolfstock and she was responsible for choosing the band name.

“Funny enough, we actually got AFTERMATH off of ChatGPT,” Jilka said. “I made the decision to put it in all caps because I felt that it sounded more cleaner, and more in your face, in a way.”

Paper Skylines

Next up was Paper Skylines who played “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind and “How Can You Be Sure” by Radiohead. Paper Skylines is made up of seniors Caden Phillips on drums, Wes Pendergrass on guitar, Easton Hernandez on vocals and sophomore Jacob Mercer on bass guitar.

“We wanted to play a song we like, a song people know and would have fun with and a nice ballad,” Phillips said.

Faye Heitz

Sophomore Faye Heitz slowed things down with a solo act.

“I play[ed] ‘Promise’ by Laufey, and ‘Impossible’ by Nothing But Thieves,” Heitz said. “‘Promise’ shows off both my guitar skills and the timbre of my voice. ‘Impossible’ is more of a niche song, but it’s so special to me. My favorite K-Rock band covered it and I instantly fell in love.”

This year was Heitz’s first year playing Wolfstock.

“I’ve been surrounded by music for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never liked performing until this year, and I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t audition,” Heitz said.

The Mustards

The Mustards featured members from different Wolfstock bands: Phillips, Mercer, Yarbrough and senior Cade Ombachi. The Mustards performed “Tek It” by Cafune and “Bad Habits” by Steve Lacy, two songs that became internet sensations in 2022.

“We chose ‘Tek It’ because we already played it at the winter carnival and we chose ‘Bad Habit’ because Cade already knew it,” Yarbrough said. “We were originally going to do a joke audition where Cade and I would perform ‘tv off’ by Kendrick Lamar. Eventually we decided to lock in and get some other people to play something for real.”

Queen Jane

Queen Jane was one of the smaller bands with only three members: juniors Jay Charles, Reese Rubel and Jason Gafford from Edmond Memorial.

“This was our first time doing Wolfstock,” Charles said. “We were all really excited for it and it was a blast, especially being able to feed off of the crowd’s energy.”

Queen Jane played “Little Wing” by Jimi Hendrix and an original song called “Ballad of a Paper Doll.”

“Jimi Hendrix is someone I dearly admire as a musician and a songwriter, so I jumped at the chance to play one of my favorite songs of his. As for ‘Ballad of a Paper Doll’, we wanted to set ourselves apart by playing an original song. I love writing music as much as I love playing it, and it felt great to be able to share one of my songs with an audience who seemed to really enjoy it,” Charles said.

Rosie Posie

Next up was Rosie Posie, which consisted of seniors Averie Knapp, Chloe Lamprecht, Tristan Haley, junior Bella Merrifield and Heitz who all dressed in pink.

“My cat’s name is Rosie, and we call her Rosie Posie, so that’s where the name came from,” Lamprecht said.

They played “Take Me Away” from “Freaky Friday” (2004), “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls and “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie.

“I think all of our songs are mostly familiar and fun for student attendees,” Lamprecht said. “I also really love our choice for our band’s closing song, ‘Under Pressure.’ Lyrics like ‘love dares you to care for the people on the edge of the night’ feel incredibly timely. Peace and love.”

This year was the first year playing Wolfstock for all band members except for Haley.

“I always thought it would be fun to perform in Wolfstock, but I don’t play any instruments and wasn’t close to anyone who did,” Knapp said. “Luckily, I became friends with Tristan over the summer. He roped me into performing, and I’m so glad he did.”

The Cottage

The following band was The Cottage, who is named after a scene from HBO’s hit show “Heated Rivalry” where one character asks the other “will you come to my cottage this summer?” 

The Cottage is made up of seniors Emme Shum, who sang while playing guitar or bass guitar, Sophia Shelton, who played guitar and bass guitar, Manna George, who played drums, and Nathan Fenech who played bass guitar and keyboard.

“This is all of our first times [playing],” Shum said. “This year, we [played] ‘Bags’ by Clairo, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ by The Beatles, and ‘Beaches’ by Beabadoobee. We chose these songs because not only are they performative male anthems, but they’re songs that we would want to listen to at Wolfstock.”

Midnight Sun

Lastly was Midnight Sun, which is made up of Wolfstock 2025 winners: seniors Kayla Eyabi, Yarbrough, Ombachi and juniors Tessa Wolff, Graycen Bointy and Bearden. They opened with “Shut Up and Drive” by Rhianna and “Still Into You” by Paramore before slowing it down with “Happier Than Ever” by Billie EiIish and “back to friends” by sombr. The night came to an end as confetti fell on the crowd while they did the iconic “HOT TO GO!” by Chappell Roan dance.

You can watch Meniskus perform again at today’s final DWDW assembly.