Musical duo thebandfriday met in kindergarten and have been making music together since the fourth grade. Since middle school, Finn Morris and Adin Eshaghpour have learned to harmonize together and have been performing in various bands, developing their craft alongside each other.

When making music, Morris leans more folk-inspired, while Eshaghpour — a senior majoring in American popular culture — is a fan of classic rock. Together, they create a unique blend.

“What’s really special about them, to me, is that they are both very different in how they approach making music and even their influences and what they like,” said Sophia Clemente, the band’s manager and a senior majoring in music industry. “They come from really different places, but when you bring it together, it’s just really special.” 

After writing “Take Flight,” their most popular song, Eshaghpour and Morris were motivated to seriously pursue their music. The 2024 song talks about embarking on the adventure of falling in love.

Morris said that they were in the process of recording a completely different song when Eshaghpour started playing a version of what ultimately became “Take Flight,” and they immediately switched gears to record it.

“It led us down the path of trying to be very truthful and honest, sharing real-life experiences,” Eshaghpour said. “There [are] very specific things in there that are just details from my life, but then it really resonated with a lot of other people.” 

The song garnered significant attention on TikTok, according to Clemente, and now has over 2.5 million streams on Spotify to date.

“People really resonated with it because of the message, and it allowed them to discover other stuff that we made and determined what we put out in the future,” Morris said.

“Take Flight” was the catalyst for the pair’s deal with Capitol Records. A friend of theirs, fellow USC student Preston Breck, who was interning in the artists and repertoire department, played the song for his supervisors.

“The people at the label really loved it and wanted to have a meeting with us. So two days later, we were sitting in a meeting with me and the boys, and then our best friend, Preston, and the head honchos of Capitol,” said Clemente.

Quickly, thebandfriday was signed to the major record label. The duo, in turn, built their debut EP around “Take Flight.”

“It’s a dream, really, because obviously, growing up, every time I would listen to a Beatles record or something, there’s ‘Capitol Records’ on it. It’s just been legendary,” Eshaghpour said.

The band’s producer, Griffin Chaney, a senior majoring in music production, has been working with the band at his Santa Monica studio since the start. 

“The three of them are just a powerhouse, and Griffin’s at the center of a lot of how their music-making process goes,” said Clemente.

Chaney said that he values how collaborative the process of working with the band is.

“Occasionally, they might bring a song in, and then we start building the track together from there, but a lot of the time it’s just we’ll be here jamming on some guitars or just messing around with an idea,” Chaney said. “I just love the creative process with them. I feel like we have a lot of fun approaching each song differently.”

thebandfriday’s latest song, “Pink Lemonade,” will be released on Nov. 21. Chaney said that the song was not initially a favorite of his out of all of the songs they had been working on, but their team at Capitol Records encouraged them to revisit it.

“We worked on it a little more. We redid the drums and just added some more guitars, and now I love it. I really love what it turned into,” Chaney said.

Morris said that the song represents a shift thematically from their previous work, which focused on themes of love and relationships. He described the theme of this song as introspection and said that he was pleasantly surprised by the warm reception that their teaser got from listeners.

“That’s why we do it. You just want to make music and hope people resonate with it, and the more people that do, the more validating it is for us,” Eshaghpour said.

The band has also been developing their live performance skills, having just finished a tour with indie artist Marlon Funaki and playing Springfest last spring. In the future, they said they aspire to play larger Los Angeles venues, like The Wiltern and The Greek Theatre, which they grew up going to and always dreamed of playing at themselves.

“My favorite thing that I’ve gotten to see is them step into their personas, how they present themselves on stage,” said Clemente.

Clemente said they are also working toward putting out a debut album. Eshaghpour said they hope to continue to grow steadily and build a lasting career.

“It’s super easy to have a viral moment and go crazy for a while, but for us, we definitely want to just keep climbing,” Eshaghpour said.