Stage diving, crowd surfing, moshing and screaming may not be on every USC student’s bucket list, but for Amélie’s shows, it’s become the expectation.

“The energy that we come with at shows is kind of different compared to a lot of the bands that are in the USC circuit,” said Michael Tringale, a guitarist for the band and a senior majoring in music industry. “We like to have people moshing, and I feel like you don’t typically see that at a lot of USC house shows.”

Though Amélie’s origins date back to Fall 2023, the student band has taken a more permanent shape over the past year. In 2025, Amélie played several concerts around Los Angeles, ranging from KXSC Radio house shows to a Battle of the Bands competition at the Troubadour.

Tringale said the band’s target demographic isn’t necessarily the USC student body, as their shows bring high-energy punk rock to the stage as opposed to other student bands that lean more toward pop.

“For someone who’s going to a show, it might be a little bit jarring to hear what we’re playing,” Tringale said. “That’s a challenge, but it’s also an advantage, in a way.”

It took a while for the band to resemble what it is today. Guitarist and vocalist Will Gray and bassist Gia Carmenate first met at freshman convocation in 20243 and brought on Tringale shortly after. The band even had Gray, a junior majoring in music industry, drumming at its first show. 

But it wasn’t until Spring 2025 that Carmenate, a junior majoring in fine arts, approached Shalen Farahi at a KXSC event and shared some of their music to recruit him as the band’s drummer. Thus, Amélie became what it is today.

“I remember hearing ‘Morning’ for the first time, and I was like, ‘Oh, I can beat the shit out of the drums in this song,’” said Farahi, a senior majoring in cinema and media studies. “It’s also a really well-written song, so it was really great to be able to play with these guys and their good songwriting abilities.”

Each band member pulls musical inspiration from different artists. Still, they all agreed artists like Pinegrove, Modern Baseball and MJ Lenderman most influence their sound, even covering some of their songs.

“We played a lot of covers, just playing shows, practicing, trying to figure ourselves out as a band,” Gray said. “Now that we have some songs written ready to bring to the band, it’s gonna be easier [to perform].”

With Carmenate being the only girl in the band, she wanted the band’s name to be a girl’s name, ultimately landing on “Amélie” after the 2001 film of the same name. The rest of the band still hasn’t watched the movie.

“I mainly played with a lot of female musicians growing up, so [I have] that kind of grit I try to approach [performing with] when we’re playing shows,” Carmenate said. “I try to get people more riled up by moving around a lot.”

When Amélie faced off against bands from USC, UCLA and CSU Northridge at the Troubadour in April, the band realized they could use their unique sound to their advantage thanks to a pep talk from their now-manager, Bolan Delange, who encouraged the group to embrace being a “black sheep” in the competition.

Even after they “bombed” their first song, Amélie won the crowd over and finished in second place. 

“Eventually, the crowd started to dig it, because it was different, and because [the band was] telling the truth,” said Delange, a sophomore majoring in music industry. “[The audience wasn’t] seeing the same masquerade over and over again.”

Amélie’s Troubadour debut was their most recent performance, but the band is gearing up for more shows this fall, as well as releasing a music video and recording original songs, Tringale said.

Tringale said that as Amélie looks to grow, even though they understand the importance of social media, the band is most concerned with the energy of their live shows and making sure fans and bandmates are having fun.

“We’re tight-knit, and we’re making shit that we love, and we’re playing shows with people we love,” Carmenate said. “It’s a whole other cathartic practice away from all of my stress, like [my] career, business, making money, supporting myself. If anything, music is like an escape from all of that.”

Carmenate said she doesn’t see playing shows or being part of a band as a path to fame, and she doesn’t want the band to force achieving popularity. Playing music together is enough, Tringale said. 

“Being invited to play music with these guys is such a gift,” Tringale said. “It’s great to be able to look beyond that, but ultimately, if I could do that every day of my life and be alive, that would be heaven on earth.”

Disclaimer: Aden Max Juarez currently serves as DJ and photographer for KXSC Radio.