Tiny Dorm: How one club is showcasing student musicians

Tiny Dorm, whose name affectionately plays off the famous NPR web-based concert series Tiny Desk, is a campus club that puts on “cozy, home-style performances by student artists.”

Founded in Fall 2022, the club gives student musicians the opportunity to collaborate on musical projects and provides them with opportunities to showcase their talents through a variety of performances.

“I love this club because it’s where you can really see human connection,” said Qing Qing He, a member of the executive team.

One of these performances was hosted on May 2, 2023 on the rooftop of the Identity Logan Park apartment complex, and featured a diverse group of student bands and artists. Berkeley B-Side was in attendance to talk to the artists and photograph their sets.

Spotlight: Meet Cute

The band Meet Cute is comprised of vocalist and guitarist Samantha Friedland, instrumentalist Mia Call and drummer Jordan. The group formed when Mia and Samantha met at a KALX radio house show and started searching for a “sexy drummer.” Jordan joined soon after and the band officially formed in April 2023.

The band’s songwriting process is a collaborative effort between Call and Friedland; their sound is inspired by bands such as Small Crush and Kuromy.

Although this concert marked their first show, Meet Cute is hoping to one day headline at beloved local venues such as Bottom of the Hill.

“If there’s a good vibe, I’m there!” said Jordan, who emphasized excitement to play music in any capacity.

Spotlight: GL James 

Gio Leon, who performs under the guise of GL James, has been playing with his band for about nine months.

Leon made sure to express that he was very excited to perform at the concert alongside many other talented bands and musicians.

His songwriting process typically starts with deciding on a genre and then transferring between the production music softwares Logic and Ableton to find distinct sounds from each that blend well together.

Moving forward, a dream of his is to one day play at Coachella. More realistically, in his words, would be to perform at smaller venues in the Los Angeles area.

“It’s honestly really inspiring to see the music scene here in Berkeley,” Gio said.

Spotlight: Kabir

Out of all of the night’s performances, Kabir Daniel’s set was the most unconventional. Daniel wasn’t sporting any old guitar or bass. Instead, Daniel played an acoustic set — with a piccolo bass.

When asked about the choice of instrument, Daniel said the piccolo bass is a regular bass with piccolo strings, which raises the octave and allows the artist to play around with harmonics and percussion.

To Daniel, Tiny Dorm was the perfect place for a mellow set and the piccolo bass offered just that.

Since high school, Daniel has picked up an assortment of instruments and learned how to produce music and use synthesizers.

“A through-line in every instrument that I work with is instead of working with dance rhythms, I lean towards skittery, mathy rhythms and a lot of syncopation,” Kabir explained.

Spotlight: Side Chick

Aiden Watler, Samir Banerjee and Janek de Silva make up the band Side Chick. The group mainly focuses on incorporating modern styles into their classic rock by adjusting the speed and pace of their songs to fit the flow of the set list.

They formed after meeting at the Sproul Piano despite being different class years.

Regardless of the seemingly inevitable breakup of the group, the members of the band were adamant to express their desire to continue playing together for as long as they can.

“Things aren’t beautiful because they last forever,” Watler said. “Things are beautiful because in the moment they give you the ability to fully express something.”

Looking ahead: What’s in store for Tiny Dorm? 

In the future, the executive team is hoping to host more concerts to showcase the talents of the diverse club. Additionally, they want to continue building up their community of musicians to find more people interested in music.

“Berkeley has a lot of talented musicians and we should be able to try and showcase that,” said Jai Singh, the 2022-2023 president of Tiny Dorm.

Article and photos by Anna Armstrong and Kyle Garcia Takata