Gallery • 8 Photos

Max Jackson

The group's three BSM members share a moment together as they gravitate towards front stage.

Local band No Press Repeat played their biggest gig to date on September 30th at Route 47 Pub & Grub in Fridley, MN. The four-person group is composed of BSM seniors Liam DePauw and AJ Pauly on guitar, BSM sophomore Annabelle Nicholson on vocals, as well as Anoka high school freshman Joey Marcella on drums. According to the band, the performance was a resounding success. “I think we did pretty great. It was one of our best gigs so far I think,” Marcella said.

The band was cofounded last winter by Pauly, DePauw, and Marcella. Pauly and DePauw knew each other through BSM, and Pauly found Marcella through a music school the two attended together. “So I took [Joey] and I’m like ‘hey, let’s get something going. I know a guitarist who wants a band too,’ and then I found Liam… and we just met, started a few songs and it’s just kinda been together since. That was about nine, ten months ago,” Pauly said.

No Press Repeat would grow one member larger the following summer with the addition of Nicholson. Until that point, the band had no set vocalist:

Liam: “Me and AJ and Joey [were doing the singing]. That was… We have clips of it, but those are —”

AJ: “Don’t look them up.”

Liam: “Yeah, no.”

Nicholson had practiced singing sporadically since middle school and saw the band as an opportunity to grow that skill. “I’ve always loved to sing… in sixth grade I started singing lessons, and I did them for about a year, and then I stopped for a while. When I heard the opportunity to be in the band with all the guys, I thought it was a good chance to finally do something more with it.” Nicholson said. 

No Press Repeat will be taking a break from performing for the school year, a move that is meant to make more time for recording and producing a debut album. “We want to try to get an album done over the winter, and I guess next summer over 2022 we want to try to get as many shows as we can in,” DePauw said. 

DePauw, currently enrolled in a PSEO program at the University of Minnesota, has high hopes for the band’s future. Although he and Pauly are both graduating in May, he believes NPR will remain intact as he attends college. “AJ is going to be studying in the area, so I think he’s going to Dunwoody, and I will try to get into the U of M. I’m doing a PSEO there right now, and then I think the odds are good… I think for the future we will continue to be making music in Minnesota,” DePauw said. 

Pauly has similar optimism for the future of No Press Repeat. With a high likelihood of himself and DePauw remaining in Minnesota for their college years, he predicts for the band the type of longevity that many high school bands don’t get the chance to enjoy. “I really like [the band] and I love the people in it. Liam is basically already in the University of Minnesota…I’m planning on going to Dunwoody and then living on campus there…we’ll be like a mile away from each other, so honestly we could probably still keep doing it,” Pauly said. 

The band’s official Instagram handle is @nopressrepeattheband, where fans can go for updates on the band’s activities as well as group photos. You can see No Press Repeat perform their last show of this school year at Outtakes Bar & Grill on December 4 in New Hope, MN.