On Saturday, Jan. 7, senior Bryan Russo tuned his bass guitar before a crowd at Cicero’s with his band Templar. Russo, who was inspired by Black Sabbath, has been playing bass since he was 13 years old.

“I wanted to play like Geezer Butler,” Russo said.

Russo became a part of the band with fellow seniors Zack Clark & Corey Bandrowsky towards the end of their junior year. With Russo on bass, Clark on drums, and Bandrowsky on the guitar, Templar has been jamming for almost a year and their goals are to perform in as many shows as possible, get a bigger fan base, and jam with bands with a style different from their own.

“I’d say we’re progressive and experimental,” Russo said. “We’ve gotten a lot more progressive and a lot more tight, not as like in cool, tight as in, like, more together. The style hasn’t changed much. We are definitely skilled and we’ve gotten a lot better since we first got together.”

For bands to earn money for being booked at Cicero’s Bistro, they were told to personally sell tickets, and if people came to see them, the band made more money. Bandrowsky booked the show through Afton St. Louis Booking Agency and the agency contacted the members of Templar via email after the band played at a couple of shows.

“We made a total of $17, and they say the economy’s bad,” Russo jokes.

Bandrowsky writes songs for the band to play and jam with, and the recently recorded their first song “The Reformation of the Flesh.” Templar gets their musical inspiration from bands like, Gogira, Primus, and Guthrie Govan.

“Inspiration for the songs roots from just an overactive imagination,” Bandrowsky said.