Put me on aux

The Isla Vista music scene is nothing but consistent. You walk down the block and you’re bound to hear house music, rap music, “2010” throwbacks, surf rock, reggae or country music. No matter where the night takes you: Del Playa, a frat, a house party, a casual stroll, one thing that is certain: the aux and the stage belong to college students. The bubble of I.V.’s music scene is small, predictable and needs to be popped. 

On Friday, April 24, I went to a band party and instead of seeing the average young adult performing, I found myself in front of the saxophonist Dr. Todd Forman of Sublime. He was performing with a group of older guys in a band called Peter Sellers. A refreshing change.

They were playing an infusion of country and rock, the type of culture and history that comes from people older than 20. Beyond their talent, their collective knowledge on music produces a magical, rich sound. Watching someone who actually lived the history of the music they were playing, surrounded by a crowd of Gen Z, felt like a glitch in the UCSB simulation. It wasn’t just a party; it was a “unction” — an unc-function. And honestly? We need to bring them back.

I.V. has a real visibility problem. We are trapped in a bubble where the “oldest” person you see is a 23-year-old super senior or the occasional professor biking to campus. The “unction” breaks this bubble. There is a specific kind of soul and technical mastery that comes with age, like seeing a saxophone player who has been touring since before we were born. 

Dr. Todd was not performing to try and impress some record company or some producer. This was someone who already found it, lost it, rediscovered it and made peace with a long way. That kind of artistry has a gravitational pull that is different from any college band, no matter how talented. 

This is not a dig at student musicians. I.V. is full of talented young artists from all kinds of backgrounds. However, talent alone does not equal depth. The storytelling, the nuance, the ability to make every note feel like it carries weight — that only comes from a lifetime of experiences we are still accumulating. 

It is exactly what is missing from our music scene. When every performer is around the same age, with the same cultural references, you get the same kind of noise: familiar, comfortable and ultimately predictable. The kind that starts to echo one another in different forms. The same sound, weekend after weekend.   

The “unction” breaks that cycle. It rewrites the script entirely. It makes things feel new and exciting. When older musicians show up in I.V. spaces, they show how it’s done without lecturing. They simply play from experience and shift the energy in the room. They become something rare in Isla Vista: real, living models for the aspiring artists in the crowd. 

Not a coach or a lesson from a micro-influencer, but someone standing right in front of you proving what dedication to a craft looks like over a lifetime. There is an intergenerational electricity that happens when someone on stage has lived a life that the audience is only just beginning to imagine. They open people’s eyes to what could be.

That Friday night was proof of it. Standing with a crowd of college students and everyone genuinely present in the moment. Whether they were listening with a beer in their hand or dancing with their friends, everyone was living in the “now.” The music they were hearing could possibly be found online but the experience of the band, the performers and the fresh atmosphere could never be replicated.  

This being said, Isla Vista should continue to foster its abundance of young artists. The parties, the frats and the student bands should not be abandoned. There will always be the usual Zach Bryan, Bob Marley and FISHER on aux. They are part of the I.V. culture and they are not going anywhere. 

However, there is so much room to explore and expand. Our music scene could be so much bigger if we looked outside of our predicted performers. Inviting older musicians into our spaces creates cross-generational events that don’t just change the playlist, they change the culture.

Most of us spend four years in this bubble, and most of us graduate having only ever been entertained by people our own age. The unction reminds us that there is a whole world of music, experience and artistry on the other side of the bubble that should be let in. Dr. Todd was only here for one night, but what he left behind was something worth thinking about: What are we missing by only ever listening to ourselves?

Siobhan Stewart believes aux is a privilege, not a right.