Warm guitar strums and jazzy piano chords flow through the air as five students huddle in a small garage to practice for their upcoming performance. The all-junior student band Ugly Dumplings includes Catherine Yang, Kevin Ho, Jayden Fan, Ani Senthilkumar and Alexander Tran.
The band, which began in the summer of 2025, originally consisted of Yang as the main vocalist, Ho and Fan as guitarists and two seniors who eventually left the group. At the start of the year, the roles of drummer and keyboardist were filled by Senthilkumar and Tran, respectively. The four met and became friends through marching band, and formed the Ugly Dumplings in order to play music without the rigid structure that school band requires.
“I feel like a garage band with friends is a more casual and low-pressure way to spread music to the community, rather than being in a serious band,” Fan said.
After some brainstorming, they chose Ugly Dumplings as their band name, both as an homage to Chinese culture and as a reference to the story of “The Ugly Duckling,” which represents how the band started off small but will mature into something exceptional.
Every Saturday evening, the Ugly Dumplings meet in Ho’s garage to practice. They start by running through their set list, which includes “Line Without a Hook” by Ricky Montgomery, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan and “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood. The members select songs they enjoy, but also have to consider whether they can be played with the instruments they have.
“We cover a lot of different types of music that we don’t have the instruments for,” Fan said. “We don’t have a bassist and sometimes we’ll have to try to sound like string instruments.”
Since the band was formed as a way to play casually, the practices are loosely organized and allow the group to play around and improvise chords.
“I have so many things to do in classes and work, and it’s stressful. But this is not stressful, because I’m with my best friends making music,” Senthilkumar said.
Recently, the Ugly Dumplings performed “Line Without a Hook” at Music for Community’s annual benefit concert and “Lovesick” by Laufey at the Valkyries Spring Show, specifically showcased because they had worked with them the longest and were some of their favorites.
“We all like Laufey songs, so a lot of our set list is Laufey, which gives me a lot of freedom to experiment with anything that sounds vaguely jazzy,” Ho said.
“I think my biggest dream for the band is to be able to just go to random places and play,” Fan said.
However, the band ran into some problems during these performances. Since practices are held in a garage, the group grew comfortable with their intimate sound during sessions and playing in a larger venue felt unfamiliar. At the Valkyries Spring Show, they had trouble hearing each other and staying in sync. The group had to figure out how to keep time with each other impromptu.
“We’re hoping that as time goes on, we gain more experience with handling these technical difficulties, and we can workshop our volumes,” Tran said.
Another major challenge was creating the instrumentals for the songs they picked. When the band first formed, members mostly found chords online and used the same ones across all the instruments, leading to a lack of depth and layering of different sounds. However, as they improved, the group experimented with improvising, allowing them to express their creativity and add their own spin on songs.
As the Ugly Dumplings overcame their challenges, they began posting their performances on YouTube and Instagram to growing popularity.
“People would come up to me, and say, ‘I saw your band on Instagram. I like your band,’” Senthilkumar said. “My co-workers at volunteering made me show them a video, and they thought it was really cool.”
In the future, the Ugly Dumplings hope to host more performances and play at flea or farmers markets, as well as build a longer setlist and grow as musicians.
