Baggy pants, long hair, guitars cranked way past polite volume, it’s like the ’90s never ended. Except it’s 2025 in suburban Rocklin, where five teenage friends calling themselves echost are keeping the garage-band tradition alive.
The five high school freshmen — Robert Sackrider on vocals, Brayden Ybarra on drums, Liam Belena on lead guitar, Jaiden Davis on rhythm guitar and Dylan Vargas on bass — play lo-fi grunge. Their original songs, “Oyster” and “Serenity,” are bursts of raw teenage energy channeled through hand-me-down gear and stitched together using GarageBand on an old Mac.
Conventional wisdom says kids don’t start bands anymore; that the ritual of bad amps in a suburban garage died with flannel shirts and CD towers. But echost doesn’t sound like an AI-driven algorithm. Their sound is unmistakably grunge-inspired, rough edges and all.
“We try to go for a grunge vibe while keeping it bright,” Jaiden said. That influence, he adds, came in part from his mom. “When my mom moved to the U.S., she heard Pearl Jam on the radio and used their songs to learn English. She played it for me when I was a kid, and when I picked it back up later, I loved it. It just became part of my life.”
Liam’s influences also came by way of his father. “I remember I moved to Rocklin and I had like no friends,” he said. “My dad showed me Nirvana and I fell in love with rock music in general and I just started playing guitar.”
Brayden’s musical path was shaped at home as well. “My dad plays the drums, and I went to one of his shows when I was little,” he said. “People like Dave Grohl, Neil Peart and Taylor Hawkins from the Foo Fighters really inspired me to play.”
For Robert, stepping up to the mic was as much an accident as ambition. “I just wanted to produce at first,” he said. “Then I figured, I guess I’ll sing.” He admits performing is still nerve-wracking: “On stage I just start screaming instead of actually singing. It’s scary.”
Picking up the bass was almost an afterthought for Dylan. “Before I joined the band, honestly, I didn’t really like music a whole lot,” he said. “Then in eighth grade, Liam showed me Nirvana, and I grew to like them a lot. I started getting more into rock, and that’s what influenced me to play bass.”
Within months he had a budget Squier off Amazon — broken knob and all — and was learning songs alongside his friends.
The band practices at the Ybarra house, where Brayden’s dad, Paul, has watched them fight, laugh and write songs in Brayden’s—not as cluttered as you would expect from a teenager’s—bedroom.
echost in their bedroom practice space in Rocklin, September 6 2025. Left to right: Dylan Vargas, Robert Sackrider, Brayden Ybarra, Liam Belena and Jaiden Davis.Greg Micek/CapRadio
“It seriously felt like every day during the summer,” Paul said. “It was like having four extra sons in my house. Sometimes it got pretty stinky up there, but then they’d jump in the pool and clean up a little.”
Paul insists the chaos and noise never bothered him. “You’d think it would get overwhelming with how loud it was, but it’s music,” he said. “It’s different than somebody trying to learn the violin for hours. These boys could throw down a beat, and then it’s music. It wasn’t bad at all.”
Josh Brent has been a music teacher for 15 years and works with Robert on vocals at Bach to Rock in Rocklin. He says echost reflects something less common these days.
“I think a lot of music now, for better or worse, is done alone in your room on a computer,” he said. “There are still bands, but the majority of people are writing and producing solo. What Robert and his friends are doing isn’t as common as it used to be.”
Brent says that echost’s story supports a bigger lesson for aspiring musicians. “Anyone can play music as long as you're dedicated. Anyone can learn,” he said. “I say just go for it.”
The band knows they’re not following current musical trends. “I feel like people our age nowadays are just really entertained by their phones,” Robert said. “They don’t really go out and hang out with their friends and connect with other people and start these types of bands.”
“Everyone nowadays listens to modern rap or hip-hop, they don't really appreciate rock or anything like that,” he said. “That's what makes it harder for us.”
Brayden has heard the skepticism first-hand at school. “They all think we’re weird,” he said. But he shrugs it off, “Haters are just fans in disguise.”
Liam puts it another way: “At least they recognize you, even though they’re hating.”
Jaiden sees it more somberly. “There's no positivity in the world anymore,” he said. “But having my friends near me is just great. Playing music really touches me.”
For now, echost’s songs live only on YouTube. They’re saving money for better gear, thinking about putting their music on streaming services, and rehearsing for an upcoming show at a combination rage-room and axe-throwing venue in Citrus Heights.
As for long term goals, Liam said it’s straightforward, “Hopefully we just get really popular and then we can actually make a living out of it,” he said. “I just want to have fun and do work and make money with something I like doing.”
In the meantime, echost will keep cranking their amps in a Rocklin bedroom; channeling teenage boredom and dreams into noisy rock; not for algorithms but for themselves.
