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It came about from an accident: Sam Parrish, Maria Nido and Corey Chun, three Syracuse University juniors, were jamming in Dellplain Hall their freshman year and decided to record the song they had been working on. Later, the group listened back to the recording and were surprised to hear nature sounds — specifically ribbits — in the background from a white noise machine. Then an idea lept into the trio’s head.

“We were literally like froggies!” Chun said with a laugh. “If we ever do this thing, we have to call ourselves Froggies.”

Just a few months later, Froggies is now an experienced band in the Syracuse University house show scene, known for their funky instrumentals and folky vocals. The group has frequently walked off the stage to chants of “Froggies, Froggies.”

Parrish and Nido met at a music business program in the summer of 2019, but they didn’t make a strong connection at first. Once the group came to college, Nido and Chun became roommates in Dellplain and through the Bandier program, the trio started playing music together.

While they had no intention initially of starting a band together, Chun said one night they decided they had to make the group last.

“I think once everyone started singing a little, we started opening up and it just kind of flowed from there,” Chun said. “I think we realized that this definitely needed to be something that has longevity.”

Soon after, Nido invited her friend Grady Collingbourne, a junior and drummer, to join their band. And Collingbourne eventually introduced Sam Ronan, a senior pianist, to the band as well.

Chun said the band “came alive” after Collingbourne and Ronan joined. Chun, Nido and Parrish shared vocals, Nido and Chun were on guitars and Parrish was on bass.

Even with this energy, the genre-bending band felt a lot of anxiety performing at their first house show. This wasn’t due to a lack of experience though, as Parrish had already been playing with another band, Studio89. Instead, the band was discouraged by the lack of female-led bands in the SU music scene and were nervous about the reception they would get from audiences.

But on March 7, Froggies took the stage for the first time with a performance at The Coup, a house venue. After they “ripped off the bandaid,” Parrish said she realized the band was on an upward trajectory and could only get better from there.

The group also said they have seen a large increase in female-led bands in the music scene since they first started playing. While they hesitated to take responsibility for this change, they instead pointed to the community in Syracuse’s house show scene.

“It’s creating a community where it feels very accessible to other people,” Chun said. “It’s not some revolutionary thing that they have to jump into.”

Courtesy of Hannah Stein

As Froggies has improved and become more successful, the members’ schedules have begun to fill up. The band has played shows every week for the past six weeks, including headlining for SU alumnus Charlie Burg. At the same time, Froggies has been preparing singles and plans to release an EP by the end of the year, Nido said.

Chun described their writing process as a “hodgepodge” of ideas and emotions that come together through conversations and revisions. Parrish also said they all know how each other thinks and feels, and this allows them to have a communal creative process.

“When we talk about something, it’s like we know the content. You know that person, how they react to things, how they’re probably feeling,” Parrish said. “I used to never write with people, but now I feel like I can’t imagine going back.”

While Froggies is a constant in the house show scene right now, it won’t be like this for long. Between Ronan graduating and many of the members going abroad, Froggies will be separated for a time.

But instead of feeling disappointed or frustrated, the band feels excited. Before everyone disperses, Froggies plans on taking advantage of the time they have left by releasing new music and merch. The group sees this change as a way for them each to grow and improve as musicians, so the reunion will be that much sweeter.

“Certainly not a hard stop,” Parrish said. “We’re really savoring every day.”

Published on November 9, 2022 at 11:23 pm