Latin’s new faculty band, Staff Infection, debuted at Gathering on Thursday.

For a month, a group of six Upper School teachers—Bobby Oommen, Ian Merritt, Zach Duffy, Ernesto Cruz, James Joyce, and Freddie Swinson—began brainstorming the staff’s latest sonic project and kept a text thread going of songs to play. Each of the members shares a love for music and realized that performing for the Upper School would be a great way to have fun as a community. To motivate themselves, they scheduled a performance date, knowing it would help them get their (literal) act together.

On Thursday, the band opened with popular alternative songs from the ‘90s, including “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and “Creep” by Radiohead, which generated excitement among the audience.

Mr. Oommen, who played the electric guitar, remarked that the first performance went great. “It was interesting playing around the set for the upcoming musical,” he said. “I've never performed in a setting like that, but it made for a fun time.”

Staff Infection hopes to continue sharing their passion for music, with another possible performance in February.

“[We want] to encourage an atmosphere where everyone feels like they can bring their authentic selves each day,” Mr. Oommen said. “We figure if we can have fun and act like idiots for a little bit, that [will] hopefully encourage others to loosen up.”