Keshav Goyal is a triple threat student, excelling in school, music and athletics.
In the summer after his sophomore year, Goyal and his friends – Finn Ferguson, Liam Ferguson and W.K. Abhouhassan – formed a band, “The Parked Cars.”
“It was the end of 10th grade. Finn was just starting to play guitar in 10th grade, or maybe a bit before. I had no clue that he played guitar, or that W.K. played keys. I didn’t even know who Liam was, and Finn just figured out somehow that I played the drums. And we talked about how we should set something up,” Goyal said.
It started primarily as just a way to hang out with friends, but has blossomed into something larger since.
“Finn said we should definitely just jam. We never really thought of doing gigs,” Goyal said.
Since then, the band has performed multiple shows, each one unique.
“The very first gig we had, it was a baby shower, and then a couple of times after that, we had one at this church fundraiser for kids in Honduras. It was an event, we normally play at events where there’s something going on,” Goyal said.
Recently, the band performed at an especially unique event.
“The gig we just had on Saturday was a birthday party for the ex Prime Minister of Belgium,” Goyal said.
The band performs different types of music, anywhere from jazz to rock.
“Typically, we do a lot of jazz, because mainly we get hired to play in the background. So we’ll hit some jazz. We’ll hit some light rock tunes, Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, just jam bands, stuff like that. We can play chill music in the background, not be too much of a disturbance or distraction for people chilling. On Saturday, it was surprising, we turned out to be more of a stage audience, we had more of an audience than we typically do. So on Saturday, we played Zeppelin, which is obviously loud, and it kind of pulls people in and entertains people,” Goyal said.
Goyal has been interested in music for a long time, playing drums ever since second grade.
“I started playing when I was in second grade. So it’s been almost ten years now. Then I joined the school band when you were allowed to in fifth grade, and played tons of percussive instruments. And throughout that I played for the band in middle school and high school, but I’m not playing this year, just because I’m busier and focusing more on the jazz band, because I find that a lot more fun,” Goyal said.
In addition to being a talented musician, Goyal also excels on the tennis court and in the classroom. Goyal is a National Merit Semifinalist, a member of the Cum Laude Society and a State Quarterfinal qualifier in tennis.
When it comes to future plans, Goyal plans to go to college to major in biomedical engineering, and eventually go into a career in medicine.
“I plan on doing biomedical engineering. It’s gonna be a harder route as opposed to just doing biology or chemistry. But I feel like the past couple years I’ve been in high school, I’ve excelled at things like math and physics, and I feel like my brain is kind of engineered towards those subjects,” Goyal said.
When it comes to music in the future, Goyal hopes to continue to find people to play with wherever his future takes him.
“Hopefully I’ll find a group of good friends similar to what I have now, and we’ll play every now and then, maybe get gigs. I don’t know if I’ll join a strict, like jazz band in college, because I like playing, but I only like playing when I like playing,” Goyal said.
Although involved in many different things, Goyal attributes his success in all of them to his passion for each of those activities.
“When it comes to time management, it’s less about trying to find time for everything. It’s more about me having fun doing all three of those things,” Goyal said.
