The chemistry between Maggie Dooner, Austin Cieszko and RJ Levychin is undeniable.  

The close friends met in Day Hall during freshman year when Dooner and Cieszko lived on the same floor and Levychin lived a few floors below. Once they discovered that they all had a mutual love for making music, they became fast friends and formed a musical group called Sky Club.  

Now sophomores, Cieszko, a television, radio and film major and music industry minor, makes all of the beats and handles music production. Levychin, an information management and technology major, typically raps the verses of the songs and writes the lyrics, while Dooner, a psychology major, sings the backup vocals and choruses.  

Although all three artists have very unique styles and come from different musical backgrounds, they mesh together well.  

Dooner grew up in a family full of talent — her whole family sings and her sister does musical theater, so she began going to open mic nights and developing her own individual voice.  

Cieszko learned the fundamentals of piano when he was 6 years old. When he got into high school, he channeled his piano background into cutting simple beats onto his computer, which then developed into more complex instrumental songs.  

Levychin was in dance classes from when he was 3 years old until he was 10, and he also took improvisation classes. From early on he had a well-rounded array of creative output. Frustrated with the complacency that has sprouted recently in the hip-hop sphere, he decided to start creating his own songs. 

The friends stumbled across each other’s musical talent almost accidentally. Through mutual friends, Levychin heard that Cieszko liked making music, but because his electronic dance music differed so much from Levychin’s hip-hop, he never thought the two would collaborate. That was until he checked out Cieszko’s SoundCloud and loved every song.  

Dooner and Cieszko were neighbors, and Cieszko would always play his beats for Dooner. One day, Cieszko showed Dooner a song that reminded her of her favorite song from high school, “Set Fire to the Third Bar” by Snow Patrol. She began singing the chorus over Cieszko’s beat, and it ended up clicking perfectly. When they put their recording on SoundCloud, Levychin heard it, and had to join the team.  

“I was ready to get on my knees and beg,” Levychin joked.  

As the song attracted attention, the friends became Sky Club, named after the first beat that Cieszko created while flying with Delta Air Lines Sky Club.  

While some songs they create are very trap-heavy with hip-hop based lyrics, other songs feel similar to the Chainsmokers, with Dooner singing. When they’re feeling bold, it may switch and Dooner will rap and Levychin sings.  

“Writing a lot of the lyrics is really cool to me because I can force both of them to get out of their comfort zone,” Levychin said, causing Dooner to laugh in agreement. “They don’t know how much versatility they have, so showing them them that they can do things they’ve never done is really cool.” 

“I never thought I’d be rapping on a song, like, who am I?” Dooner said.  

In return, Dooner and Cieszko push Levychin to go out of his comfort zone as well. Putting chemistry aside, this allows for Sky Club to grow not only together, but individually as artists as well.  

The group admits they are a lot more patient than they were last year. Instead of finishing a song and wanting to drop it immediately, they recognize they can go back to a song and make it even better, until it is completely perfect and finished.  

“Everything I do on my computer is self-taught,” Cieszko said, “So every next song that I make will be a little more complex in the beat and the more complex a beat is, the more complex the lyrics can be … we’re learning the whole time.” 

Sky Club recently signed with Marshall Street Records, a student-run label, which has helped the group grow past being “just dorm room musicians,” as Cieszko put it, by setting up performances and photo shoots.   

So far they have performed at Big Red on Euclid Avenue and other various house parties, but on Nov. 16 they will be performing at the Jabberwocky Cafe in Schine Student Center. The group has two singles up on their SoundCloud right now, but within the next two weeks they will be releasing a song that will be available on Spotify and Apple Music. By the end of the academic year, the group plans to release an EP.  

Although they now have a professional place to record, each song still starts from floor five of Booth Hall, where they live.  

Levychin said, “Our rooms are close enough so that when he’s making a beat and bumping it out of his room, I can hear it in my room so clearly and he’ll be yelling like, ‘RJ, do you like this?’ and I’ll yell back, ‘Yes, Austin.’” 

Luckily, this doesn’t bother Cieszko’s roommate, Matthew DeMattia, who they jokingly call their manager because he always was around when they were making music.  

“The chemistry of Sky Club is no more evident than when they’re developing a song. The process is pure collaboration,” DeMattia said. 

“We realized quickly that we respected each other’s talent and we were really intrigued by how easy it was to work together, especially at a very early stage in our group,” Levychin said. “It’s hard to find people you mesh with easily.” 

Published on November 8, 2016 at 8:41 pm

Contact: lmeyers@syr.edu