NEW STUDENT BAND AMPS UP

Jimmy And The Pickles plan their first performance

ARTS AND CULTURE | March 2025

Jimmy And The Pickles are practicing for their next gig, and with months of practice and several songs under their belts, their upcoming gig is one to gossip about.

There are currently six members in the band: Cooper Kenney (bass), Cooper Voglewede (guitar), Katie Tschaekofske (keyboard and vocals), Shaelyn Dengel (vocals), Jacob Gross (guitar) and Logan Abrahamson (drums).

Abrahamson and Voglewede are the two founding members of the band. They used their past experience with other musicians and accumulated studio space to jumpstart their musical careers.

The other members quickly started joining soon after. Tschaekofske joined the band through connections in theater, Gross through the Bisman Symphony, Dengel through Century’s (unofficial) Film Club and Kenney because they needed a bass player.

Since the summer of 2025, they have typically met every weekend in a basement studio to rehearse, record and film music and advertising content. They building up months of experience for their first appearance.

Interview with Jacob Gross

Sixteen-year-old guitarist Jacob Gross has played guitar since 2024. “It wasn’t my main instrument, but I found it had a very nice sound and a good feel,” said Gross.  

Many musicians are multi-instru-mentalists, like Gross, who originally played cello but easily picked up gui-tar from his experience with stringed instruments.

Learning an instrument requires in-spiration. Without a basis of skilled players to learn from, grasping an instrument can be very difficult. Knowing talented artists, learning new songs, and playing in a group can make this process much easier.

“Some artists that inspire me are Santana, Eddie Van Halen and Slash,” said Gross.

Jimmy And The Pickles have an exten-sive set list with favorites, ranging from ‘60’s pop to 2000’s indie rock.

“We are bringing some of our best songs, one being The Chain by Fleetwood Mac,” said Jacob.

Finding gigs

Locating a spot to perform can be tough and gigs usually have to be planned weeks or months in advance. Preparing for that show, especially as a beginner band, is much more tedious, though.

Getting a gig as a headliner or the main performance, calls for upwards of two hours of music and an engag-ing stage presence. Being an

opener for a band, on the other hand, requires much less, needing only 30 minutes to one hour of mat-erial, which is what Jimmy And The Pickles are aiming for in their first gig.

Once the set list is ready, then comes booking the show.

There are many locations to perform at all across Bismarck. Rhythm Records, a main street record shop, holds gigs almost every week, tailor-ing to amateur artists across the area and giving them an opportunity to play their music for an audience.

Other locations, like Laughing Sun Brewery, are targeted towards more experienced musicians and perform-ers. In January, Laughing Sun hosted famous comedian David Koechner, selling out shows and proving that not just anybody is deserving of that stage.

Although a set time for a gig has not been decided, Jimmy And The Pickles are hoping to land one at Rhythm Records in late March or early April.

Social media

Listed below are the Instagram handles of some of Century’s artists, organized by genre:

Jazz: Hamilton Trio | @hamiltontrio

Indie/Rock: Jimmy And The Pickles | @jimmy_and_the_pickles