Starting work at 8 a.m., they take out their lesson plans, and get ready for a day of educating. Once the bell rings, and all the student leave their class at 3:15 p.m. Their day takes a twist, and they become stars.

Mr. Yost 

Since 2010, Mr. Yost has become a familiar face at Lane. When he is not substituting, he is singing, playing guitar, and writing songs with his indie rock band, The Kickback. Yost is passionate about his creations with the band.

“My favorite song is always the newest one we’re working on and they rarely have a title while we’re working on them,” Yost said. “Songs from our new record that people seem to like are ‘Sting’s Teacher Years’ and ‘White Lodge’.”

The Kickback started as a group in 2008, and since have increased in popularity. If Yost is not substituting at Lane, there is a good chance you will find him touring with the band, especially with their new album, “Sorry All Over The Place,” being out.

“Touring is really hard and as the band’s gotten a little more popular, we’ve really ramped it up over the past couple of years,” Yost said. “ It’s a lot of time away from people you love. I think we’ve been to every contiguous state this year. That’s nuts. It’s tiring but you get to play every day, so that’s fun.”

Yost has accomplished a lot with the band including getting signed with Jullian Records, and getting picked up by a booking agency called ICM Partners. However, he still has more goals he wants to accomplish in the future.

“I want to play Lolla and think we’re maybe close,” Yost said. “I want to write a song for a show. There’s a guy I think we’re going to be making our next record with that I’m really excited about. Small steps, but really cool steps. I just want to keep getting better.”

Yost got into music at a very early age. He started playing the drums at 10, learned how to play the bass at 14, and learned how to play the guitar at 15. It was not until college that he knew he wanted to pursue music in his everyday career.

“The further I got through college, I was realizing that I was willing to do about anything to service a life in music.” Yost said.  “It’s always nice when students ask me why I don’t teach at Lane full time, but substituting here allows me to do two things I really love kind of at the same time.”

Mr. Markese 

Lane students may know Mr. Markese as an Algebra 1 and Geometry teacher. However, they might not know about his passion for music, and that he is in multiple rock bands.

“Currently I play in an original and cover band that mostly plays 90s rock music, and there’s some 60s and 70s,” Markese said. “I’ve played at the House of Blues, Metro, Cubby Bear, Double Door, Hard Rock Cafe, Durty Nellies, and 115 Bourbon St. This summer, we will be playing at 115 Bourbon, Champs in Lake Geneva, various summer block parties in Chicago, and The Vogue in Indianapolis.”

He was even in a math band, called The Postulates, with Mr. Ryan McAdam, Mr. Chris Becker, and Mr. John Dun before some of them moved out of state.

“[We] joked around about writing a song or two, but we weren’t going to start a band,” Markese said. “Then we all of a sudden started writing music about math. It was very spontaneous, let’s put it that way.”

They ended up creating six songs entitled “Story of a Proof,” “Pemdas,” “Foil,” “Similarity Journey,” “Systems of Equations,” and “Checker Solution.” The Postulates had five total performances, and three of them were held at Lane.

“We played a talent show, we played LBTV, and we did an acoustic show for the math department,” Markese said.

“I started playing shows when I was 15, and by my senior year in high school we played talent shows, and battle of the bands,” Markese said. “I took it serious for 10 years, recorded an album, probably 80 to 100 original songs between all the bands that I have been in.”

Mr. Flygt

Mr. Flygt is not only a music teacher at Lane, but a drummer outside of the classroom as well. He is a part of a band called Fatbook, which consists of seven members. They released an album in 2014 entitled “Fatbook”, and had a summer tour in 2014 for it.

“It was the longest that we were ever gone,” Flygt said. “We went from Chicago all the way to LA and that was a lot of fun. We had about 16 to 17 dates over three weeks.”

Other than the countrywide tour, Fatbook have had more recent and local shows around Chicago. In January, they opened up for The Wailer at the House of Blues.

“Most of the stuff that we do are weekend hits, going to Minneapolis, Wisconsin, a lot of stuff around Chicago,” Flygt said. We have a lot of friends in that community.”

Flygt is also a part of a community Samba group that originated in Evanston.

“The other group is affiliated with the Capoeira school. Capoeira  is a form of brazilian singing, dancing, and martial arts,” Flygt said. “Its for people of all ages. I have some younger students, and I have older students that come in. Both of those are essentially non-profit organizations, and they’re a lot of fun.”

Flygt first got involved in music in 8th grade. The first band he dedicated his time to was a Christian rock band.

“From 8th grade to my junior year in high school we recorded three CDs,” Flygt said. “All the guys were older than me, so once I was a sophomore and a junior, I was going to other colleges and hanging out. That’s what I feel grounded me for a lot of things.”

He hopes Lane students pursue hobbies where they get to creatively express themselves, but that does not mean it has to be in a band. He encourages students to get out and make experiences for them to look back on.

“Don’t just get drunk and watch Netflix,” Flygt said. “I always encourage people to be in whatever they want to be, and do something creative and fun.”