Nicole Fox - The Basement Band

Sumair Ahluwalia screams into the microphone while playing electric guitar during the Subterfuge show at Commune in Carbondale, Illinois on Jan. 26, 2024.

Sub-ter-fuge (noun): deceit used in order to acheive one's goal. It is also the name of a young band stepping onto the Carbondale music scene and making their voice known. For the last few months, Subterfuge has been making music and playing their original songs in punk house basement shows across town.

Members include vocalist Keen Simpson (21), guitarist Sumair Ahluwalia (22), bassist Johnston Jacob Green Jr (19), and drummer Jackson Yeager (18). Yeager says that although he’s been casually playing for years, he only recently started taking music seriously. “I love music more every day,” he says.

Audience members listen as Subterfuge plays through their setlist at Birdhouse in Carbondale, Illinois on Feb. 23, 2024.

Keen Simpson of the band Subterfuge screams into the microphone during practice on Jan. 25, 2024. This week, the band practiced at the venue of their upcoming show, the basement of "Commune" punk house.

Three of the members, Simpson, Green, and Yeager, are current SIU undergraduate students. Ahluwalia is a recent graduate of SIU who plans to return next semester as a graduate student. At this point, the band is spending more of their time on songwriting and practicing than they are on their schoolwork, but according to them, that’s just what it takes to succeed.

Their lyrics discuss topics such as failed relationships, social constructions, and government control. And while the entire band plays a role in creating and perfecting their songs, the other members claim that most of their ideas come from Ahluwalia.

Vocalist Keen Simpson holds up the setlist for Subterfuge's Feb. 23, 2024 show at Birdhouse in Carbondale, Illinois.

Bassist Johnston Jacob Green Jr flips his hair as he wails on his bass during the group's show on Jan. 26, 2024 at Commune in Carbondale, Illinois.

“I’m not your machine

Won’t listen to you man

I’m just a human

But I am my own being”

Above is an excerpt from Subterfuge’s recently released song “Freedom to Starve,” which contains strong tones of rebellion and disobedience.

Both Simpson and Ahluwalia are history students, and Simpson says that studying history pushed him towards this style of music. “When you learn about history you learn about all the s*** the government does that you should be mad about.”

Audience members push each other around the small dance space at Birdhouse in Carbondale, Illinois on Feb. 23, 2024.

This same sentiment is shared by the operators of Commune, the venue of Subterfuge’s most recent show. With huge banners strung behind the performance area reading “Queer Liberation Now” and “Abolish the Police” the political leanings of the house are not a secret. “It’s probably our favorite basement,” Ahluwalia states.

Audience members mosh to one of Subterfuge's original songs during their Jan. 26 show at Commune.

Sumair Ahluwalia (left) and Keen Simpson of Subterfuge perform one of the band's original songs during a set.

The group went on to play in the Blackout Festival, occurring the weekend before the total solar eclipse on April 8th. The festival took place over four locations around Carbondale, include Commune, punk houses Lost Cross and Birdhouse, and PK’s bar. The band's self-titled album is also now available to stream on Spotify.

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