(April 26, 2002) — The last few notes and beats of Metallica’s “The Call Of Ktulu” echo in the small, dim garage. If you look closely, the strings of the Ibanez Soundgear bass don’t even have a chance to stop vibrating before the members of Chiara continue into an encore of one of their original songs. Listening to their melodic riffs and perfectly synchronized drum beats, I have to remind myself that these are high school students and they have been playing together for only a year. The three-piece rock band consists of senior Jung Park on electric guitar, sophomore Tabitha Avedissian on drums and sophomore Alec Hassell on bass. Chiara (pronounced tiara with a k) began as part of Park’s senior project to start a band and continued on to weekly practices, a demo CD and performances in concerts and at parties. All of Chiara’s songs are written by the group. Park explained that the songwriting process usually begins with a riff that he creates, after which the band gets together to add their remaining components of the song. Although the musicians currently don’t have a vocalist, some of their songs include lyrics, also written by Park. One of the band’s goals is to have everyone more heavily involved in the songwriting process, according to Park. Although the group records all of their songs on CD, the members explained that they prefer to be known as a live band because there is “more intensity in [the] live show,” which isn’t captured on CD. According to Hassell, performing live is the best aspect of being in a band because “we have more control over how we play live.” The members of Chiara say that their musical influences range from rock legend Metallica to more contemporary artists like A Perfect Circle and Tool. Hassell and Park met last year while trying to establish the school’s Guitar Club. They began practicing together and asked Avedissian to join when they heard her playing the drums. Hassell, Park and Avedissian say they practice their respective instruments for hours at a time to perfect their musical styles. Hassell explains that his bass has “become a part of [him].” While the band currently has no big plans for the future, its members say that they are all certain they want to continue with their respective instruments. Avedissian said that playing the drums is “not enough as a hobby” and plans on “getting famous. I can’t imagine it as a second thing to do.” Chiara’s next performance will be at “Encore,” a student-run concert, scheduled for May 3 at 7 p.m. in the Glendale Central Library auditorium.