It may not have been Tuesday, but on Oct. 4th, the city of Cypress hosted its 44th annual community festival at Oak Knoll Park and invited Chicken Nuggets on a 2sday to play the event for a second time.
The Chicken Nuggets on a 2sday is a teen rock band that has kept classics alive for younger generations since 2020 by performing hit songs like “The Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes and “Mother” by Danzig.
Saturday’s show was like a concert from the video game “Guitar Hero.” They played their original song “Don’t Hold Back,” and 14 classic rock covers, including “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses and “The Pretender” by the Foo Fighters. The guitar player, Gannon Briones, played a powder blue electric guitar while stand-in guitar player Matthew Craig strummed a Ferrari red x-shaped electric guitar.
Lead singer Emily Kashou and bassist Eli Kashou are twins. The band, including drummer Kyle Gaerlan, met and banded together through a local music studio.
“Originally, there were two keyboards, two bassists, two drums, two guitars and two singers. Slowly, people left and people came, but now we are the band,” said Emily Kashou. “We left the studio a while ago because we started to get gigs on our own. We named ourselves the Chicken Nuggets there.”
The band plays at well-known music venues and events like the OC Fair and the House of Blues in Anaheim. According to the band, they have played at Chain Reaction. Their first gig was at Yorba Linda Regional Park, which only allotted them a 30-minute set to play five songs.
Jimmy Fuller, the President of the Cypress Community Festival, said that in 2024, they also booked the band for a 30-minute timeslot. According to Fuller, the band brought in a great turnout, and people requested their return, so they were invited to play this year for an entire hour.
Dozens of guests, ranging in all ages, sat in shaded seats to enjoy the show, while most of the audience included people who were walking by and couldn’t help but stop in the sun to get a chance to watch these kids rock. A group of four young girls ran over to a front row seat of Emily Kashou, playfully dancing next to Eli Kashou while belting out “I’m Just a Girl” by No Doubt.
“They had a great show this weekend,” said Angela Lourenco, the event coordinator for the festival. “We got a lot of feedback about how fun they are to watch on stage or how their energy was really cool. Even the types of songs they played, because they are a younger group of kids, but they play anything from the ’80s and ’90s bops.”
The band is family-oriented and for everyone. When singing Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” Emily Kashou avoided any profanity. The music was so irresistible that a passing mother was forced to stop because her toddler ran onto the dancefloor to dance. Her struggle eventually led her to join him for a head bang to the band’s rendition of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Dani California.”
“These kids are an inspiration to the music scene, ” said fan Noe Guillen. “If anyone gets a chance to expose their kids to a real rock show, this would be a great band to see.”
The Chicken Nuggets on a 2sday recently slowed down on shows to focus on the school year and upcoming extracurriculars, but they expect to play in the future. Their Instagram would announce any upcoming shows.
