If you ask students at the Friends School of Baltimore about Shutter Theory, most will respond with an enthusiastic nod, or some variation of “Oh yeah! Brack and them, right?” The band Shutter Theory is, indeed, Brack and them. 

“Brack and I kind of just one day met up in the band room at the end of eighth grade; he was on guitar, and I didn’t really have anything else to play, you know. So I just went on the drums. This is the first time that I had ever played the drums. Um, and we kind of just jammed.”

That’s Shutter Theory’s drummer, guitarist, and vocalist, Neil Cooper ’26, describing the day where he and lead guitarist and singer Brack Wilner ’26 expanded their musical journey.

From the poorly sound-proofed office behind the wind ensemble’s arc of chairs, Band Director Wade Zagurski noticed, and heard, Brack and Neil “messing around in the band room” with the instruments already there at their disposal. Mr. Zagurski, Also known as “Mr. Z” by his beloved jazzers and wind ensemble musicians, lent the two a drum kit and a guitar.

“That was such a huge thing for us, when he let us borrow those instruments” because “we had that stuff to use all summer,”says Brack, beaming.

It was never just the two of them though—Friends Middle School alum Jack Jaffee ’26, a current Greyhound at the Gilman School, began playing bass for the band that same summer, with no prior experience with the instrument. Brack, playing with a Christmas tree pop-it fidget from the college counseling room, emphasizes that Jack plays a critical role in the band, not only as a bassist, but also because “he gives us so much creative input; he was also a producer before.”

All three had been at Friends since first grade, but began getting closer in fifth. From then, their friendship grew and strengthened, even after Jack changed schools. 

Straightening in their chairs, excited to describe their bond, Neil and Brack agree that there has always been chemistry between them all.

“We always knew we were locked in with the chemistry. I definitely would say as it keeps going, I just notice it even more,” says Brack. “Neil, Jack and I have spent so much time sitting in a room together, just, like, duking it out.”

Neil, wearing a Duster hat signed by Clay Parton, visibly agrees with a nod and a smile. 

“Once we started making music, the music became a part of the friendship,” he adds. “As we were developing as musicians, we were also developing as friends.”

Brack, Jack, and Neil have spent countless hours jamming, recording, and practicing music, mainly in Neil’s house. Their practice room has a drum kit, a tangle of wires, amps, family pictures, microphone stands from which headphones hang, and a huge collection of literature classics along the shelves.

They have brought their creation and ideas from within this room to Baltimore venues. 

Shutter Theory has performed many times at the Ottobar and the Undercroft. More recently, the band has successfully expanded their audience to Washington, DC at the Pocket.

After the release of their new album Chain Reaction in early January, the band announced concert dates that took place in the following three months. The concerts in which they were the main act, the Undercroft and the Pocket, have sold out completely.

Despite their confident stage presence – full of head banging, crowd surfing, and writhing on the floor – they say they experience the common anxiety that comes before sharing their music to so many listeners.

Located in the basement of The Church of the Guardian Angel in Remington, the Undercroft is an essential venue in Baltimore’s music scene. It’s also where Neil needed to settle down before Shutter Theory’s first show of 2025 on March 8.

“I was reading the children’s picture books in the back of the [Undercroft]. I was just like, ‘Alright, let me just center myself and like, just chill,’ ” he remembers. “It’s obviously all different when you go up on stage; when you’re doing it, you know, it feels a lot better. I think there’s always gonna be a little bit of nerves, at least for me. But I think that’s a good thing.”

Brack agrees that, after the uneasiness, it is exciting to perform once he steps onstage.

“To be on stage is an intense thing. It’s just so much fun, especially down at the Undercroft. I feel like being able to let loose and do what you want as a musician and as a performer is a lot of fun,” he says. “You know, you feel free, just free to do whatever.”

One of Brack’s most vivid memories on stage is when they performed “Fetch” (featuring Oliver Wu ’26 on the violin) from their new album. The only two lines of the song are screamed twice: “All my friends wouldn’t believe me, if I told them.”

Brach says he felt that intense feeling when he stepped away from the mic up to the stage’s edge to sing the words “All my friends” – to all his friends, who were singing along with him. 

When Chain Reaction came out on January 10, 2025, immediately everyone at school wanted to listen. On the Junior Hall whiteboard next to the calendar with important events and birthdays appeared a voting chart with students’ favorite song.

The Junior Hall boom box, emblazoned with black letters spelling out “Poop?” and usually playing Bach or Tchaikovsky, was blasting the CD of Chain Reaction brought by Elliott “Chud” DeFilippis ’26 after school. The lyrics of “Head on Collision” echoed through the Upper School halls.

Although the entire album was a hit within and beyond the walls of Friends School of Baltimore, Shutter Theory is particularly proud of the song “Brothers.” They say that’s because the song is an embodiment of Brack, Jack, and Neil’s brotherhood and chemistry.

“Not because of the lyrics or something, just how the song kind of happened,” Brack explains. “There’s a video of Neil and I playing the song on the first day, and then five minutes later after the recording happened it was the best. It’s underneath the recorded final version. [J]ust the way that song came together was super natural and easy.”

As Brack tells the story, Neil pulls out his phone to play “Brothers” and skips to his favorite part.

“I like when it gets – I don’t know if  ‘calm down’ are the words – but when it goes…” Neil says, grinning as he illustrates the rhythm, pitches, and the feeling of this part with his hands in the air. “I love how at the very end, the more quiet part, I love how sonically… right here. Yes, this.”

By this point, Neil is so engrossed in his and his band’s creation that he hums the song, bobs his head, and continues to draw the shapes and emotion of this last bit of “Brothers” in the air.

“It’s so raw and vulnerable. It’s just like, ‘Damn,’ ” he says. “Because before, Brack was yelling at you. But then this feels like he’s yelling at you to your heart, you know?”

Smiling and proud, Neil slips his phone back into the pocket of his jeans. Hands now free, he begins drumming an invisible kit as his bandmate begins talking about Shutter Theory’s potential next steps.  

Brack, Jack, and Neil are excited but unsure as to what exactly the future of the band looks like. The Christmas tree pop-it fidget now broken, Brack says the band’s goal is to reach a wider audience with more shows than previous years.

Shutter Theory also wants to expand their music in various ways, such as featuring a female vocalist or collaborating on and creating a split album.