North Harford is familiar with talent which is present in extracurricular events such as talent shows and the school band, and its clubs. However, one student has reached into the outside world and has jammed with her bandmates on stages all across Harford County.   

     Senior Elle Saulsbury has been delving into the music scene since freshman year. At 15, she began learning guitar, and then writing music shortly after.

     She started doing live performances at the place she now works, Music Land. She quickly joined a band, “Amethyst”. However, it was short lived. “My friend Austin was the drummer in both bands, so when Amethyst broke up, he asked me to play bass in Heartbent,” Saulsbury explains.  

     Since then, they have performed in a number of places as a band, including The State Theatre of Havre de Grace, Zen West, and Black-Eyed Suzie’s, where they put on a show every Wednesday night. “We’ve performed at a large portion of Harford County’s music scene,” Saulsbury says.  “The coolest has been Zen West in my opinion, but that’s about to change on Dec. 17 when we play at The Recher,” she adds.

     Recently, on Nov. 5, Heartbent had their one-year anniversary, and had a huge performance to celebrate. Saulsbury describes it as being one of her favorite memories of the band. The turnout was “a lot more than we expected,” even compelling the lead guitarist, Neel, to travel from Boston to play. 

     Along with the performance, “’Poser Party’ came out on all streaming platforms,” says Saulsbury, “and it was the first EP that I was a part of.” She describes it as a five-song pop-punk EP, and it was months in the making. 

     As a band, the bassist says that their biggest goal currently is to put on a tour across the East Coast during next summer. She says they “have gotten the chance to make connections with out of state venues by playing shows at festivals in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and soon to be New York.” She knows it is a lot of dedication and hard work, but everyone is working extra to make it come to fruition. 

     Due to her dedication to music and maintaining her job, Saulsbury made the decision to be a part-time senior this year. “Balancing music and school is a little bit difficult, but I manage to get it done,” she says, “and during free time at school, I’ll work on band stuff, such as updating our website, socials, and message bookers.” 

    Lastly, she adds that she writes her own music on the side, over 30, including drafts. “Some are acoustic, some are done on the piano, and others are full electric guitar, drums, etc.” Saulsbury says.. She hopes to release some of her own songs in the near future.