Suburban Chicago's Got Talent winner Seasalt to play Septemberfest

Seasalt swept Suburban Chicago's Got Talent this summer.

The band, made up of four suburban teens, won both the talent competition's grand prize and Fan Favorite after receiving the most online votes at dailyherald.com.

“I knew the competition was something good for me last year, and I thought it would be great for us,” said Seasalt member Kayla Seeber, who won Fan Favorite as a solo singer-songwriter in the 2017 season of Suburban Chicago's Got Talent.

“I wanted to see what it would be like to put a band in that competitive atmosphere,” Seeber said. “It was also a cool way to meet other bands and make connections.”

Seasalt formed just last year after Seeber met up with Becky Sargeant of Woodstock at the Lake Geneva House of Music band camp in Wisconsin. Drew Zaremba of Richmond came aboard as Seasalt's drummer, while Jon O'Brien, also of Richmond, joined as a bassist.

Seasalt is now starting to enjoy some of the winning spoils of Suburban Chicago's Got Talent. Part of the grand prize, which also includes a development package, was a 5 p.m. Saturday performance spot at Schaumburg's Septemberfest.

In addition, Seasalt will perform with other top competition finalists as part of Randhurst Village's Street Fest in Mount Prospect at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8.

The plan for Septemberfest, Zaremba said, is to play original songs off the band's EP, “Tea Party for Teens,” as well as new material.

“We're also going to be covering some rock classics as well,” he said.

Seeber and Sargeant switch off doing the bulk of original songwriting and lead singing for Seasalt. Each member has different musical tastes, though Sargeant said that they're all fans of the band Paramore and of 1990s music, in general.

“It's pretty much a democracy,” said Sargeant about the songwriting duties. “Earlier on, it was definitely 'This is a Kayla song,' or 'This is a Becky song.' But now we're starting to gel a lot more and the songs are becoming more about us.”

Though a relatively young band, Seasalt has started to book performing gigs on its own. Notably, Seasalt recently opened for the band Sponge at the RocHaus in West Dundee.

But in the meantime, Seasalt plans to take full advantage of its Suburban Chicago's Got Talent prizes.

O'Brien is looking forward to doing an acoustic set in the intimate Club Arcada, the third floor cabaret space in the historic St. Charles venue. As for Zaremba, he is eager to take advantage of studio time at The Jam Lab in Brookfield.

“As a band when we're playing shows, we really love to get to know who we're playing with, and make it a point to make friends,” said Sargeant about the band's ethos. “Not only is it the music, but the people we meet.”

For its seventh season, Suburban Chicago's Got Talent was co-sponsored by the Daily Herald, Onesti Entertainment, Amita Health, Zeigler Auto Group, Salon Lorrene and the village of Schaumburg.

Seasalt concerts

<b>Septemberfest:</b> Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center, 101 Schaumburg Court, Schaumburg, (847) 895-4500 or septemberfest.org

<b>Time:</b> 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1

<b>Tickets:</b> Free admission; $10 daily VIP concert access; $25 VIP three-day concert access

<b>Street Fest:</b> Randhurst Village, 1 Randhurst Village Drive, Mount Prospect. (847) 259-0500 or randhurstvillage.com

<b>Time:</b> 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8, along with other top 10 Suburban Chicago's Got Talent finalists Leo Sclamberg, Shannon Nugent and Johnny Don't

<b>Admission:</b> Free