Putting the Spotlight on Pharmacy
Solie Lawson | April 21, 2026
Pharmacy bassist Nathan LaClair, left, and guitarist/vocalist Owen Kennedy, right, talk with their bandmates at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C.
Pharmacy is a band on the Warren Wilson College (WWC) campus widely known for its grunge sound and impact on the campus music scene. Many students can be found moshing and raging at Pharmacy shows, either in Bryson Gym or off campus. Fans may be wondering what the future holds for the band since many members are graduating this spring.
Joseph Costello sits talking to his Pharmacy bandmates at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, N.C. (Echo/Vivian Bryan)
Joseph Castello is a senior on the music crew. He started Pharmacy with Hannah Johnson, the band’s drummer,in 2023. Castello is one of the singers and guitarists, along with booking events for Pharmacy. He particularly enjoys the community space created at shows.
“Anytime we do a show here, all my friends come, and I see everybody just having a good time and listening to our music,” Castello said. “It's [also] cool to have spaces where we can all connect and hang out and have fun while I get to play music. That's meaningful.”
Castello mentioned Pharmacy’s upcoming gigs, including a show at Sage Cafe with fellow campus band Girl Fairy Tomboy, Syndicate 99 and others. Other events coming up include a show on April 30 at Fleetwood’s with local Asheville bands, the WWC block party on May 2 and a May 7 show at 27 Club with Asheville bands. Castello mentioned how thankful he is for the following Pharmacy has gained.
Drummer Hannah Johnson talks with their bandmates at Warren Wilson College (WWC) in Swannanoa, N.C. (Echo/Vivian Bryan)
“We couldn't do it without everyone's support, and everyone coming out to have a good time,” Castello said. “Most of our crowd is our friends, which is awesome.”
Johnson joined Pharmacy their freshman year for the annual campus event Goth Wedding, and has been the band’s drummer ever since. Johnson is a junior on the Forestry crew and manages the band's social media. They also love being a part of the band because of the community it creates.
“The shotwithagun show we had recently was so fun,” Johnson said. “It was in Bryson Gym. That's a recent memory, but it's also a great one, because it was so awesome, and I got a big bruise from getting pushed around [from moshing].”
Johnson thinks that the band will pause for the summer and then resume in the fall. Unfortunately, Pharmacy’s other singer and guitarist, Owen Kennedy, will be working in Massachusetts from graduation until November, so the band hopes to find another temporary guitarist.
Kennedy is a senior who joined Pharmacy his sophomore year. His favorite thing is to write riffs and lyrics for the band, as he finds it to be an important form of artistic expression. He has enjoyed growing closer to the other members of the band as they have progressed.
Owen Kennedy hangs out during a practice in Swannanoa, N.C. (Echo/Vivian Bryan)
“[I] like building a friendship through playing music together,” Kennedy said. “It is a super unique experience that I value a lot.”
Eleanor Sandford, a junior who plans to be on the Sound Lab crew next semester, is another vocalist for the band who joined at the beginning of this semester. She described how she has noticed that the more shows the band plays, the more followers they gain. Sanford enjoys how rewarding this is, and has loved to grow closer with the band throughout the events they have played.
“It's fun to spend time with the same people you weren't particularly close [to] before,” Sandford said.
Nathan LaClair at a Pharmacy band practice in Swannanoa, N.C. (Echo/Vivian Bryan)
Nathan LaClair is the bassist of Pharmacy and a senior on the Kittridge Art Center crew. He said that despite Kennedy’s absence in the fall, the band hopes to stay together. He remembers one of the first off-campus shows, played at local venue Static Age, as a pivotal point for the band.
“When you're playing off campus at an actual venue, like the first time we got our check from the door, [it’s] really cool, because it’s not just [about] the money itself, but the fact that people would pay to see us play,” LaClair said. “I think that show was a really good one for us. We were really good on stage. It was just a really fun time overall.”
LaClair has noticed how the music scene has changed throughout his time at WWC. Pharmacy was one of the first grunge bands on campus, different from the folk music that took over the music scene on campus.
“I'm excited to see what happens with music here on campus after we're gone, because I've been here long enough to really see the progression of the campus music scene,” LaClair said.
The founding of Pharmacy was a step toward a broadening of genres played on campus, and since then has caused other grunge bands to start at WWC. Pharmacy hopes to continue to contribute to this sound and space at the college, even as some members graduate.