On Saturday, May 31, a crowd gathered to watch the teen band FAT Betty electrify the stage during Teen Battle of the Bands. Their individual talents, combined with their seamless collaboration, stood out. Not only did they win, but their cover of “The Spirit of Radio” by Rush also went viral online, capturing the attention of over 400,000 viewers.

The band is composed of Archie Williams junior singer Petra Betti, senior pianist Teo Donnelley, senior guitarist Fin Donnelley, junior drummer Alex Casey, and San Marin student Isabella Lindsay on bass.

FAT Betty formed in 2024, playing for San Rafael PorchFest, an annual music event held in the Gerstle Park Neighborhood. While Alex and Petra had known each other since middle school, Alex met Fin and Teo through Archie Williams’ Performance Workshop (PW) class, an elective for students to rehearse, perform, and collaborate on music. 

“Alex [said], ‘There are these twins in PW,’ and I went to a few shows, and so I knew that [Fin and Teo] were in PW, and [Alex] was like, they’re getting really good. We reached out to them before somebody else could track them down,” Petra said. 

The band name, FAT Betty, was a combination of Fin, Alex, and Teo’s initials with Petra’s last name, Betti, spelled with a “y” at the end for aesthetic appeal. 

FAT Betty performs a combination of funk, jazz, and classic rock. Their sets typically include a variety of covers, featuring artists such as Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Lake Street Dive, appealing to audiences with diverse musical preferences. 

“The nice thing is that we’re not playing all the same genre. We have Rush, which is progressive rock, then we also have the classics, like Led Zeppelin, and then we have Lake Street Dive, and Steely Dan, which you can dance to and chill,” Teo said. 

In addition to playing covers, FAT Betty writes original songs. Their creative process for writing often begins by riffing and collaborating on ideas. They typically send ideas to each other in a group chat and figure out which ones they like.

“It’s not really an official way of doing it, or anything like that. We kind of just tried to figure it out all together,” said Teo.

Following PorchFest in 2024, FAT Betty took a long break before entering the 2025 Teen Battle of the Bands, where they regrouped and practiced in preparation for the event.

“There was the Battle of the Bands. So I was like, ‘Hey, we should try and win this,’” Alex said. 

FAT Betty stepped onstage during the Battle of the Bands, performing three songs. They began their set with an unforgettable cover of “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette, before jumping into a cover of the electric blues-rock song “The Lemon Song” by Led Zeppelin, where they showcased their range of skills. Finally, they performed the showstopper of the day, “The Spirit of Radio” by Rush, which was complex and energetic. 

A panel of experienced musicians judged FAT Betty along with the other 10 high school bands. Throughout their set, a crowd gathered in San Anselmo Creek Park, cheering for FAT Betty as they performed. In the end, FAT Betty won the Battle of the Bands and the award of 1,000 dollars. 

After the performance, they posted a video of each of the songs they performed, including their cover of “The Spirit of Radio” by Rush. The video ultimately garnered 400,000 views and thousands of positive comments. However, Teo believes that the band’s primary motivations are still to have fun and improve, not just for YouTube. 

“The main thing we’re trying to do is not for YouTube. It’s just to have fun. And that’s why we use this band itself for having fun and stuff like that, but it’s definitely [a cool aspect] that we use YouTube,” Teo said. 

As a result of winning the Battle of the Bands, Fat Betty was awarded a studio recording session by producers and local musicians Craig Bartock and Aidan Nelson. FAT Betty hopes to record more original songs and release them on Spotify, possibly even creating an album. 

“The performances have been getting better and better. Now we’re trying to put our originals on Spotify so everyone can listen to them. So hopefully, we can come out with an album if we write enough originals,” Petra said. 

After gaining attention from a musical win and a viral video, FAT Betty has continued performing, attracting audiences who discovered them online. Despite this attention, their ultimate goal of improving their performance remains unchanged.