Immersed in Music bands are showcasing their wide variety of musical tastes in the songs they are choosing to learn. Young Rockers bands have begun learning songs from American Authors, Bruno Mars and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Rockers band members have begun work on covers by the Jackson Five, the Beatles, Green Day, Coldplay, and NoMBe.
The Tuesday evening band that chose Paramore’s recent hit “Hard Times” spent the first few minutes talking about their nervousness about whether they were prepared enough to get started; then, after listening to the song a few times and mapping its structure, they played through the intro, verse and chorus. With some individual help from the staff on a few parts, by the end of an hour and a half of rehearsal, they were able to play through the entire song enthusiastically.
Some bands have also experienced the reality of frustration early in the process. Charlemagne originally chose Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes,” an extremely difficult song because of it’s overlaid polyrhythms, only to realize that, although they had spent the last week learning their individual parts, they were struggling to get them all to fit together. They decided to shelve the song for now, and start with something a bit easier, with the plan being to return to it once they had spent a little more time working together. They have chosen “Love Me” by Charlie Bliss to do first.
The Watergate continues to develop new original music. With the addition of Patrick Schmidt, their new drummer, they have added a new dimension to their songwriting because of Patrick’s interest and ability in writing lyrics. The result is that their original sound is expanding and maturing, the logical progression for a group of musicians who are highly committed to each other and their music.