By Christy Wolyniak

Although school may be out, Seattle’s School of Rock is still going full throttle, empowering young students to continue learning and pursue their dreams as musicians.

The Seattle School of Rock students work hard all year long under expert training and musical instruction and will transfer those skills directly into their live performances.

“Music is much more than any kind of competition, it’s a community that we share with one another,” said Seattle School of Rock Music Director, Zeke Trosper.

For seven young Seattle School of Rock students ages 12 to 14, the dream of performing live in front of thousands became a reality at Milwaukee’s 46th Annual Summerfest, also known as “The World’s Largest Music Festival.” Featured bands included Outkast, Lady Gaga, and Dave Matthews.

The Battle of the Bands competition titled GEMBA or “real place” in Japanese, opened the stage to fifty-nine bands and over 500 talented students from across the country and Canada.

Trosper described Summerfest as sort of a much longer Sasquatch Festival without the camping in the desert part (the festival goes 10 days), mixed with the coolest State Fair.

Student-formed with a tight group of friends from the Seattle School of Rock, the house band hit the road on a mini tour, performing in two smaller venues before the busy Summerfest weekend.

“A lot of it was focusing not only on musicianship – making sure timing was correct and that notes were clear and articulate, but also talking about how to channel the energy and really perform to bring the audience into their performance,” said Trosper of working with the Seattle School of Rock’s house band.

“When you’re performing and having time of your life, everyone in the audience wants to share that with you. I was floored by their performance, watching the students run all over the stage like maniacs and putting everything they had into it.”

The band played three songs at GEMBA in 15-minute sets, shredding it up with some metal and funk in “Ace is High” by Iron Maiden, “Them Bones” by Alice in Chains and “Cult of Personality” by Living Color.

Guitarist and bass player Owen Ashley, 13, describes his own band as a ‘sludge metal band – slower and heavier with a bit of a groove to it.’

“I wasn’t really nervous, I was kind of used to the scene by now, but it was definitely the biggest stage I’ve ever played at so that was pretty cool,” said Ashley of his experience at GEMBA.

As Seattleites well know, weather can be detrimental to events such as music festivals. In the house band’s case, rain moved in their favor. The band’s audience of a few hundred was soon brimming with an upwards of 3,000 guests thanks to a friendly downpour and the fact that their band occupied one of the two covered stages.
Last year, the Seattle School of Rock’s house band was undefeated and left as proud GEMBA Champions. Although this year’s band did not make it to the finals, the students took the disappointment with grace and enjoyed watching the many talented bands perform.

“I think what really impressed me was the way the kids handled not making it into the finals. They were maybe bummed out for about five minutes, but then their attitudes quickly changed and they recognized what a great experience it was and how much they learned,” said Trosper. “They were all up at the very front of the stage, cheering every group of kids on with all their hearts. It impressed me so much how they learned how to be gracious.”

School of Rock seeks to empower and challenge its young musicians to pursue their dreams and become well equipped for the developing music and entertainment world prior to graduation. The school not only encompasses music education and collaboration, but also an unspoken acceptance of all kinds of students and backgrounds, creating a diverse musical environment.

“[It’s watching these kids get excited about music and falling in love with it, and when they have those breakthrough moments and are able to feel incredibly fulfilled and proud about something they’ve done,” said Trosper. “Our school is one of those places where kids may not fit in anywhere else, but they come here and become part of a home.”

“When I came back I felt like I was better musician, like I knew more, and then experiencing all these things with my friends. I can’t forget this,” said Ashley, who strongly encourages other School of Rock bands thinking about trying out for next year’s competition not to give it a second thought and sign up.

Up next for the School of Rock will be a Queens of the Stone Age show later this summer and a concert at a Bellevue skate park featuring big names in the skating world.