Jan 26-29, 2006
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
School of Rock tears down "The Wall"
By Kari Reitan
Daily Texan Staff
Crowded on Redrum’s dimly-lit back porch, the band awaits its first performance. Some members rattle their drum sticks on the porch’s metal railing, others softly strum their electric guitars, most huddle together sharing anxiety and excitement.
“All those wires are a hazard,” Cory Rosenstein-Ford says glancing in the direction of the awaiting stage.
“That’s why I like being a drummer, because you get to sit down and be like ‘Haha I can’t trip,’” Autumn Reynolds boasts.
Turning his attention to the guitar slung over his shoulder, Cory spends the last few moments before his debut sliding his fingers over its taut strings. He is one of 15 students of the Paul Green School of Rock in Austin. In only 12 weeks, the school of aspiring musicians has transformed into a rock ‘n’ roll band.
School-manager-turned-band-manager Rick Carney ushers his jittery pupils towards the stage shouting, “Who’s in the first song?”
“What’s the first song?” ten-year-old guitarist Colin Fish asks nervously.
The children cluster around the entrance to the stage scanning the crowd for their parents’ reassuring faces.
The band is performing Pink Floyd’s classic double album The Wall in its entirety. A bold cover for even the most seasoned musician, the 1979 concept album weaves fragmented musical asides with longer, more album-oriented numbers that showcase sweltering guitar riffs, meandering piano and thundering bass lines.
The School of Rock believes that the best way to learn music is by playing it, and what better music to learn than the compositions of past rock legends?
“It is never even suggested that these kids shouldn’t be able to learn and play their parts,” the school’s manifesto reads. “Thus, if they fail, they fail aiming at the best. And when they succeed, which is more often than not, they have accomplished something extraordinary.”
The band files onto the stage dawning bright red armbands featuring The Wall’s logo of crossed hammers. Under the piercing spotlights they rush to situate themselves behind their instruments. Smoke coils around the drum kit as the drummer cracks his sticks above his head counting to six. The first notes of the concert blare through the speakers and the crowd hollers in approval.
The momentum carries through “Another Brick in the Wall, Part II,” a radio staple; the crowd claps along with the baseline as the kids gather around microphones shouting the song’s famous chorus. “Hey teachers, leave them kids alone!”
Smaller than his band mates, Jack Grimes stands on his tiptoes to raise his voice to the microphone. The anti-teacher anthem is brought to life by the young musicians as they raise their fists in the air with defiance.
Though the music is a blast from the past, the performance showcases the promise of a new generation of musicians.
A bartender leans against the dark wood bar and smiles as the kids pound out the epic sound of The Wall. “I’m so glad I’m working tonight,” she says. “This is awesome.”
“Isn’t it great?” a young man holding a Budweiser bottle says enthusiastically. “I’m so glad I came.”
For the final song, the entire band crowds onto the stage. Hoisting devil horns into the air, the students chant together “Tear down the wall!” and in that moment, they became rock stars.
“From the first note to the last, it was one long outstanding moment,” Carney says.
Ramones Tribute show and Funk and Reggae show scheduled for late May.