By Preston Michelson '13
After a new faculty band rocked the house yesterday during convocation, the community agrees that similar events should occur more often.
Mr. Skyler Saucedo, Dr. Corey Harvin, Mr. Mark Hayes, Mrs. April Queen, Mr. Anthony McFarlane, and Mr. Andrew Godley are resurrecting a faculty rock band. From 2002 to 2004, faculty and staff, both former and present, expressed themselves musically at different convocations per school year.
A former Palmer Trinity School history teacher, Gregg Lightfoot, a drummer, was the leader of that movement.
“One of the things he was interested in doing was bringing a little more rock ‘n roll music and live music to campus,” Hayes said. “One of the ways Lightfoot promoted this music was by “put[ting] out speakers on the second floor balcony looking out over the courtyard on Fridays and playing music.”
Current English teacher Carl Rachelson was also involved with this musical endeavor in the early 2000s.
“They brought me on to sing one song, and then I sang another, and then some more,”
he said. “We did it for the spirit of the school. That was back in the time in which the convocations were a lot more entertainment-based.”
As time went on, Lightfoot and the other members of the faculty rock band went their separate ways.
The band was no more.
That is, until December of last year when Harvin, Saucedo, Hayes, and McFarlane talked about a revival. In the following weeks, Godley and Queen tacked on in order to “fill out the sound.”
After months of rehearsal, “the group was ready for the earliest rock show in America,” Hayes said, referring to the performance occurring at 10:30 a.m. The six-piece band played a seven-song set in front of an astounded crowd, performing songs ranging from classic rock to indie pop.
It was a chance for students to see that faculty members are more than just teachers. On top of enjoying the music, students were left stunned that these teachers had this latent talent.
The faculty rock band started off the performance with a bang, performing “Lake of Fire,” a 1983 single from The Meat Puppets. Harvin showed off his guitar prowess—which surprised no one. What did surprise, however, was his singing talent, which was heard throughout the performance.
They then moved on to a more recent track, “Australia” by The Shins. With their musical ability, the band was able to transform the songs to fit their own, personal musical ability. In this song, not only did McFarlane adapt a trombone part, he performed a solo that proudly displayed his talent.
In the third track, “Walking on the Moon,” Harvin transformed his voice into one extremely redolent of Sting, The Police front-man. This served to show off the eclectic nature of the performance, as this song mixed in reggae influence.
They rejoined the pop sector with the 1994 song “Buddy Holly” by Weezer. Attention was focused on Saucedo and his power drum line while the other members of the band wanted to be “just like Buddy Holly.”
The sestet took a trek to Southern California and one of the kings of surf rock in Dick Dale’s “Misirlou.” The crowd joined in with a rhythmic clap track, at Godley’s request. Once again, McFarlane incorporated his trombone flair by transforming the lead guitar part into a brass solo.
The sixth song on the set list was assuredly one that the student body was familiar with: “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. This song featured McFarlane on glockenspiel, and a lovely duet of both Queen and Harvin.
On an emotional day for Headmaster Sean Murphy, who earlier that morning announced his resignation, loosened up by showing off some of his dance moves—albeit at the behest of Melissa Dangond ’13 and Maria Elena Gutierrez ‘13.
The group finished up their set with Godley as the lead singer of “Stereo” by Pavement. Easily heard was Hayes’s bass line, laying the background for the track as a whole. Halfway through the song, the band elicited some crowd participation, as the audience counted aloud along with the band.
The audience went wild, and many even pleaded for an encore. The performance was a rousing success—officially resuscitating a former tradition in the form of an eclectic group of musicians with eclectic music taste.
If these musicians get their way, this will not be their only performance of the school year. They are tentatively planning on April Fool’s day to sustain their “carnivalesque” feel.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at 11:23AM