Rocking the Boat at Victoria Music Festival

18 March 2016Liam B, Ellis ‘16

Last Wednesday, Brentwood’s Advanced Rock Band and Composition Rock Band were bussed to a church in Victoria, where we had the pleasure of performing in the Victoria Music Festival. We were easily the best competitive rock bands at the festival: we were the only competitive rock bands in attendance. The Advanced Rock Band played first, waking up the drowsy audience of adjudicators and schoolchildren with Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire,” featuring feisty vocals from Zaid A, Ellis ‘17. We transitioned into the hard-edged groove of Pink’s “Funhouse,” sung by our sole female band member Sarah B, Hope ‘16. Next up was the Composition Rock Band, which performed two mesmerising original pieces, the sweetly melancholic “Coming Back To You” and the more upbeat “Lacking Safe Distance,” sung by Jaclyn C, Mack ‘16, and Ella B, Mack ‘17. Our adjudicator, who has toured as an RnB performer, praised both of our bands, noting the unique sound of the Composition Band and the energy of the Advanced Rock Band. He also gave us some constructive criticism on varying our volume levels throughout the pieces. Like our adjudicator from last year, he had much to say on the fine points of proper cowbell etiquette; according to him, one must point the bell towards the audience and strike with firm, aggressive strokes, a task to which our percussionists proved a little too eager to comply. As the drummer for advanced rock band, I was glad that we had this opportunity to showcase our talented band members in the public sphere, after many hours spent working on fine-tuning our songs. Our next venue will be on the outdoor stage at Brentwood’s Regatta, after which we will record CDs at a local professional studio. Liam B, Ellis ‘16

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