For Those About to Rock, It Starts With a Show at Band Camp

Students worked hard for a week, practicing pentatonic scales, chords and progressions to ready themselves for the public concert that culminated school vacation week's Rock Camp, held at

On Friday, Feb. 25, three bands took the stage to rock the studio, which was filled with parents, relatives and fans of the some 25 kids who sang and played their heart out.

"We worked on this all week, three hours a day, and they've all been working extra hard," said Jack Shanahan, owner of the Garage and guitar teacher. "We got them all together the first day and we just kind of jammed and I split them into different bands and then we picked songs that htey liked and put 'em all together. It went well. It's been fun. All the kids are just great kids. They're all so well behaved. To put up with me three hours a day giving them grief about music? They're doing an awesome job."

27 Strings opened the show. These are the little kids, and it's pretty impressive what they were able to pull off. With owner/teacher Jack Shanahan on drums, "Knocking on Heaven's Door" opened the set, a pack of guitarists, one bass player and a tuba player working through the changes. A taste of the '50s followed with "Blue Suede Shoes," with guitarist Andy Robbins (this blond cutie has future star written all over him) opening up "Sweet Home Alabama." Green Day's "Time of Your Life" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" closed the set for 27 Strings.

Iron Rhino took the stage second, with Henry Fournier taking the lead on guitar and vocals for "Come Together" (if you closed your eyes, you wouldn't think Fournier was but a teen). Jett's hit "Look at What You've Done" followed, with Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly" coming up behind. "Pain" ended the set.

Closing out the show were the most advanced players of the Band Camp in the form of 9-Volt, kicking it off with the Badfinger classic "No Matter What." Raj Dandekar showed some guitar prowess with the fancy fretwork of Santana in "Black Magic Woman," whereas the little but mighty Andrew Gillis nailed the riff and solo in Hendrix's "Purple Haze." Dandekar hopped to the skins to keep the beat for "Daytripper" to close out the show with the second Beatles song of the day.

Be sure to click on our photo gallery as well as videos capturing each of the band's performances.