What I Did at Summer Camp, Week 1

I'm teaching a few days a week at School of Rock's summer program, or Rock Camp. It's also been called Boot Camp, which is an apt analogy since we throw the kids into bands and tell them they have two weeks to write and record a demo track and play a whole show (mostly covers). They're coming in with a huge range of age and experience levels, so a lot of what the kids learn is how to write and perform with whatever strengths or limitations they're handed with their bandmates. Because of this, there are moments in camp that are eerily premonitory of what happens in a real band. I take some wicked pleasure in seeing these kids get the glamour of being in a band knocked out of their heads at such an early age. (It actually makes them better musicians and bandmates.)

I've been mostly teaching and workshopping the bands' songwriting. Two bands were both veering towards 12 bar blues territory, but I was able to gently nudge one of them towards alternative rock, and over the course of the week they've magically turned into a Pavement-esque band. I don't know how that happened but it makes me happy. We have a metal band that does a fine job writing metal but an even better job covering Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls." The veteran campers started working on an epic, Grateful Dead-inspired, three-section jam that the staff has been chipping away so that it comes in under (at least) the 10 minute mark.

I've spent most of my time this week darting in and out of practice rooms that smell like college dorms by day's end, telling the drummers to shut up, and pleading with boys going through puberty to try singing. That's a losing battle since none of them have a real male vocal range yet. Of all the things bombarding the adolescent male ego, I would imagine that showing off your soprano vocal range is around threat level Orange.

The antidote to this entire ego-bruising process was a field trip to Reggie's Rock Club to buy some vinyl and drive down Lake Shore Drive in this school bus. Even I felt bad-ass. I think I need to borrow this bus whenever I feel meek or insecure.

Week 2 is up next, then it's time for the Pitchfork Festival. Rock.