MUSICIANS from Bromsgrove Rock School performed their third gig on Saturday at Stoke Prior Sports and Country Club.
Junior band FOSI had the hardest job of the evening opening the spring term gig but they showcased an accomplished harmony of talent. 11 year old Oscar introduced the band and they kicked off with ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. Nerves were a little obvious for the blossoming singer Izzy but the song was a tall ask and between them the young band met the challenge well.
By the time they performed their second song, ‘7 Nation Army’, they had found their stride ably guided by the thumping pulse from young drummer Sam.
In the 12 months since FOSI formed, their comedy number ‘Jeff the chicken’ (to the tune of Snow Patrol’s ‘Chasing Cars’), has become their signature number and was a real crowd pleaser.
In their cover of The Troggs ‘Wild Thing’ it all went a bit punk as the band momentarily lost their rhythm because of a technical hitch but after a quick regrouping they were back on point with no drama. An impressive opening from a group of young musicians who clearly have great potential.
The older duo of Jack and Freya shifted the pace of the evening with an acoustic number – ‘Demons’. Freya is an extremely accomplished singer and confidently navigated a very tricky vocal range with aplomb.
Jack and Freya were then joined by Dylan in ‘My Demons’. The trio delivered the best number of the night at this stage with harmonies that beautifully showed the crowd that 14-year-olds do have the capacity to practice and hone their artistry. Reminiscent at times of Fleetwood Mac, a sweet lament that built momentum and had the crowd buzzing.
The acoustic set continued with just the two boys. Jack’s guitar playing was perfect in ‘The A Team’ and ended sweetly in a subtle emotional drama that only teenagers are capable of delivering authentically.
Thirteen year old Storm then joined the group and was clearly at home behind the microphone for ‘Heaven’. Displaying the vocal maturity of a grown woman she mastered a difficult key change effortlessly. Phoebe then took to the stage in a female duo with Storm. These two young musicians really looked the part with guitarist Phoebe bedecked in black for ‘Rock You Like a Hurricane’. Matched with Storms vocal, the female duo were like The Runaways Joan Jett and Cheryl back in formation. Definite future poster girls for Bromsgrove Rock School.
The evening continued with a five-piece ensemble of Phoebe, Storm, Freya, Jack and Dylan with two acoustic guitars, keyboard and vocalists. Dylan and Freya opened with ‘LA Devotee’ and were clearly comfortable as a larger group. Without guitarist Jack, the group reduced for ‘Sing’ to demonstrate their flexibility to shift roles. Storm swapped the keyboard for the electric guitar for a paired down musical accompaniment whilst Phoebe joined Freya and Dylan as vocalists. Phoebe has a strong and purposeful vocal and was most comfortable performing her vocal than any of the young musicians on stage this evening. Thoughts of a young KT Tunstall came to mind.
After another swift change of roles again, Phoebe took the keyboard and Storm left to be succeeded by the chauntesse Freya for ‘Bring Me To Life’. Just beautiful. Freya’s emotional performance was punctuated by the deliberately provocative Dylan for the duos best performance together and hinted at Bromsgrove Rock School’s obvious guidance to help the kids adjust styles.
The gig ended with the introduction of two further musicians – Harry on guitar and Jake on drums. The last number ‘Numb’ was darker than the rest of the evening and was vocally led by 14 year old Dylan as a blend of indie rap that really shouldn’t have worked but somehow did. It built into a blistering crescendo that had the crowd wanting more.
By the end of the night it was clear that Bromsgrove Rock School provides a safe learning environment for young musicians to test a variety of skills, to help them identify where their true talents lie. However, more importantly, the young musicians have the opportunity to test their skills on stage as part of a band before a live audience.
Bromsgrove Rock School, run by Brian Hoggard from Dragon Music, welcomes young musicians and singers from age 10 to 18 years. For information about joining for the summer term (starting April 28) call 07720 211002.
