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Real School of Rock comes to Bow Valley with youth bands taking stage

The Bow Valley rock bands have gigs around the community Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (June 2-4).

BOW VALLEY – Move over, Jack Black, a new School of Rock is ready to shred the Bow Valley.

Two local youth rock bands, with ages from 11 to 14, are playing three gigs in the Bow Valley, starting Friday (June 2) at 2 p.m. when Banff’s Nameless takes to the big stage at Melissa’s in Banff.

Then it’s Canmore’s Four Ducks’ turn to rock the valley Saturday (June 3) at 11:30 a.m. at Sauvage in Canmore and Sunday (June 4) from 9:30-10 a.m. at One98Eight in Dead Man’s Flats.

“The Bow Valley is getting spoiled for this kind of stuff because there’s no such place like here for local music and talent and support,” said Jean Michel Lamothe, who could be considered the Bow Valley’s Jack Black after the talented musician got Nameless ready for the stage through his Banff School of Rock.

“It’s uplifting for me to have that privilege to get them ready for the stage,” he said. “To reminisce, the milestone of when we started these songs and now to imagine they are going to perform on the biggest stage [in downtown Banff], with the best sound man, it’s just going to be fabulous.”

Nameless, consisting of Finn Shackleton (guitar, vocals), Fergus Langer-McIntosh (bass guitar), Ryder Cook (keys), and Jasper Bachman-Sorochan (drums) started jamming in garages together two years ago. Originally, Lamothe taught Finn how to play the guitar and then more members joined the crew and learned various instruments.

A heavy ‘90s influence will be forefront and centre in Nameless' set list, with songs ranging from Nirvana to Coolio.

“Right now, we’re doing one free event for all ages, just to see how many people we can gather for support,” said Lamothe. “We’ll start with one at a time and see what happens from there.”

From Banff to Canmore, the best duckin’ band in town is ready for the weekend.

“We’re all pretty excited because it’s like our first gig and it's like, oh wow, we didn’t even think we would get one, you know,” said Timmy Mann, guitarist of Four Ducks. “I think we’re gonna try and keep it going.”

Four Ducks consists of Grade 7 musicians and pals Ollie Robbins (bass guitar), Levi Reeves (drums), Charlie Kestle (keys) and Mann (guitar). The four started jamming two years ago, rehearsing at each other’s houses and garages or getting permission to use Lawrence Grassi Middle School’s music room.

Their set list ranges from songs by The White Stripes to Eminem.

“We just all sort of got better at listening to the music and like seeing how it sounds right and stuff,” said Mann.

“Then we kind of felt like, oh, this is actually a thing, so we decided we would actually become a band.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by One98Eight (@one.98.eight)

After they formed, the young musicians crafted together hand–made posters and pinned them around town, which they said if anyone needed a rock band, they were your guys. When word spread and they got some love on social media, Four Ducks was in business.

“We might need to take a break during the summer because we're all gonna camp and stuff, you know, and spend time with our families,” said Mann. “But we'll have to see if we’re going to play any more gigs.”


Jordan Small

About the Author: Jordan Small

An award-winning reporter, Jordan Small has covered sports, the arts, and news in the Bow Valley since 2014. Originally from Barrie, Ont., Jordan has lived in Alberta since 2013.
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