THE STINGER | February 2014
CULTURE
ENERTAINERS OF EMMAUS:
13
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Culture
An inside look into the lives of 3 talented musical acts at Emmaus me before I went on and told me ‘Don’t [screw] up,’” Gallucci said. The young guitarist performs most frequently at events that sponsors the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Gallucci has raised thousands of dollars for MDA over nearly a decade, and played a multitude of shows at various charity events such as the Ride for Life, a gathering of motorcyclists to benefit the foundation. Aside from the fund-raising and performances, Gallucci built a custom guitar to auction at an MDA event. “They asked me to make it for them, so I did,” he said, “It sold at auction for $3,200.” Through family ties and MDA rides, Gallucci collaborated with a top-rated local artist: Scott Marshall. The two played alongside one another in Scott Marshall and the Hillbilly Souls. During his time with The Hillbilly Souls, Gallucci experienced what he considers his favorite performance. “We were playing for a pretty big crowd that night,” he said, “The gig was
Photo courtesy of Matt Danner
Matt Danner
Music. For most people, it’s simply something to turn on in the background with friends or just a way to pass time during a slow day. But for senior Matthew Danner, music has become a way of life. For the past four years, Danner has been teaching himself to sing and play the guitar. Influenced by hardcore metal bands such as Volumes, Elitest, and Gideon, he
The Reruns On January 17 at 6:50 PM, as an
By Eamon Dreisbach
has constantly worked to improve his musical ability and establish himself as a musician in his free time. Danner’s passion for music began at a young age, when a conversation with his brother about how they could make music better than The Naked Brother’s Band sparked an interest in guitar. “I went into Guitar Center one day, and I looked at the guitars on the wall, and I thought to myself ‘this is heaven’,” Danner said. Since that day, he has been playing in bands and polishing his musical talents at any opportunity he can find. Currently, Danner is a member of the screamo band Inhibitor, in which he sings and plays guitar. The group meets once a week for practice, and draws musical
By Emma Wang
audience gathered in Cafeteria 1 to see the Orchestra Coffeehouse, the four-man freshman band The Reruns sat in Cafeteria 2 in preparation for their performance. The Reruns, Will Newbegin, guitarist and vocalist, Michael Monte, bassist and vocalist, Aidan Huzar, keyboardist, and Darren Dreas, drummer, are each individually passionate about music and have a great love for it, which as cliche as it sounds, has helped to make them into who they are today. Family connections with music also influenced the Reruns to pursue their passion for making music. “My dad was in a band and he also played the drums, and they played rock,” said Dreas. “I used to love listening to them play and that really influenced me to play an instrument.” Today, the Rerun’s families are fully involved in the band. “My parents have been supportive of everything I do musically, from producing our new EP to little things like driving me to rehearsal, and I’m appreciative of it all,” said Newbegin. Each member of the Reruns has a list of
artists who serve as their musical influences. Some of their common favorites include The Foo Fighters, Yellowcard, Pink Floyd, Jimmy Eat World, and Nirvana. “Well [the hardest part] about being in a band is figuring out what kind of music we want to play, so that then leads to stress and [problems with] getting along, but we all enjoy each other’s presence and we figure it out,” said Monte. Even though they occasionally differ on the musical sound they are looking for, the Reruns still love to come together and practice or just jam with each other. “I would rather write and practice with the band then go out and hang with other friends,” said Monte. There is a strong chemistry among the band member’s personalities that holds them together, even when they disagree. “I feel that when we all agree on something, we’re great, but we’re still working on our musical identity, so sometimes it’s a bit hard to pick songs,” said Newbegin. “Once we pick songs that we all like, we play together really well.” While other teenagers go play pick-up basketball or see movies, the four Reruns have a fairly regular time plotted out from
Photo By Anthony Gallucci
Senior Anthony Gallucci began his remarkable journey as a guitarist 10 years ago in the former Emmaus Lesson Center. Here, musical guru Steve Anderson mended a busted string on the aspiring musician’s first guitar, a Target-bought Washburn. Gallucci continued to take lessons from Anderson until the shop closed about six months ago. Since the dawn of his musical endeavors, Gallucci practiced his craft relentlessly; often times leading to noise complaints from perturbed neighbors. “Whenever I have spare time I spend it practicing,” he said, “Whether it’s with the band or alone in my room, I’m usually playing music.” Gallucci’s determination and passion drove him to join and create multiple projects around the Lehigh Valley. Certain ventures lead to several significant gigs, including an opportunity to open for classic rock band Poison; where he received some words of encouragement from frontman Brett Michaels. “He stopped
By Dave Heiney
at Musikfest so a decent amount of people were there. I remember playing Scott’s song ‘Keep it Real’, and when my solo came around I kicked on my MXR Micro Amp pedal and totally nailed it in front of all those people.” Gallucci has since parted with The Hillbilly Souls and formed a new group dubbed Headrush with a few fellow Emmaus High School students. He plays lead guitar, but also sings vocals for the band with senior Nick Mutchler on bass, junior
Sam Selkregg on drums, and senior Jordan Frank also playing guitar and singing. The group is in the final stages of recording a new self-titled EP and plans to release it in the upcoming months. Despite his already impressive career, Gallucci does not plan to exclusively pursue music after graduation. “I love playing music,” he said, “If the music thing plays out after high school, that’s great. If not, I’ll always love to play.”
influences from several different genres of music. The band’s lineup includes lead singer Brandon Bors, bassist Brandon Salter, rhythm guitarist Jason Wegfahrt, drummer Alex Vedral, and Danner on lead guitar and vocals. Since their formation, Danner’s band has played a number of notable gigs at various venues. Inhibitor has performed in the past at Planet Trog, a popular laser tag arena in Whitehall, but the group’s most notable show was as an opening act for the screamo rock group In Aviation at a house show in Bath PA. The band plans on performing at the upcoming battle of the bands competition to boost their popularity and grow as musicians. Like most musical groups, Danner’s band is not without its problems. “The musical differences between members,” Danner says, is the source of many arguments on what songs to play together. Inhibitor hit another roadblock recently when their previous bass player
Tyler Abels left for college and rhythm guitarist Alex Henrich left the group. Both musicians have since been replaced by Salter and Wegfahrt, respectively. In his endeavors as a musician, Danner uses a number of social networks and websites to promote his band’s music. Danner and his fellow musicians have released their debut single, “Visitors”, via their Bandcamp page. The band also hopes to drop their first full length EP through iTunes at some point in the near future. Matt’s mother is a big source of moral support for his music, as she encourages him in his projects both morally and financially. In the future, Danner hopes to pursue mixing and mastering music as a career, or try his hand at producing. Follow Danner and his band on Inhibitor’s Bandcamp, Twitter, or Facebook page, and be on the lookout for their debut EP Revelations/ Synopsis on iTunes.
all the other activities they participate in. “[We practice] about once every two weeks unless we have shows coming up, and then we try to practice as often as we can,” said Monte. The boys love when they find opportunities to perform live shows. “Recently we have been doing great with performing; we perform with energy and we feel our fans and audiences give the same back to us,” said Monte. Naturally every performance cannot be perfect, but instead of beating themselves up over mistakes, the Reruns use them to get better. “It’s all about just learning from our past mistakes and fixing them the next time and that’s what I love about playing with these guys,” said Dreas. The Reruns are growing as a group, and use a variety of social media to gain publicity. You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pandora, and
Photo By Michael Monte
Anthony Gallucci
other assorted websites/apps. “We [would] also like to let everyone know that we are working on writing songs for a new album, and hope to begin recording it soon,” said Monte. They’ve also recently released their first EP, Satisfaction Guaranteed, on iTunes. But even as the Reruns acquire more fans, music still affects each member individually. Dreas feels that “there is never a time when music shouldn’t be played.”