Five local teenagers joined the 27-musician School of Rock Midwest AllStars. Three are from Westlake High. From left, Evan Nickels, Jake Cohen and Dan Hyland. They will be joined by Normandy High's Donald Pelc and Grand Valley High's Matt Storer.
MUSIC PREVIEW
2012 School of Rock Love Hope Strength Midwest AllStars Tour
When: 15:30 Sunday.
Where: Brothers Lounge, 11609 Detroit Ave., Cleveland.
Tickets: $10 at the door.
Web: schoolofrock.com, rockyriver.schoolofrock.com, highlandheights.schoolofrock.com
It's not really a long journey from a picnic table, picking screaming guitar riffs to a tennis racket on stage at The Q, doing it with an actual axe. All it takes is a little practice and a little luck.
Oh, and a little education won't hurt.
That's where School of Rock comes in. Founded in Philadelphia in 1996, the national chain offers lessons in guitar, vocals, keyboards, drums, trumpet, anything for aspiring musicians.
Five Cleveland rockers will showcase their talent — think of it as a very loud acceptance speech — at the 2012 School of Rock Love Hope Strength Midwest The AllStars Tour stops at Brothers Lounge at 3:30 p.m. Sunday.
The five local School of Rock students participating of the Midwest AllStars Tour:
• Evan Nickels, 18, St. Ignatius, guitar.
• Donald Pelc, 17, Normandy High School, guitar and trumpet.
• Jake Cohen, 17, Westlake High School, drums.
• Dan Hyland, 16, Westlake High School, bass.
• Matt Storer, 16, Grand Valley High School, vocals.
Hyland is the only rookie AllStar. His four companions are in the second round.
Three other tours include top students from the South and East and West coasts.
Cleveland is the next-to-last stop for the Midwest AllStars. Their tour started in Naperville, Ill., then moved to Milwaukee. From here, the Midwest AllStars join Vans Warped Tour show in Noblesville, Ind., Tuesday.
Students pay $250 a month to attend School of Rock at two locations within Greater Cleveland — one in Highland Heights and one in Rocky River — with one soon to open in Strongsville.
“This gives them a weekly 45-minute private lesson on their instrument of choice and a weekly three-hour group rehearsal,” Shelly Norehad, who owns the schools here, said in an email.
“In group rehearsal, they take what they learn from their individual lesson and apply it to a band setting. They work on a predetermined genre of music and perform it live at a local venue,” Norehad said.
Maybe even one with a picnic tent.
