Rock Club was started by a group of sixth grade students who, along with their sponsor Mr. McKnight, entertain their school with their excellent music. Samiran, Aiden, and Omni are the lead guitarist, bassist, and singer, respectively. They then invited their friends Alec (drums), Ava (piano), Illya (trumpet and piano), Even (vocals), Ravi (guitar), Everett (piano), Reese (guitar), and Beckham (vocals) to join the band. Samiran says, “I want to use my musical skills to play with others so we can all work together and make something sound really nice.”
They hope they will get a lot of gigs and even some fans. But really, they just want to make sure that everyone – both the players and the audience – loves their music and has fun. Mr. McKnight said he “was approached by some students, and they said, ‘Would you sponsor the club?’” He said that his original thought was that “we were going to be, you know, getting together and trying to figure out chords and songs and riffs and stuff like that, but everybody showed up to play.” They meet during 6th grade lunch recess. “They really were such talented musicians from the beginning.” With their success, Mr. Mcknight feels like he is “a very, very small part of it.” His main goal is for everyone to enjoy themselves and learn more music.
He also wants more people to stop by for a practice session. They have performed “Seven Nation Army” and “Smells like Teen Spirit” for sixth and seventh grade at lunch and in the Simms Auditorium, and “Don’t Blame Me” by Taylor Swift for the Shine talent show. They are hoping to play for the 6/7 opera. The club has become so popular that a second band might appear in the future.