Kids rock Custer

The Kids Rock Camp performance packed the Custer Beacon last Saturday as several bands made up of elementary-age students rocked the crowd with their own original songs. Kids Rock offers students an opportunity to learn an instrument, form a band, write original music and then perform it for the community in a special concert. The camp aims to  encourage collaboration, confidence, leadership skills, problem solving and creative self-expression through hands-on music education and performance.
Previously, the camp was open to girls and was called Girls Rock. Now, the camp has opened to all.
“Everyone wants to rock,” said camp facilitators at Saturday’s performance.
This year’s showcase included five bands: SAAS, performing its song “Rockstar Life,” DR*MA, performing its song “Dramaqueen,” Graveyard Funk, performing “Graveyard Ghosts,” Electric Catfish, with a song also called “Electric Catfish” and Black Pearl with its song “Dark Ocean.”
At the beginning of the week participants meet each other, form their bands and then get started on writing a song, with the help of their “band managers.”
One such band manager, Averianna Christiansen, participated in the camp in 2017, and now she’s giving back to the camp as a band manager and percussion instructor.
Throughout the week participants keep working on their songs and learning their instruments.
“Band time is when we write our song and fidget with our instruments to see what fits,” said Sheadyn Gray of SAAS.
“Sometimes it gets a little confusing,” said Tucker Spaans, another participant.
And yet, by the end of the week, the bands have fully written and rehearsed songs to perform for their communities.
SAAS is made up of members Aubree Eakin on the guitar, Amelia Wiederholt on the bass, Grace Snyder on keyboard and Gray on percussion. The band name, they explained, is comprised of the initals of each band-member.
 Their song is “about the life of a rock star,” said Wiederholt. It’s also about their own experiences during their week at camp.
Eakin further explained, “how you’re nervous at first and then you get better and  get used to it.”
DR*MA is made up of Paisley Nieman playing the guitar, Sylvan Svoboda on the bass, Reghan Blume on keys and Rhiann Scheck on percussion.
Their song tackles the problems of school drama.
“There’s a lot of drama at school, and so we wanted to write about that drama and both sides of a story,” said Svoboda.
In the end of the song, it takes a happy ending after an apology, the band explained.
Angela Harbinson (guitar), Hallee Plaisted (guitar), Olivia Eakin (bass) and Amelia Decker (percussion) make up the band Graveyard Funk.
Electric Catfish is made up of members Lane Woodward on guitar, Nathan Austin on bass, Spaans on keyboard and Phoenix Barrick on percussion.
“Its about fishing on a summer day, going to the camper, cooking trout, exploring and having a big ol’ blast and stuff,” said Barrick.
Making up the band Dark Ocean is Elliot Sherrard on guitar, Lucas Iverson on guitar, Owen Bradeen on bass and Maggie Lewison on percussion.
“I like this because I can play a new instrument that I haven’t played before,” said Bradeen.
For many of the camp attendees, this is their first time playing and learning their respective instruments.
For Lewison, she was introduced to percussion in school band, and first learned to play a full drum set after last year’s camp. She stuck with it and kept practicing, and now she’s returning to this year’s camp as an even more seasoned drummer.
“I even have my own  (drum set) now,” said Lewison. One of her favorite parts of camp is “just rocking out.”
“I like this because I get to make new friends, I get to play music,  and most of all, listen to music,” said Sherrard.