By Wesley Northcote & Jackson Smith
Associate Social Media Editor & Web Editor

Students rocked out at the tenth annual garage band hosted by Clackamas Community College for the prize of a scholarship to CCC or studio time to hone in their musical talent. 

The 10th annual garage band competition was hosted on April 10, 2026 in the Niemeyer building. High school and college students were welcome to join or watch. 

The competition categories for this year were: bands, any style of music playing covers or original music; any style of music, soloists or duos welcome with original music;
the voice, vocalist showcase, covers or original music and; a cappella, solo or group vocal performance without instrumental accompaniment.

A workshop was held from 1-2 p.m., and then the competition. followed by a critique from a panel of judges and industry pros, took place. Finally, a concert featuring the competition’s winners, CCC’s Contemporary Music Ensemble and the guest artist Ali “AMAC” McGuire was held from 7:30 p.m. till around 10 p.m. The prizes were studio time in CCC’s recording studio, and the other was a scholarship of $5,000 for each band member to attend CCC. 

The garage band competition helps get participants feedback from other musicians. Kathleen Hollingsworth is the director of vocal music performance and technology, and was the organizer of the event. 

Hollingsworth speaking at the event. Photos by Wesley Northcote

“It’s for them [the participants] to come and get to work with people outside of their program and get helpful feedback from all these great musicians who are making them do music not in a classical way and not in a jazz way, but rock or popular music way,” said Hollingsworth. 

“The angle of having stuff like this is for people to come and just build a bigger community around rockers,” said Hollingsworth. 

The band Wireline performed as an honorable mention at the concert featuring the winners,  Logan Montes is a student at Aloha High school and is their lead vocalist. What drove Wireline to compete is they just wanted to get out there and have fun. 

Logan Montes singing.

“We figured just get out there, have fun, and do something,” said Montes.

Montes also encourages others to join next year’s competition.

“I mean, there’s nothing like the nerves you get before going up on stage.
I’ve done theater and stuff too but, that wave of relief when you start and get in the groove and start really doing stuff. There’s nothing like it, you know?
It’s really uplifting and it just, you know, brings me happiness and really makes me push forward in life,” said Montes.

When asked what advice to give to people interested in the event, Montes said, “Go for it. I mean life is short. We have what, maybe 60 years here?
 Life’s really short. I mean, shitty things happen, but you gotta keep moving forward and do what you love.” 

After all the bands had their time to shine, a special guest was waiting in the wings. Ali McGuire, known as AMAC, came out as one of the last performers before the faculty took the stage. 

Ali “AMAC” McGuire

McGuire is a platinum award winning mixing engineer, artist and motivational speaker. She has been in the music industry for over 15 years. In her time as a producer and an artist, she has toured with the likes of Post Malone, MGK, Fetty Wap, Lizzo and Joji. She came to the college as a way to spread her message to young aspiring artists. 

While McGuire has worked with many big names, she wants those walking down her same path to know that’s not what it is all about. Something McGuire really enforces in not only herself, but those around her is living in the moment. To be grateful for where you are is not setting goals, but pushing forward again and again to get better. 

“So often we think about the outcome that we don’t check in on the actual experiences that we are having to get to the outcome,” said McGuire.

McGuire talks a bit on some of the roadblocks she faced, and how she was able to build herself back up. 

“I’m so grateful for music and for my career, even though I had to go through a pretty bad burnout and kind of a breakdown, it gave me the incredible tools to be able to record myself and mix my own records.”

According to McGuire, artists carry a lot of weight on their shoulders. To be an artist is to have the voice for some people who can’t seem to find their words.

“I’m never trying to be an artist. I feel like I’m the vessel for these words and this message and I just kind of let it flow through me,” said McGuire. “I think it’s our job to share with other people how to alchemize our pain.” 

McGuire also wrote a book titled, “The Immaculate Mindset Intercompass.” The book is accompanied by one of her albums, “On One.”

McGuire left a final note, “To be AMACulent means to be perfectly imperfect.”

This year the 10th annual garage band brought in people from all walks of life to share their stories through music. The garage band brings life to music and allows young artists to reach their goals, or rather, create their own experiences.