By Carter Nall
Staff Writer

Loud feedback and rock music blared at the 9th annual Garage Band Competition held in the Niemeyer Center at Clackamas Community College on April 19.

Chayton Kuykendall performing a White Stripes cover. Photos by Kodiak Schoolcraft

Ten bands played in the competition and they all played one song for the judges, who were faculty in the music department. After the bands played, the judges gave their thoughts and advice on how to play better.

The prizes were studio time and a scholarship courtesy of the college.

“The Garage Band Competition is the only festival in the region designed specifically for high school musicians who write original music, form their own bands, and perform outside the traditional school ensemble structure,” said Ami Collfello, administrative assistant for CCC’s music department.

Music Performance and Technology program director Kathleen Hollingsworth created this event to give those students a real stage, professional feedback and an opportunity to connect with other young artists who share their passion.

The competition went from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. with warm ups in the surrounding rooms and even some workshops going on before the competition. Bands traveled from as far away as Corvallis.

Abby Peyton and Gideon Mann play guitar together while Joel Aguirre plays the violin.

Many of the bands attended McNary High School in Keizer, Oregon and are enrolled in the same music programs offered by the high school.

The bands played some original songs, and a couple played covers of artists like Paramore and the Everclear.

The band members that form a group called Astrea, and they have all been in the music program at McNary together. They’ve been playing for three years.

Astrea performing their song ‘BBQ Ben Crashed My Car’.

“Having less structure and having more fun with it is what got them to be so good together,” said Kelsey Schmidt, the bass player for Astrea.

Some bands played cover songs, and one of the more interesting covers was by the band Chase Cannock. They covered the song Cannock Chase by Labi Siffre, a songwriter and poet.

“He went out of the box and promoted who he was and just made an interesting space with his lyricism,” said Schmidt.

The winners of the competition were one of the leads of Astrea, Bella Rose, who won the scholarship to the college and the band Temporal won the studio time at the college.

Lucy Burroughs singing with her bandmates.

As the competition came to a close, Jason Yelton, alongside the Wind Ensamble, the Advanced Vocal Ensamble and the Contemporary Music Ensamble did a cover of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.