An inspiration that started in 2018 had to take a pause, but now, it’s back and better than ever.

Throughout the school year in 2018-2019, the JC Rock Band toured local middle schools to perform their songs. However, due to the pandemic, they had to stop.
With COVID continuing for the following two years, their touring still had to be put on pause.
However, this year, Rock Band Instructor Gregory Russell mentioned to the band that there was a possibility of touring again for the current school year. The band was all in.
During their recent tour, the Rock Band performed at local private middle schools, including St. Stephen’s, St. Joan of Arc, Harford Day, and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
The Rock Band consisted of Andrew Cox, drummer, Caden Daubach, lead guitarist and singer, Dan Graber, bassist and singer, and Kay Lani Morgan, keyboarder and singer.
All members of the band were juniors except for Kay Lani who just graduated with the class of 2022. She was sad that this would be her last time with the Rock Band but was happy that she was ending it with a tour.
The tour has a much deeper meaning than just playing songs for middle schoolers. The band said, “This tour is all about having an opportunity to make a difference in young kids’ lives by inspiring them to pursue music and have a good time.”
Besides inspiring kids to pursue music in high school and even beyond, the band said that they hope that by visiting these schools, they can even inspire kids to attend John Carroll and to pursue music at JC.
So far, the best thing about touring is to “see all of the reactions from the students,” the band said.
Caden mentioned that by seeing all the kids excited by their songs, the band in turn gets more excited while on stage together. The band said, “A lot of the kids sing along and clap with the beat as we perform.”
The band’s favorite part of touring has been more behind-the-scenes. They have loved getting to experience the behind-the-scenes of what a real tour is like, setting up the equipment, and of course everyone’s reactions.
While the band has had great success so far, they are faced with challenges. “One of the main challenges of touring is coordinating the amount of time it takes to set up the equipment before our scheduled showtime,” the band said. However, they cope by “gauging the amount of time certain parts of setup take during our first show and keep that in mind for the following shows.”
The best advice the members can give to those who want to pursue music is to “practice your instrument… but beyond that, enjoy what you’re playing. The more fun you have while playing, the less stressful it is to actually perform.”