How do you spend your Saturdays? Maybe sleeping in or catching up on homework? Not the four talented musicians in the local student band Vinyl Crusade! These three students from Gig Harbor High School, Noah Broadbent (10), Gracie Dahl (10), Caleb Place (10) and one Peninsula High School student, Theo Middleton (10), get together on Saturday and make music. Their band plays a lot of 2000’s rock, and has several originals that are in progress and currently undisclosed. You may recognize Vinyl Crusade, a name chosen using an online generator, because they played at TideFest this year. You can find them on Instagram as Vinyl Crusade.
Broadbent, the drummer, explained that he started the band a few years ago with a different name. However, “We changed the lineup pretty drastically, and now we have Vinyl Crusade, which is made of mostly other people who go here, and we’re all sophomores.” Place, the bassist, said that he’s not completely sure why he decided to pick up the bass, other than, “I just joined band because my brother told me our school band needed a bassist, so I just started learning bass, then I got contacted by some other band members, and they told me to make a band with them. I got invited into the band during the summer. It was like a month after summer started, we just started meeting up and started the band.”
As far as performing goes, Broadbent commented, “We have gigs that we just do every once and awhile.” Dahl, the lead singer and occasional pianist added, “I think my top two that we’re doing right now are Welcome to Paradise and Black Sheep.” Hysteria, by Muse, is Place’s favorite song to play right now because he loves the bass part. However, he mentioned that, “I don’t like performing as much as the rest of the band members, but I get around it. I don’t mind it very much, I just don’t think it’s as fun.”
Dahl expressed that, “Getting to be in the work with other really talented musicians is one of the best things about being in the band because it’s just really fun to be able to connect with other people who are passionate about the same thing I am.” Likewise, Broadbent agreed that, “Collaborating with other musicians is my favorite thing ever, and we all love jamming. It’s great. Highlight of my week, for sure.” Place said that being in the band is an experience that he enjoys. “I get to write my own songs, so I get to use creative ideas that I find from other music and use my own ideas to create a song, and I get to have fun doing it.”
As far as motivation goes, musicians in the band member’s lives have been an influence on them. “I have a few music teachers, either here at the school or just out privately that inspire me a lot,” Broadbent expressed, while Place explained, “There’s just the great musicians that I can look up to and try and play their music and develop my own style from theirs. Jaco Pastorius is a great bassist. I look up to him and I’ll try to develop my own style based off of his.” Dahl added that her major inspiration is, “My parents, because they’re both musicians. Growing up, hearing them do a lot of music stuff, I definitely looked up to them.”
The incredible musicians in the band Vinyl Crusade are passionate about making music and love to do it together. Dahl expressed, “I love being in a band. I love my band members, they’re really great.” Don’t forget to check them out the next time they’re playing!
