 Welcome to the fourth annual Santa Cruz Public Library's Teen Battle of the Bands. We're back for a fourth year. This whole thing started in Matt Lorenzo's brain four years ago, and we're still keeping it going. Our first band today is Bebop, who are without a doubt the most steadily rising force in the Santa Cruz Jazz scene. Formed in September of 2011, a steady stream of local shows has caused this small jazz combo to possess a musical maturity well beyond their age. The band consists of Cameron Smith, 15 years old, one of the most motivated and mind-blowing guitarists you will ever meet. Lucas Hahn, a pianist who at age 12 already possesses musical ability beyond the range of even the most experienced players. Aaron Casares, the oldest member of the band at age 18, who is undeniably one of the best self-taught bass players in the Bay Area music scene, shows his very own unique electrifying bass playing and songwriting. Gray Zimmerman, Bebop's 17-year-old drummer who provides the band with a solid source of intense rhythmic momentum. This combo's blend of straight-ahead jazz, Latin jazz, slate elements of funk and R&B will leave you gaping at the ability and groove of such young musicians. Quartet takes standard and contemporary jazz to a whole new level of curiosity, creativity, and synchronicity. Please welcome Bebop. Good afternoon. We are the Bebop Band from Santa Cruz, California. This first song is, well, I wrote it. I finished writing it last Tuesday. So this is our first time playing it live, so hope you enjoy it. We are really proud and honored to be on this stage. I would like to thank Victor and everybody else who put this event together. Really appreciate playing on it. All giant steps. That was Nite Taneja. Thank you all. We're on Facebook. Go Bebop. Facebook, however you get to the band pages. We were selling CDs right in the corner there with the wonderful Jackie Rocks as well. Hi, guys. We're here at the Teen Battle of the Band's fourth annual here in front of the Santa Cruz Public Library Central Branch. I'm here with this very special person. Why don't you introduce yourself? Let us know who you are and why we're here today. My name is Janice O'Driscoll and I'm manager of programs and partnerships. This is something we do for the teenagers every summer. We hear great music at the end of summer. Does this event benefit anything other than giving these brilliant young people a chance to perform? What's the other purpose here? That's the main purpose. The main purpose is to show the teenagers that we care about what they're doing and what they're interested in and want to give them a form. It's certainly a fun one. There's quite a few people out here. I'm sure their parents are ecstatic. I understand there's prizes and things. Yes. All four bands are going to get studio time. Various levels of studio time. We're getting a lot of support from the recording industry in Santa Cruz, which is very vibrant. Who are these people that are donating studio time? They donate studio time as prizes for the bands. It's really cool because then they can have their CDs they can sell. Right. And lots of times they plan months at a time so they take good advantage of their studio time. What a great opportunity for these people. We're here at the Santa Cruz Public Library. This is an event hosted by the library. What other things are going on right now? Well, for families next weekend on Sunday in Harvey West Park from one to four, we're going to have the Festival of the Book. And that's a family picnic in the park. We're going to have three dogs there that people can read to from our Tales to Tales program. We're going to have crafts. The friends are going to sell books. We're going to have Salsa Ruether who's going to teach everybody how to dance. And we're just going to have a good time. Everybody who's been in the summer reading program will get a free lunch. Everybody else will just have to pay a little bit for their lunch, but it's all good. And benefits the friends and benefits youth services programs for the library. You named a lot of organizations and, I don't know, I guess things you guys are doing in that. Starting maybe perhaps with the summer reading program. Could you explain what that's about? Every summer for children, teens, and adults, we have special programs and special activities to encourage people to read over the summer. For children, we're trying to keep them on grade level. For older kids, we're trying to keep them involved with a library. And for adults, we're just trying to find activities and events that they would enjoy participating in. I understand there's a lot of local organizations that help participate in that event. I know, for example, Atlanta's Fantasy World does something. Are there local businesses that give discounts to kids who want to buy books and things like that? There's a whole list of merchants. There's too many for me to name. They're listed in our program that honor the summer reading dollars that the kids earn. And they can go in and get discounts and actually sometimes buy with their dollars, buy things in the stores. We have a lot of support from the businesses with that. The friends of the library support us and they then support the library. And I'm trying to think, oh, Taco Bell actually pays for all the programs and everything. So we have every kind of business you can think of as a supporter in participating. You guys really have it together. So we sure have a lot of fun, that's for sure. As long as you're having fun. What other events and programs can we be informed about? On August 3rd is a really big event for the whole community. It's libraries inside out. And in this building right over here, right behind us, we are going to put either three by four foot in some cases, 10 by 10 feet portraits of people who live in Santa Cruz on the outside of the building. We're going to paste them up there. We're going to change out the 10 by 10s once a month. So you'll see different people up there. People will get to vote on who's 10 by 10 we put up. And it's what it does is it reminds people that a library is not a building, but it's the people who use the library, the people who work in the library, and the people who support the library. So we're going to be part of first five on August 3rd, Friday night, and in the afternoon we're going to start pasting the posters up. There's also going to be portraits on the inside of the building, upstairs and downstairs. You mean first Friday, right? Will people be able to come in here and also like, well I guess most first Friday events there's like there's wine and cheese and things like that. Will people be able to come out and hang out and dine a little bit too? Yes, we'll have some nibbles and some food, but mostly we'll be working on pasting up those portraits so people can see them. Is there a theme related to it anyway? Our theme is that it turns out that libraries have nothing at all to do with silence. So what we asked people to do was put a look on their face so they were making a sound or screaming or commenting somehow on being vocal in the library and about libraries. In picture form, of course. Awesome. We still have a little bit of time and you can take advantage of it. What else is going on? The other thing we're doing that parents of teenagers might be interested in is that we're locking 25 teenagers in the Scots Valley branch or night and it's a national event and what is happening is all over the country. There's teenagers being locked in at various library branches and then they're all going to be connected, live streaming and by Facebook and all kinds of social media and talk to each other all around the country and they're going to spend the night in the branch. Other than having fun, having a cool sleepover, what's the point of that? It's just to connect with other teenagers and other places and show that libraries just aren't about putting books on a shelf. Make it fun? Yeah. Alright, far out. I'm really happy that you guys are doing cool things like this to make, I don't know, libraries interesting. It's a great community, a supportive community and this is a way that we can give back and also have things to do that are fun and maybe unusual. Our next band is a Jackie Rocks band. Jackie Rocks is a young, no frills, hard-hitting and working-class band comprised of 18-year-old lead guitarist and vocalist Jacqueline Partita, 17-year-old bassist vocalist Deandre Warren and 17-year-old drummer Gray Zimmerman, there you just saw with bebop. The band's aggressive hard rock sound blends rock, pop and metal and punk. The group primarily performs original material, penned by Jackie, with the occasional cover thrown in. They're comfortable in any environment, having performed over 400 shows at nightclubs such as The Whiskey, The Catalyst and The Avalon, the music festivals, amusement parks, schools and even a stadium, Candlestick Park. The band's sound, experience and accomplishments led them to be named one of the top 10 high school bands in the country by National Record Day in 2010. The band continuously lends itself to charities and fundraisers for organizations such as Relay for Life, the American Red Cross, Walnut Avenue Women's Shelters and a host of others. Please put your hands together for the Jackie Rocks band. Paws to the back, your broken heart, to drop the one who stole. Yeah, head to the back, so long. What's up, how's everyone doing today? Just wanted to let you know we have some T-shirts on sale over there, at the merch table. And be sure to check out our website, JackieRocks.com. I want to take a minute to introduce you to the band completely. This is DeAndre on bass. Hi guys. And vocals. And this is Gray on drums. We just learned all of our songs in like the past three weeks. So, give it up for them. Alright, the song's called again. It's a day I saw you I don't know you Keep something going for some more song for you guys. It's called Not Anymore. Thanks so much for watching us. Stand to be around you anymore. Be sure to check out our website, JackieRocks.com. And thanks so much to Santa Cruz Public Libraries for having us play here. I'm here with Bebop. These guys just performed before Jackie here. And we missed them because they went to Jamba Juice. Anyway, I want to talk to them. Tell us who you are. I just said it. But tell us who you are and why you're here today. I'm Aaron Caceras. I'm the bass player and songwriter for this group. We're here today to showcase our talent and the Santa Cruz music scene to everybody who wishes to come out here. It's a great event. Fantastic. Can you introduce us to the rest of your crew? Cameron Smith, our guitarist. He's amazing. This is Lucas Hahn. Our youngest. He's 12 years old. And he just rips. Yes, he did. This is the multi-talented Grazer Minai drummer. Yes. I understand that he performs for Jackie as well. Alright. So, tell us. I guess I can go around. Anyone of you can answer this question. What is your inspiration musically? Like, do you have a favorite musician band that has inspired you to do what you do? Well, for me, my personal... Personally, bass playing in general. Jocko Pastoris. He's the late Jocko Pastoris. He's inspired me greatly. His technique and he's such an amazing stage performer. It's amazing. Alright, good choice. You're the guitarist. I saw you playing beforehand and you were just grooving out like crazy. It was fantastic to listen to you. Who inspires you? My favorite guitarist is probably Pat Martino. I transcribed a lot of licks from him and I really like his playing. I want to go see him someday. How long have you been playing? Like I said, you were pretty freaking amazing out there. I've been playing for six years, I think. Not bad, man. Moving on to our keyboardist who is also fantastic. You're 12? Yeah. God, you don't look it. You're taller than me, baby. That's it. Anyway, who's inspired you? Well, there's so many good pianists. I think my favorite right now is Brad Meldo. He's awesome. He's still alive. I think my three favorite would be Chick Korea, Brad Meldo, and Keith Jarrett. They're all really good, but I like his style the most because it's nice and modern, but it still has swing and older stuff and newer stuff. So it's the best of both worlds. You guys are incredibly well-versed, if that's the right word to use in the case of music. I feel kind of ignorant. Like, who's that? Are you talking about? No, that's fantastic. You guys are so into your music. Now you, you're the drummer. You just performed with Jackie, so you get around a lot. Are you in any other bands? I'm in, I think, seven bands. I play with a bluegrass band around here called Blackwood's Drifters. I play with another jazz combo called Barney and the Dinosaurs. I play with a few untitled projects that are jazz and funk, and I also have a couple rock bands and a black metal band. My goodness. Okay, so you're getting all over the place. All genres? Yeah. All bands. Okay, anyway. So who inspired you? I asked everyone else this. Who's inspired you? Well, of course you got to listen to, like, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams and all the old school people. A lot of the newer stuff, like a lot of the newer drummers really take self-expression to a new level. So that's really what I'm trying to do is express my, like, I guess, inner emotions on the drum set, if that makes any sense. No, totally. Okay. But I could see you grooving out there. You were good into it, you know? Your heart was in it. Thanks. But, yeah, it's a lot of, and like newer guys like David Gearbalty stiller. All right. Fantastic. Do you guys perform anywhere or just events like this? We play all around here. We play Hoffman's Restaurant down on Pacific Avenue every other Sunday. That's a great place. A lot of people turn out there. This Sunday. This Sunday. This Sunday. Yeah, this Sunday. At Hoffman's. Hoffman's Restaurant. And every Thursday we play down at the Santa Street Grill. And that's been a treat for us. Any special events coming up for you guys? We're playing a wedding reception right after this event. So we have to hustle down there at 4.15. Well, it's good you guys got yourselves all warmed up for their wedding. I'm sure they're going to appreciate that. Yeah. It's a private party. It's a private party. Okay. All right. Well, thank you guys very much for taking the time to talk with us. If there's anything else you want to say, you're on television. Hi, Mom. Hi, Mom. How about everyone just say hi, Mom? Hi, Mom. Hi, Mom. Well, so enthusiastic you must love your mothers. Spilly. Can I be seen by anybody? Yeah. All right. Hidden behind all the equipment over here. They're actually working. Are we actually live out there at home? Are you watching? I'm told. They might just be pulling a practical joke on me. That might be a bit surprising on community TV, right? Hey, what is that supposed to mean? You know, we do what we can with what we got. Band-aids will keep anything from bleeding. All right. Tell us why you're here today. Hey, well, I'm a judge for this wonderful event, this team battle of the bands. And I'm going to be more excited to be here, man. This has been a great afternoon so far. It's been fantastic. I've been enjoying the music. The sun is great. It's a little hot. Even those poor camera people are baking out there in the parking lot. So I got to give extra kudos to all the camera people today for doing this for you guys. Community TV is the best, isn't it? They're the best volunteers, that's for sure. Cool. Cool. So yeah, we're halfway through. And it's going to be tough to pick a winner. That first band bebop was amazing. And of course, Jackie Rocks is the Santa Cruz tradition here. And it's been one of my favorites. So it's going to be a tough call, man. Tough call today. Well, we have a couple more to see. Looking forward to any particular performance today? Well, you know, until I got here, I didn't even know who was playing. And so it's wide open for me. And there's two more bands coming up. And I'm really excited to hear how they sound. All right. All right. We still have some time to kill this. They're taking their time. You volunteer, produce any, well, a dozen other things at Community Television. Is there anything you want to talk about, promote, music-wise, I guess? Well, you know, we just did our bluegrass, Brookdale. It's actually called the Boulder Creek Bluegrass Festival last weekend, with pretty much this wonderful setup that Community TV has to go out on doing shows and having some incredible bands. And we're looking forward to getting that on TV as soon as possible. The bluegrass thing's really taken off. You know, the year ago, people were laughing at it. And now it's one of more popular shows. And so we're really excited about the bluegrass thing. And Star Makers right now is in its semifinals. And we had more talent this year than we've had in a long time. Tell us what Star Makers is. Well, Star Makers is our local talent competition that we go around to different nightclubs and film people singing. And then our judges picked the top four from each venue who came to the TV station and did a big semifinals, which is airing right now Tuesday nights at 10 o'clock. And what's happening with that is we had the top ten come down to the station and they're doing this is being aired in two parts. And the first part just started airing. Folks at home can actually call in this year and vote for their favorites. We're going to have the second part starting in a couple of weeks. And then we're going to pick out the winners. And you know, this just last Tuesday and you'll get a kick out of this on our show, we ended up with 33 phone calls, which for our show is pretty amazing. We normally get four or five calls. So we're really proud of the turnout for the people voting. And that's like an 11 o'clock on a Tuesday night people were watching. So I was tickled pink at that time. That would tickle me something too. My goodness, nobody calls into community television. How do you promote that stuff? Well, you know, we did it between each singer and we got our new show number 831-854 show for the Sandra Lee Hotline. And so the people started calling in. And yeah, I got up Wednesday morning and saw that there was nonstop calls there. And I was just wondering how many people got the business signal if there was that much in that half hour time. But I just had the mayor, Santa Cruz, on the issue show. We've got a new homeless advocacy panel show coming up and then next couple of weeks that's going to really rock some socks. Very hot topics about disabled homeless people and the care they're getting here in Santa Cruz. And I had a chance to be the moderator on that panel and just fascinating stuff. And to get the mayor involved and people from the county and just really, really great stuff. And the community TV is just rocking like nobody's business and looking forward to the next couple years and watching how we grow and merge into this new system that we're having. But yeah, it's just been really wonderful for me. And the people at home that are watching this, you guys are all the greatest. I'm serious, Ryan. I can't go anywhere in town with somebody saying, hey, aren't you that guy from TV? And I'm just so honored and blessed with that privilege to be able to, yeah, that's me. And thankfully, people like what we're doing because I couldn't imagine that they hated it. But I'm sure there's a few that do for everyone that likes you, somebody hates you. But anyway, we're really blessed with the great response for what we're doing out there. And I think all the viewers for that. Well, I'm sure that community television and the community appreciate you as well. You're out there a lot. Not only at events like this, which is really fantastic, but you're helping these young musicians, these young artists get themselves out there. It's really difficult. And for no other reason, you give them confidence, I think. And that's really valuable. Well, not only did they get a chance to play and perform on TV, which is a big thrill in itself, but these people now can take their product and put it on YouTube and actually market themselves. So it's really turning into a win-win situation. And because of that, we're just getting better and better bands every time. The music show, we're booked through the end of the year now with incredible people. And just had a great teen band on called Surface. They were a mix between Yes and Peter Tosh. And it was just this fabulous, fabulous band. I'm tickled pink to be able to do that for the community. And the bands are just incredible. What a wonderful pool of talent we have here in Santa Cruz. Isn't it amazing? Absolutely. Santa Cruz is amazing in general. Any part of it. If you like funk, rock and roll, hip-hop, blues, and R&B, then you might just like the melting pot of genres, which is the Mondays. Becoming friends through Pajaro Valley High School's jazz and rock program. The Mondays have been playing together for two years, playing mainly original music. The band is constantly coming up with new material and trying to better their unique sound. They've played all around their hometown of Watsonville and throughout the county. The band consists of Miguel Soriano on the bass. Gabe Robletos on the sixth string and lead vocals. Yvonne Flores on the keys and his twin brother Jesse on the kit. The band is currently working on their garage-recorded demo, which should have six different tracks and constantly update their YouTube page, youtube.com, The Mondays TV. Please put it together for The Mondays. What's up? How we doing Santa Cruz? How we doing Santa Cruz? We're The Mondays and we're going to try to play some music for you. How about that? Miguel's going to start us off on the bass. Ready, guys? Stop pretending girl, you know you want me with you. Why's it gotta be such an issue? So why'd you have to turn your back? Thank you, thank you, thank you. We are The Mondays from Watsonville, California. This next song, this next song is a song about a girl. I wrote it about a year ago. It's entitled Elizabeth and it's about a girl named Sophia. Thank you, thank you very much. There are t-shirts on sale that say The Mondays on them. And have a suitcase because we're a case of The Mondays if you get that reference or that joke. No, quiet, no? This is gentlemen over here. Well, we're going to play another song for you. This one's kind of a little bit more depressing. So yeah, check out the t-shirts. So we're The Mondays. This is Miguel Soriano over here. Slap in the bass, ladies and gentlemen. Give a warm hand for her. We've got Jesse Flores over here playing the Fumbuckets. That's what I like to call them. We've got Ivan Tickling the Keys. And I'm Gabriel Gledo. We've loved you. I want to thank everybody that put this whole event together. Judges, thank you for smiling during the parts where they're on. But thank you. All right, this is our last song. This one is called Please. But we like to call it Please. I'm wondering, man, am I? All the music my mind decided to do. What you love is what you love, you can't hide it. Blink, interpretation of the world. And I pretend that music is love. All you need is love, John Lennon Quote. True words that John Lennon wrote. Love surrounds me moat. Family and friends that keep me afloat. But all the music my mind decided to do. What you love is what you love, you can't hide it. Blink, interpretation of the work this. It goes in dream of how this world can be. Can we play it together? Please. Please, save me to sleep. Ladies and gentlemen, we ought to keep going. Please, save me how this world should be. I like that. I think that's good. Let's sing it again. So I can dream of how this world should be. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. We are The Mondays. Look us up. The Mondays TV, all together on YouTube. We just listened to The Mondays. They're tearing down their set. Prior to that, we were listening to Jackie Rocks. Hi, Jackie. How are you today? I'm good. How are you? I'm fine. Thank you very much. It's a little hot out. Other than that, we're good. I noticed you guys are hanging out in the shade. What are you doing over there? We're just hanging out at our merch table. Merch table. That's what I was kind of getting at. You're selling stuff. Yeah. Is there other places like... Okay, these people are watching it on television. Do you have a website or something? People can go to do buy your stuff? Yeah, just go to JackieRocks.com. And then you'll find our links to Facebook and Twitter and MySpace and YouTube. All those. You mentioned YouTube. So you got videos on there. Who made those videos? Well, we've been on community television a few times and the ball of the bands. So thanks to the Santa Cruz Public Library for having us play here today. It's been a great day. Let's talk about your music. You guys obviously were fantastic. You have a lot of energy throwing that bass behind. That was kind of cool. But anyway, you guys were all grooving out. Let me just ask, first of all, how long have you guys been together? I know you have quite a few different people you play with. How long have you been in the band? Yeah. Well, DeAndre and I have been in the band the whole time, the full six years, six and a half now. Gray just joined up with us about three weeks ago. He learned like 13 songs in five days or something like that. And then I had to leave for two weeks so they had to practice by themselves for two weeks while I was off at camps. I'm sure that was fun. But you guys know what you're doing, right? Yeah. You guys have been doing it for how long? Let me go around. How long have you been performing? I've been performing since I was about three years old singing. And then I started playing guitar right before I started the band, which is about seven years ago. You've been playing guitar for seven years. I noticed your guitar and asked your dad about it. Where did you get that? I got it for free from Daisy Rock Guitars. They're my sponsor. How did you work that out? I just shot them an email and basically told them everything I've done up until two years ago. And they wanted to sponsor me so. How long have you been playing? I've been playing bass for as long as I've known Jackie in the band. So about seven years. But I've been performing on orchestral instruments like saxophone and trombone since sixth grade. So also seven years. How old are you guys? I'm 18. I'm 17. Alright, so you've been playing half your lives. You're 17? Okay. Fantastic. So you've been playing bass and what else have you? I'm sorry. So I play bass, trombone, saxophone, piano, and I sing in choir as well. So this is choir. Is that high school? Is there a local choir you're part of? In high school I was part of Soquel's Jazz Singers. That's where I got most of my singing experience. But outside of that I just do camps for vocal groups and that's about it. Do you guys play for any other bands other than Jackie Rocks? Well I play in my indie band too that just started a couple months ago. Which is called Dressed in Roses. It's like an indie pop band. It's got my little sister on keyboard and she's only 12. And my friend Sophie is on bass and vocals. How about you? What else are you doing? I play a lot of classical music with orchestras, mainly at camps like I said. But I play jazz. I've sat in on bebop on trombone once or twice. And when I move out to Chicago I'm going to be playing part of the University of Chicago's Orchestra Symphony. My goodness. You guys are getting around. That's fantastic. If you had to name your favorite venue or experience so far, what would it be? I'd say probably when we played the whiskey in LA last summer. It was actually exactly a year ago. Wait, do you guys tour? You get around? We just play around the Bay Area and sometimes LA. We're going to be in LA again at this place called Amplify on Melrose, which is on September 1st. Go back to the last experience you were talking about. Why was it so fantastic? It was really fun. It was a great experience. The whiskey is a very historical place. I mean, everybody's played there. That's anybody. We had a great experience with the sound guy too. He knew what he was doing. We drew a good crowd too. So it was just really fun to be able to do that in LA. It sounds like a lot of fun. Going down to LA is a lot of fun. Anything coming up that you guys want to promote? We're going to be playing Hot Rods for Kids, which is going to be in Watsonville. What is that? It's a big event where they have a bunch of Hot Rod vehicles laid out on the field at the county fairgrounds. They have bands play every year. We played last year and we're going to play this year again. That'll be on Saturday, August 18th. Aren't all the proceeds donated to children's hospitals? I've been watching you for at least the last three years. And I guess you've grown. I don't know. I remember you being a little short thing, but it could be me. I lost a little bit of weight and got taller. Good for you, man. You're growing up. It's cool to see all of you guys growing up. I talked to you earlier, but I'm not totally neglecting you. Is there anything else you'd like to say while you're on television? Not really. That's really, really interesting. Thank you for helping me fill time here. I got a lot more to do and you really contributed to that. But anyway, how about anybody else? Is there anything else going on in your lives, not just musically, but whatever, that you guys are really excited to talk about? I'm going to be featured as a guitarist as part of the Hidden World of Girls for the opening night to the Cabrera Music Festival. So that'll be next weekend and I'm really excited about that. The Music Festival is a great festival, too. You guys should look it up. There's just events going on all over the county. Tell us more about this particular one. I'm going to be working with a four-time Emmy winner named Laura Cartman. She wrote my guitar part for me and everything. I'll be getting to be a guitar player in an orchestra. It's going to be all females, so it's part of this whole Hidden World of Girls, girls sharing their stories from around the world. It'll also do with music, too. I would be excited. That sounds really fun. I'm going to make sure I go see it. And so should you guys. Remind us one more time where that is and when it is. That'll be Saturday night and Sunday. This coming? This coming Saturday night and Sunday at the Civic Auditorium. Alright, this is our MC for the evening, afternoon, whatever time it is. It's sunny out, so I guess it's the day. Mid-afternoon? Yeah, mid-afternoon. So tell us who you are, what you're doing here today. I'm Victor Willis, and Sandy put the event together this year, but I did it last year, and then in the first two years, Matt Lorenzo did it, and he trained me in how to do this. Just putting together sponsors and the kids and the Be In Your Own Band program, which Jeremy's representing, they got involved, and just trying to do something to promote summer reading and something other than reading, associating the library, which is not just a quiet place. So tell us about, Jeremy's not here to talk about it. Tell us about the, what is it, Be In Your Own Band? They got a Be In Your Own Band project with Robin Maycomber, and Jeremy is here representing him. He's got his own, you know, he's a sound engineer in his own right, but he's here for Robin, and the Be In Your Own Band program is in, like, schools and parks in Iraq, and they teach kids how to be in a rock band with their friends. And a lot of the people the last few years are graduates of Be In Your Own Band. I don't know if these guys are, any of these bands are, but some of the bands the last few years actually were put together by that program. I know Rapid Fire was the first year's winner. And it's just great to be able to do this. I hope this continues next year. Outside of this event and music, what do you do here? You work for the library, right? I work out at the Branch of Forty Branch. And last year I worked in the programming team. And the programming team's putting together a lot of great things. We've got the Festival of the Book next Sunday at Harvey West Park. They got a teen sleepover at Scott's Valley that you can look on the library's website. I heard about that. Yeah, they're going to go talk to, talk to authors and stay up all night. Sounds like a really fun sleepover. What I was getting as I wanted to call you a librarian and then ask you, why are there books? I don't know if you guys can see this, but the stage is being held up by, I believe, library books. It is. Those are not library books. Those are discarded donations. Okay, as long as they're discarded donations, it's okay. Yeah, so they're going to be given away when they're done today. So stick around after the show and get a free book that has been holding up these excellent musicians. They're just the right size. This parking lot looks level, but in fact is not level. I don't know, I just found that amusing. I'm sorry to pick on you about that. No, it is. I'm glad you noticed. Killing time. Okay, so let everybody know who you are, why you're here today. Okay, I'm Cheryl Rebitaro and I'm here to judge the teen battle of the bands. Have you done this before? No, I have not done this before. This is my first time. What exactly makes you qualify to be a judge? I'm not exactly sure. I think I knew somebody. Did somebody call you or did you volunteer? No, somebody called me, Teresa Landers, and I'm in bands. I'm a lead singer in, well, one band at this time, but over the years it's been a few different bands in Santa Cruz, local bands. Who are you then? Who am I? Oh, my band is Back to Nowhere, and so you should listen to us. So where can we do that and how can we find you? Oh gosh, okay, so next Friday we're going to be at Malone's, 5.30 to 9. We're going to be at Britannia Arms next month. We played at the Crow's Nest last night, and we just get around a little bit. Sounds like you're having fun. Cool. Tell us about, well, I've heard a lot of people talk about this event. What exactly makes this, I don't know, what's important to you? Oh, I just think it's really amazing that these, I don't want to call them kids because they're kind of young adults, teenagers. I mean, they're so incredibly talented. It's unbelievable. So I just think it's really great that this is being encouraged in Santa Cruz and celebrated, and how cool. I mean, they're great. Smith Alley, all the way from Hollister today, an alternative rock band from Hollister. The band came together in 2011 and enjoys expressing themselves through their music and lyrics. Josiah Bear, 16, and David O'Karrig, 18 are on the vocals. Alex Sanchez, age 18, and Omar Huey, age 20, on guitar. Is that how you say it, Huey? I got it. Corey Kota, age 17, on bass, and Ryan Loomis, age 17, on drums. They recently recorded an EP and they plan to record a full-length album. And they will be playing at some venues near you. You can reach them at Smith Alley on Facebook or on Reverb Nation under Hollister Bands. I give you today to conclude the show. Smith Alley! Thank you. Thank you all for coming out here. And we are Smith Alley. Hope you enjoy this. This is near. Wow, it's hot out here. I was going to almost bring a jacket and I'm glad I didn't. Hi. This next song we're going to be singing is called Endless Thoughts. Right now we have the second vocalist. His name is David O'Karrig. We'd like to thank all the other bands for coming out. Thank you for helping us have a pretty good show. We are again, Smith Alley. Thank you. Thank you all for coming out. We are Smith Alley again. This last song we're going to be doing is called Zombies. Kind of Halloween-ish. Getting you ready for the holidays. Just kind of far away, but anyways. For showing up, thank you so much for letting us be here. It's an honor. We are Smith Alley. You can find us on Facebook, Reverb Nation, YouTube, you name it. Even SoundCloud. And see you next year. Thank you. Right now we have the Mondays. Or at least a couple of you. Tell us who you are. Two of, how many are you? A four. I'm Gabriel Bledo and this is Ivan Flores. Nice to meet you, Gabe and Ivan. Tell us about, well, first off, you guys were fantastic out there. You really got the audience working. Or at least you tried to. They were into you, but I think they were just a little shy. It happens. Very tough. Try to go to less shy crowds, maybe. I don't know. Speaking of which, do you guys have anything coming up you guys want to promote? What else are you doing about that? Pinup Productions is going to have Battle of the Bands. We're going to be at that on August 4th. So look at Pinup Productions. Before the fight goes away, I want to thank you. We're going to be sick. Can we find you guys anywhere else? Yeah. YouTube.com Slash the Mondays TV. You put the Mondays TV on the search bar. It has to be all together and you will find a bunch of our videos. All right. I've seen you before. You were very familiar. You've been at community television before, right? Yes. When was that? What show was that? That was TV 101. TV 101? Oh my God. I was there for that. I recognized you. Yeah. All right. Cool. You guys were fantastic on that. Is that video online? Can we see that? Put that up. Fantastic. Who else is shooting your stuff? We have my friend, my friend, Lupita Sanchez, filmed a lot of our stuff. We did a garage session, so we just filmed a bunch of stuff of us playing in the garage. Those are the best. Those are fun because you guys are like, you're learning and you're arguing and all that kind of fun stuff. Yeah. It's always in... You are doing videos. Oh, this guy, huh? Okay. He has opinions. That's good. All right. Cool beans. What was I asking the other folks? It's getting hot and I'm kind of tired. I apologize. Tell us about how enthusiastic you are about this particular event. Why this is cool, the Battle of the Bands? It's super cool because all the local Santa Cruz bands are here, especially for teens. We're almost not teens anymore, but it's super cool that we got to come out and play. It's just a really good opportunity for local bands to come out and play it. I think that's awesome. I think anything with music is awesome, right? Yes, absolutely. Everything with music is awesome. Now, you have opinions. I haven't heard your voice yet. I'm going to walk over here for you. You don't have to move. Tell us... He's already introduced, but tell us who you are. What instrument do you play? I'm Ivan Flores, and I play the piano or keyboard. Either one's fine. Okay. Tell us who your inspiration was. Why do you play piano? It all started kind of in middle school. When I met these guys in high school, it just drove me to play piano more and more because in order to be in the band, I had to be better than what I was. So I always strive to stick with them and, you know, just have a good time and all that. What school did you guys go to? Paco Valley High School. Oh, fantastic. Wattamo. Oh, yes, we know where it is. What was I getting at? Do you guys play any other instruments other than... Well, you specifically. Do you play anything other than piano? No, I mean, I doodle and stuff on guitar and drums, but not really, no, nothing really. Speaking of doodling, do you guys do anything other than music? Do you speak? Oh, I doodle. I'm an art major, so... Oh, fantastic. Art major, where are you going? UCSE. Oh, yeah, UCSE. Woo! And he's Cabrillo. Cabrillo's fantastic, yes, okay. So you're majoring in art. What are you majoring in? Music. Just piano. Music. What are your guys' goals? I mean, after you graduate, what do you want to do? Me, I'm hoping to become a piano teacher at some point. You know, something that I could work from home and also give back to the community and help kids, you know, learn piano and, you know, help them move on. That's a very specific goal. That's pretty cool, actually. You got that locked in. Very cool. So like, open up your own business, go teach for high school. Whatever, as long as there's, you know, people to teach and opportunities for me to grow as well. You thought about doing that part-time now, pay for school? Not quite yet. I don't think I'm quite ready for it. That's why I'm going to school for it. Sorry, what about you? What are you going to do? I'm hoping to draw comics. Be a comic, yeah, a comic artist. That's my goal. What's your favorite comic book? X-Men. X-Men, okay. So... No, that's totally fair. All right, guys. He's going to interrupt our audio signal, so I'm going to say toodles, man. Thank you very much for talking with us. You guys were fantastic. All right, cool. So I'm here with Smith Alley. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay, cool. So you guys are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 performers. Tell us a little bit about yourselves. Why are you guys here? Obviously for the show, but I mean like, I don't know, how long have you guys been playing? It's a long day. We've been playing for maybe four or five months, and we support the music. That's why we're here, and hope you guys all enjoyed it. Oh, yes, we absolutely did. You guys got first place. Is that correct? Yes. What does that mean? It means a lot. I feel awesome. I feel powerful. Other than how you feel, you guys got a prize or something, right? Yeah, we got recording time at Gadget Studios. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. I don't know where they are, but I'm going to love them. But we're turning off to the distance because we think they're that way. They were that way. Over there somewhere. Yes. So that means you guys are cutting a CD, right? So you guys are going to be able to sell that or show it out somewhere? We actually have been working on our first album for a while, and are trying to get a good like, maybe 10 to 12 songs down on it. So this should help us get there, you know? We're working on it. When it's done, where can we find it? Who wants to say? Facebook! Anywhere on Facebook, Reverb Nation, just look up Smith Alley. You will find us very easy. Easily or like any shows that we are having, you'll be able to find us. Why don't you give us a little plug? What's coming up? What's coming up? We actually have a big show, August 5th, in Hollister. That's our hometown. At a Veterans Memorial Hall, August 5th, we're having a huge show with about five, six bands. Six bands, I believe, that we're actually hosting, and we just hope the word gets out and a lot of people come. And yeah, it's $7 to get in at the door. Somebody says prices or prizes? Prices. There's pre-sell tickets. You can find us and email us. Pre-sell takes for $5. And you get a prize as well. There'll also be a raffle. It's going to be fun. All right, it sounds like a lot of fun. And this is in Hollister, you said? Yeah, in Hollister. All right, fantastic. So some of the folks here will drive over there, I'm sure. I'm going to go around and ask each of you who you are and what you play and what's inspired you. Starting with this gentleman. Who are you and what do you do? I'm Ryan. I play drums. I don't know. So why do you play drums? Who's inspired you to play drums? Rock Band. Rock Band? The video game? Yes, I swear. Okay, I'm pretty good at that too, although you were, I think, a little bit better out there than I am. That's a good start. Good. I feel confident now. Anyway, so you were out there singing earlier. Do you do anything else? I'm actually the lyricist for the band. I come up with the majority of the lyrics for them. And I'm occasionally vocals in a few songs. Fantastic. You're the artist behind this. You're the inspiration for everyone here. I'd like to think. I'm the deep thought person. Yeah, just the lyrics. These guys come up with all the awesome music that you hear. And they certainly perform it well. Moving down the line. Who are you and what do you do? I'm Josiah Bear. And I'm the vocalist, the lead vocalist for Smith Alley. And I play a really good air guitar. Fantastic. You're pretty good at rock band too? You know, I'm not much of a game person. I wish I was. Okay, bad question. Bad question then. I figured it might be a theme I was wrong. So who's inspired you? I want to say System of the Down. There's Tank Yon, Fleming and John. Yeah. I don't know if anyone knows who that is. A few of us, I'm sure. I forgot to ask you that question. Who's inspired you? What makes you a lyricist? Is that the right pronunciation? What makes me a lyricist? A lot of arches. Similar with System of the Down, Eminem, Tupac. Just guys that are just great lyricists that I really love. Have inspired me to write. Fantastic. And you're fantastic. Cool beans. I'm going to go down the line again. Who are you? What are you doing? What's with the shirt? I'm Omar. I play guitar. I suck at rock band. Completely suck. I really liked these guys play. I love their performance. So I went ahead and bought their shirt to support them up there. Good for you. I thought it might have been something else. In a high school, there was this opposing club called the Purple Pants Party. And despite them, I'd walk around wearing purple pants. I thought you might be trying to say something here. No. All love. All love right here. Fantastic. Very cool. Who inspires you? Actually it's Jack. Oh, of course Jack, yeah. It's actually who didn't inspire me. My parents thought I would quit real easy. So I learned despite them. Okay. Give us a downer story. That's cool. But no, parents can inspire us in different ways. That's fantastic. It's good for you to overcome that. Good. And you guys are fantastic. All right. Two more. I don't know. So who are you? What did you play? I'm Corey and I play bass guitar. And who inspires you? My parents for positive reasons. Positive reasons, yeah. They always encourage me and they kind of always believe in me. It's kind of awesome. Fantastic. Very cool. Okay. Two of the parents out there. Finally, who are you? What do you do? I'm Alex Sanchez. I play the lead guitar. And what inspires me is rivalry. So not really a depressing one, but more of like a, I will be. So rivalry is and there's like, is that a band or is that, are there individuals out there who are you, who are rivals with? Rivals like other school bands be like, like back in like school times is like, you know what? Yo, good luck. But like, I'm going to beat you and we're always like do that to each other. Like that. But like every practice, we are rivals. We, we hate each other. So you guys go to different schools. Is that what I'm hearing? Well, actually, we are in college, our lovely singer here and our lovely drummer are still in school though. All right. Well, you're all in school if you're going to college. I mean that counts. Yeah, you're freshman now. Yeah. I'm back to a freshman. I was just going to say fresh meet and you cut me to it. I guess I wasn't thinking very creatively. All right guys, you have anything else you want to say while you're on television? We should say something altogether. Okay. Do it. Do it. I am a banana. Yeah. I'm guessing that was a bet. I don't know. Did you win? Everyone who's ever watched that on TV will understand. They'll understand what he just said. If they, if they ever watched that little clip. Okay. That's good to know. Oh, good for you, man. Standing up for what you believe in or whatever that was. Okay. So you guys want to say something altogether? I don't know. Is that too corny? Yeah. It is a bit corny. Just say like one, two, three, Smith Alley. All right. Wait. Do we look at the camera? One, two, three. Smith Alley. All right. Cool guys. Thank you very much. All right. Cool guys. Thank you very much. All right. Cool guys. Thank you very much. All right. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool.