Kristen Mitchell, Co-Editor-in-Chief
What is the hottest new band at Cookeville High School? Well, it might be the Sunlight Attic Group..... but probably not.
The members of this band are Justin Wolfe (mandolin and electric guitar), Andrew Semmes (guitar), Jimmy Knight (bass guitar), Tyler Huddleston (vocals), Kent Starkweather (kazoo and vocals), Adam Lafever (tamborine) and Katie Coe (drummer). With this group, you can only imagine how interesting their practices are.
Jimmy, Tyler, Kent, and Justin all came up with the idea to form this band during Mr. Terry Scott’s Calculus class. Some of their long term goals are to dethrone the Moonlight Cellar Band in the Battle of the Bands this year, finish a song and play completely through a song.
A future plan for them is to one day open a show for the Moonlight Cellar Band. They have a group of loyal fans who attend every practice. The best thing about the Sunlight Attic Group is their “physical beauty” as Justin commented.
The type of music they play is, as Jimmy, Justin and Andrew describe it, “a mixture of classic rock, with a hint of jazz, a touch of country swing, a pinch of blues, a smidgen of bebop, a dollop of rock steady, with a side order of funk.”
When asked about their music, Justin replied, “It goes down smooth like
brown gravy.”
To get the feel for the band’s music, I decided to attend one of their so-called “practices.” The practice was held in Justin Wolfe’s garage (giving the true meaning to “garage band”), and it was quite a different experience.
I don’t know if I have ever heard music quite so unique. When I arrived, I discovered two members were missing. With a normal band, this would cause quite a dilemma, but not for the Sunlight Attic Group. They were able to distribute the talent and make “music” for the next hour. Andrew was studying for his SAT and Katie was under the weather. Adam was then moved to the drums, while Kent played kazoo, drums and also did vocals.
Every song they played had a new surprise. The thing that was the most interesting was how they took songs of The Moonlight Cellar Band and tried to recreate them. They made a good attempt, but in my opinion, they could never live up to the Moonlight Cellar Band’s talent.
Tyler’s rendition of Blink-182 and Scott Faw were very amusing also. The kazoo added a different style to the band as well. As seems to be the case with every practice, they did not completely finish a song while I was there. After the practice, they all headed out to go out for Chinese food, which has now become a tradition.
The practices are open so if anyone would like to witness this talent, or go out and eat Chinee food, you can see them in Justin Wolfe’s garage every Friday night.
Article prepared for web by Jennifer Ann Glover.