Jenette McKurdy sparks excitement with students
Photo: Sutton Hewitt
Senior Harrison Schutt plays with his band, Jenette McKurdy. Last year, the band played at the St. George’s Carnival Day.
When walking into a Jenette McKurdy concert, one will find many people dancing until they sweat and singing their hearts out. One will be met with a jam-packed room of fans jumping up and down to the rock music of Jenette McKurdy.
Jenette Mckurdy was formed when Harrison Schutt, Joseph Preston, Nicholas Manley, Jerry Oates and Jim Waggoner, members of the youth group worship band at Christ United Methodist Church, wanted to play other genres’ music alongside their usual worship songs.
“We started to sneak into the church at night and tried to play Avett Brothers music, and it was terrible,” Schutt, guitarist of the band and prefect of the arts, said.
The name Jenette McKurdy was established simply when the band was throwing out ideas one night while hanging out.
“We were throwing out absurd band names and someone said ‘Jenette McKurdy,’” Schutt said. And thus, the band’s name was born. Schutt said it was not originally his favorite name because it was a girl’s name, but he said he now likes it.
Schutt said that being in a band while in high school is difficult and that he has left exams unstudied for in the past due to long band rehearsals.
“We had four to seven hour practices every day during exam week last year, which might be why I didn’t do so well, but it’s worth it, and I’d rather be doing that than school,” Schutt said.
Mr. Tom Link, Director of the St. George’s Modern Music Ensemble, agreed that what Schutt and his band are doing requires a lot of discipline and focus.
“To be able to go out and play is really, really hard,” Mr. Link said. “It’s way harder than it looks.”
Mr. Link credits hard work for the band’s success.
“They sounded great,” Mr. Link said. “They were fantastic.”
Fans can look forward to new music from Jenette McKurdy soon, as the band will be releasing an album later on this year.
“The album should have at least eight songs on it, and for style, I’d say Foam Rock,” Schutt said.
The band plans on having a concert near Christmas time as part of the album release celebrations.
http://www.jennettemccurdy.com/
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/five-awesome-bands-who-formed-at-university-9249078.html
