Rocking like a Tiger

Every great band got its start somewhere.

Metallica formed in 1981 after Lars Ulrich placed an ad in a Los Angeles newspaper, The Recycler, which read "Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden."

Other bands didn't have to look too hard, such as AJR which is composed of the Met brothers and started in 2005 when the three brothers began to write and produce music in their living room apartment.

The Dry Currents would get their start at the 2022 Encampment Spring Concert.

Traditionally, most concerts held at Encampment K-12 School begin with songs and performances from the primary school students and end with the high school choir. At the May 5 concert, it almost ended this way. When the choir finished singing, they quickly doffed their robes and made their way over to the band section. Robert Follum, the Encampment K-12 music teacher, informed those in attendance it was difficult to direct a rock band before joining the audience.

Dry Currents is, or was, composed of Jacob Fairbanks, Brayden Barkhurst, Hannah Lee, Ellie Dugger and Kira Beach. Fairbanks is a senior and will be graduating this year. Barkhurst and Lee are juniors and Dugger and Beach are sophomores. The name of the band comes from Barkhurst, who also appears to have been the catalyst for the formation of the rock band.

"Brayden, he brought his electric guitar to school and then we thought 'Oh, we could do something for the Christmas concert' and then that evolved into pep band and then that evolved into this," said Lee.

Dugger said the whole thing started off as a joke between the members of the high school choir.

"It did start off as a joke," said Beach. "Like 'Hey, we could make a rock band with everyone here, including our teacher' and then it evolved into a rock band."

The reason the rock band didn't make their appearance during the Christmas concert was because the group felt the event was more formal, while the spring concert was more laid back. Although, once the group started playing, laid back was not how one might describe the audience who appeared to enjoy the break from tradition. Dry Currents began with a cover of "Monster" by Skillet, a Christian rock band formed in 1996. They followed it up with a cover of "Seven Nation Army" by The White Stripes, which they played with the junior high band. The final song of the night-the Encampment school fight song-saw the entire student body on the gym floor. It appeared that the rock band which started as a joke had a very warm reception.

Every band has a reason behind their name. The same can be said for Dry Currents.

"We were thinking AC/DC, stuff like that, and we were going to do something along the lines of Wet Currents and I threw out the idea of Dry Currents and it just stuck," said Barkhurst.

For those uninitiated into the world of rock and roll, AC/DC is an Australian rock band formed by brothers Malcom and Angus Young. The name of the band was inspired by their sister, who saw the abbreviation-which stands for alternating current/direct current-on a sewing machine.

It's not entirely surprising that choir students would form a rock band. Indeed, a number of now famous rock stars were trained in areas of music which some might not be considered rock-worthy. Eddie and Alex Van Halen, two of the founding members of Van Halen, were classically trained pianists. Other rock musicians who were classically trained include Pat Benetar, Steve Vai, the late Ronni James Dio and the late Randy Rhodes. The transformation from choir students to rock stars was quite obvious with Dry Currents.

Lee, who earlier in the concert had sung a song in its original German, transformed into an energetic lead singer for both songs. Beach, who had lost her voice earlier that day, used it to her advantage to reach the gravely, bass portions of the Skillet song. Each member of the choir, in their own way, swapped personas when they transitioned to Dry Currents.

It is entirely possible that Dry Currents had their one and only performance, though it is just as likely it will take on new members with the graduation of Fairbanks.

"The 8th graders will be coming up and hopefully we'll have them as well to take over the legacy," said Barkhurst.

Barkhurst added it would be interesting if Dry Currents could write their own songs rather than just playing covers. The rest of the band members appeared to agree. With any luck, they will hold a comeback performance next school year.