Four Beavercreek High School students performed during the Miami Valley Recreation Activities Council talent show hosted by The Fraze on July 27. Not only did they perform, but in attendance was a true rock band fan club cheering them on. Amateur City creates their own sound and plays from their heart.
Nick Whitaker (keyboardist), Casey Newton (guitarist), Kane Voris (drummer), and Nick Kowalski (lead vocals) have been playing together for over a year.
“Kane and I grew up together and both love music. Once we decided to form a band, we found Nick and Nick,” Amateur City’s guitarist, Casey Newton said. “Once we started playing together, we knew we had potential.”
The band created some original songs but don’t have enough to play a complete show, yet. With some of their original music, they recently won the local Beavercreek talent show to qualify them to perform at The Fraze. They like to play classic and alternative rock, like Van Halen and Muse. One of the bands favorite covers are Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Creep by Radiohead.
“It’s cool to be in a rock band and most people can’t say that they play lead guitar in a rock band,” Newton said.
But, their main goal is to one day have enough original songs to play a whole gig without using any cover songs. Of course, that will just take time. When creating a new song, Newton starts with a riff or a chord progression, Whitaker and Voris add in the piano and the drums and Kowalski writes the lyrics. Voris’ grandmother taught Whitaker to play the piano, Voris’ father taught Newton to play the guitar. Voris, coming from a musical family, taught himself how to play the drums and Kowalski sings with the school and show choir.
“After our September 11 concert at the Greene, we’ll be taking some time off to work on our original stuff and write more songs,” Amateur City’s lead singer, Nick Kowalski said. “Hopefully we can record some by the end of the year.”
Because of their schedules, it’s often hard to get everyone together for practices, but it doesn’t keep them from creating the buzz about their band or keeping the fans from wanting more. Between their friends, family, church, other organizations and social media through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, their music and performances are out there for the world to enjoy and follow.
“The band is important to me because it’s a good way to blow off steam and have fun. I’d love more than anything to see if take off as a career,” Kowalski said.
Their next and last performance of the year will be at The Greene on September 11 at 2 p.m.
To support the band, t-shirts are available during each performance. Fans can follow them on YouTube at Amateur City.
City Skipper Gal 