On any given night in Morgantown, local bands and musicians can be found sharing their gifts and passions on a live music stage somewhere in the city.
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise to some. What may be more surprising is on any given week there could be six to eight bands with former PopShop members playing.
According to PopShop Executive Director Chris Russell, there are many bands playing around the area that are made up of former PopShop members. Bands and solo artists like She’s a Wizard, Quiet Dell Commission, ROT, Porch Geese, Wisht, Intoxicated Zen, Cody Clayton Eagle, and Natural Rat are just a few of the groups with PopShop alumni.
“With the fruits of what we have done over the past 11-12 years, you could on any night see a PopShop band,” Russell said. “Some stay together with a group from PopShop and some get together after the fact. We just want them to keep playing and doing their own thing.”
PopShop, for those who may not be familiar, is a local nonprofit performing arts academy on Fortney Street in Morgantown that provides music education from seasoned musicians to students of all ages and abilities through collaboration and live performances using popular music styles such as rock and roll, pop and country.
Russell said as a young musician, he and his friends gravitated toward popular style music and that’s what kept them going. One thing he started noticing was a lack of the younger generation playing music together. “We didn’t see kids getting together and playing like we did when we were younger,” he said.
Russell said the thought was if they could use popular music as a vehicle to teach traditional concepts it would encourage getting into bands and performing. If the Morgantown music scene is a good way to judge, that plan seems to be working
“The impact PopShop has on the Morgantown music community is undeniably positive,” said Frank Witt, former PopShop member, who now plays drums for local funk/jazz/hip-hop/soul/rock group Intoxicated Zen based in Morgantown. “Many bands in the Morgantown music scene have at least one player that has tried PopShop, some Morgantown bands started at Popshop and still have all original members. PopShop is a great place to get started with playing live music, I’m thankful for the program giving me a first step into the live music world I love.”
Witt’s guitar-playing bandmate, Davis Kimble, did not attend PopShop, but said he has witnessed the impact PopShop has had on the live music community. “Be it instructors or former students, it’s clear how much they genuinely care about what they do. The impact they’ve had on the local music scene is undeniable. A number of bands include members that learned their instrument through PopShop.”
PopShop Operations Manager Brian Spragg said there are a few shows happening this week where you can catch some PopShop alumni or instructors performing.
One chance will be Thursday at 123 Pleasant Street. 123 is hosting its first edition of a Learning and Building (LAB) artist collective showcase with the goal of staging events featuring our community’s most talented artists.
One of the bands performing in this week’s showcase is ROT whose drummer Cory Phillips was one of the first drummers to help with PopShop. Maleri Tustin is also in the band and is an instructor at PopShop and also a former student.
Friday at 123 Pleasant Street you can catch the Quiet Dell Commission with PopShop alumni Ryan Armstrong, Jake Hughes and Robbie Menard, who Spragg believed all started in the program as young as 12 or 13. They are now in their 20s.
“Seeing these bands that used to be with us and they are now older and they are doing their own thing – they have graduated by just going to make bands and play,” Russell said.
“PopShop provides this outlet where people can come together from any age to, create a band, name the band, pick songs for the band, practice together, and then the bands have at least one big performance at 123 Pleasant Street or Black Bear with mic’d drums – it’s pretty inspiring to play on mic’d drums – and other instruments to showcase what they worked on throughout the semester,” Witt said.
Spragg said they are currently preparing for the next session for PopShop to start on January 31. More information about PopShop visit their website at popshopwv.com. Registration information can be found by clicking the Rock Enroll link.
“I think a lot of young kids have an interest in playing music outside of a formal, ‘school band’ type of setting and PopShop offers them that opportunity. It’s a neat thing our community certainly benefits from,” Kimble said.
Spragg also encourages everyone to explore what Morgantown has to offer for musical entertainment. “Check out local bands as much as possible because you might end up liking them a lot,” he said.
