At Jersey City's FM this Saturday afternoon, a lineup of young musicians will take the stage at a venue usually reserved for bands old enough to drink (and drive themselves to the gig).
While driving licenses and SATs may still be in their future, these young artists prove that talent has no age limit. In fact, several of them have already appeared at area events like the All About Downtown festival, Groove On Grove, concerts at the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery, and even FM itself.
Promoter "Dancing Tony" Susco dubbed the event "FM's Saturday Matinee Music Showcase," and it will feature sets by Hoboken's Elevator Pitch, Jersey City's Daniela Garcia (who performs as DAGE) Bloomfield's Rockstar Racecar, Gurl Mob (which features Jersey City teen Autumn Shae), and singer/songwriter Eli De La Cruz. The matinee will deliver a mixed bag of folk, rock, jazz and punk, a little something for audiences of all ages.
"Music shouldn't have an age restriction," Susco said.
Here's a look at two of the bands on Saturday's bill:
ROCKSTAR RACECAR
Rockstar Racecar features three 15-year-olds – singer/guitarist Troy Donohue, rhythm guitarist Luke Stanton and bassist Violet – with Troy's 11-year-old brother (known only as "The Wolverine") on drums. This precocious punk rock quartet just self-released its second full-length album, "The Real Housewives of Pyongyang," and regularly plays street festivals, all-ages venues like the Meat Locker, and area clubs.
"We don't really have a problem playing bars since they all know we're underage and know not to serve us," Troy said.
Also, regardless of where Rockstar Racecar plays, there's always a parent or two around to chaperone and chauffeur the band to its gigs and back. Logistics, Troy said, aren't the issue.
"Our biggest problem is getting people to commit to being in a full-time band," he said. "Our last bassist had to leave because of sports. Kids our age have sports and clubs and lots of other things going on so time management is a big problem."
Nonetheless, the group manages to rehearse at least twice a week at Troy and the Wolverine's home in Montclair.
Rockstar Racecar's music does what all rock 'n' roll aspires to do, mixing a variety of influences (in this case, punk, metal, and classic rock) into a holistic whole. Ozzy Osbourne, the Ramones, Cheap Trick, Black Flag and the Stooges all make their presence felt on "The Real Housewives of Pyongtang"; the enthusiasm doesn't come as any surprise from a band this young, but the flashes of dry humor and political awareness do.
Troy writes most of the songs, although he noted that "the good thing is that the 11-year-old is starting to write songs, too," and in fact contributed one of the album's several youth anthems, "A Hundred Miles an Hour."
"My parents taught me everything I know about music," Troy said. "All my influences came from them."
The band recorded with producer Gerry Griffin at his Temple of Tuneage studio in Verona.
"Rockstar Racecar is an Oreo-fueled band that's fun and exciting to work with in the studio," Griffin said. "Their energy level is over-the-top (blame it on the Oreos), but the real secret to this band is their songwriting. The lyrics can be funny or serious, but the tunes are the kind of hard-driving rock 'n' roll that you would expect from veteran rockers, not kids. I've had the pleasure of producing and mixing their first two CDs and am really looking forward to working with them on future projects."
Hoboken's Elevator Pitch will be one of the young bands performing at FM's Music Matinee Showcase.
ELEVATOR PITCH
Elevator Pitch has only been together a short time, but the group has already performed at Groove On Grove, the Turtle Club, Little City Books, and this fall's Hoboken Arts & Music Festival. Most of this talented quintet still attends high school, although keyboardist Ed Horan (son of noted singer/songwriter Kate Jacobs) is a freshman at Princeton.
Guitarist Andrew Wholf describes Elevator Pitch as "fusion-y, jazzy, funky stuff," a sound that mixes intricate soloing and instrumentals with high-energy rock rave-ups. Andrew and Ed have been playing together for years. In fact, Wholf noted that Horan (who will be missing this show because of college commitments) recently shared a video of the two of them playing together at 7 years old.
"It was hilarious," Wholf said. "Our parents knew each other and we just got together and became friends when we were little kids. I'd get so excited to go to Edward's house every week and have band practice."
Horan shared a music teacher with Robert Baxter, who joined the group on second guitar.
"And to be honest, I have no idea how we got Christian, our drummer," Wholf said. "One of us knew him, and he came to jam with us a few times, and he just wound up in the band."
The group needed a bassist, and Wholf knew a kid from school named Martin Baker.
"He came over one day and we wound up jamming for eight hours, it was just so much fun," Wholf said. "He was just automatically in the band after that."
Elevator Pitch's first live performances were at The Turtle Sessions, the monthly event that Hoboken scene stalwart Tom Vincent used to convene at the now-closed Turtle Club.
"I really miss that," Wholf said. "I ran into Tom and he said they were looking for another restaurant that would allow them to do it again, which would be great. I loved playing at those."
Wholf, who namechecks Jack Johnson as a major influence, also plays with the Andrew Wholf Band, who recently won second place at the JC Studios Battle Of The Bands. But both groups find themselves shut out of the kind of places where they'd have the best opportunity to meet and mingle with other musicians because of their age.
"It stinks that we can't go to so many places because of our age, but FM is great, they let us play there, which is really cool," Wholf said.
Elevator Pitch is currently working on material that will hopefully be recorded in the near future.
"We're writing songs and we're working on a press kit, and we're sending things out to as many places as we can," Wholf said.
Would it be a cliché to say that Elevator Pitch clearly seems on the way up?
If you go ...
The Saturday Matinee Showcase will take place on Saturday, Nov. 10, at FM, 340 Third St., Jersey City. Showtime is 3 p.m.; $10. The show is open to all ages.