They say rock ’n’ roll is a young person’s game. That’s a forever debatable opinion, as The Rolling Stones try to pull if off, succeeding in some fans’ opinions, but that success is too, debatable. Iggy Pop still gets after it, although it may be preferred he do so with a shirt on. Blue Oyster Cult has kept it honest and quite good for decades, but the bulk of the world may agree with the belief that rock ’n’ roll is best done by the young. Again, these are all varying opinions.
If is a young person’s game, then local band Majik Ham – guitar player Alec Bell, age 16; keyboardist Elias Javier, 16; bass player Jordan Rainey, age 15; and drummer Taylor Williams, age 16 – are pups in the scene.
Majik Ham will perform Saturday at EsoTerra CiderWorks in downtown Durango.
If you go
WHAT: Rock music with Majik Ham.
WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: EsoTerra Ciderworks, 588 Main Ave.
MORE INFORMATION: Call 422-8017.
They’ve been playing since before they were teenagers, Bell, Javier and Williams are all products of local music school Stillwater Music, where they all practiced on a variety of instruments before landing on what they play now. Rainey is a kid of parents who love music, someone who started on violin before moving to the bass; she even had a set at last spring’s Bluegrass Meltdown, where she played guitar and was backed by local bluegrass pickers.
With regards to the progress of Majik Ham, some of that can be attributed to a local country crooner, who started pushing three of the members into music before their voices matured.
“Alec’s stepfather is Tim Sullivan,” Javier said. “He came up to Taylor and I and asked if we’d like to be in a band. Jordan joined us maybe a year ago, and the three of us had been playing for about four years. We had our first gig at the Cowboy Poetry Festival, and we were all sopranos. We had voices higher than Jordan.”
Sullivan’s connections and time in the music business has resulted in solid progress, from helping them make rehearsals more efficient to booking shows.
“Tim’s been mentoring us a lot,” Javier said. “He has a space for us to practice, and he’s helped us get gigs, too. We started with a gig every now and then, but right now we’re doing one anywhere from once a week to every two weeks.”
The Majik Ham setlist is a who’s who of familiar classics, as they’ll bang out everything from Johnny Cash to Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys to Van Morrison. However, ask them what they listen to on the regular and you’ll get a variety of answers. For Rainey, it could be Billy Strings, Fleetwood Mac or Foo Fighters, while Williams digs on Nirvana or Cake. Guitar player Bell likes “cool guitar stuff” as in Jimi Hendrix or Slash, and Javier digs on Tyler, the Creator, Mac Miller and “a lot of different jazz artists.”
Collectively, they all also all like and recognize the genius that is The Beatles, the one band that seems to be common ground for any band of any genre from any year post 1966.
While music may be something that’s a heavy hobby for now, it may remain a heavy hobby forever. Majik Ham’s members aren’t quite ready to drop everything and go on tour, and while future career aspirations for some members include engineering or environmental work, they’ll always keep music on their plate.
Perhaps all high school age kids should be in a band, as members are learning and excelling at the non-music and offstage skills being in a band teaches, skills like marketing, networking and event planning, among others.
“There’s also time management. If we practice once a weekend, and have two shows in a weekend, we’re figuring out how to navigate that with school and everything else,” Rainey said. “Learning that has been great.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
