Ryan Chesire stood on stage, singing a cover of “Pool House” by The Backseat Lovers. The crowd jammed along as Blackbird Rock Co., the band Chesire is part of, performed.
“I love the breakdown,” Chesire said about the song, which was his favorite on the setlist. “It’s just immense. It’s immense power, especially being right up against it, and you can turn into it. It’s just amazing.”
Blackbird Rock Co. was one of six student bands to perform at the Future of Rock Festival in Omaha on Sunday. Chesire said he loves rock and was excited to perform in his first music festival.
“I’ve loved music festivals,” Chesire said. “I’ve always been to them growing up, and I’ve always wanted to perform in one, so to actually be able to perform one so early in my music career, it’s a blessing to me.”
The Future of Rock Festival was inspired by another music festival in Wisconsin called Summerfest. Eric Reichwaldt, president and founder of the Future Rockers of Omaha Foundation, said he watched his kid perform at Summerfest with the School of Rock, an afterschool music program.
“How can we do something locally where we can give these kids this opportunity, but they’re not just the opening acts, like the whole thing is about them, right?” Reichwaldt said. “We want them to have that feeling of being on a big stage.”
Reichwaldt, who also calls himself the architect of opportunity, said it can be challenging for young musicians to break into the music scene. He wanted to create an event that gave them a stage while also showing people how talented they are.
“I think a lot of people have this elementary school musical concert perspective, of like, oh, are you guys gonna play, like, ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,’ or whatever,” Reichwaldt said. “It’s like, no, they’re gonna play War Pigs and Foo Fighters and Green Day and stuff.”
Willa Bruning, who plays rhythm guitar and also sings for Blackbird Rock Co., said her favorite song to perform is “Stuck Here Again” by L7. She grew up loving music, like many of those rocking at the festival.
“I had started collecting CDs at one point, and I went in my basement and I just looked through my dad’s old CD collection, and I just found some of the most amazing artists that I’ve ever listened to,” Bruning said. “Ever since then, I’ve had a really big love for music.”
Throughout the day, bands played songs from several genres and eras, including rock band Pierce the Veil, Elton John’s “Rocket Man” and “Scotty Doesn’t Know” by Lustra, which is Rosie Scherbarth’s favorite to perform. She played bass and is one of the singers for the band Anxiety that performed at the festival.
“It’s a song that is positive and it gets people jumping, but it’s not too happy and annoying at the same time,” Scherbarth said.
It was Anxiety’s first time playing in the festival, but Scherbarth performed in it last year with School of Rock.
“Two of us have been here before and done the Future Rockers thing, but we hadn’t been able to play in our own band,” Scherbarth said. “It’s really exciting to get to play on such a big stage and for such a good cause.”
Several bands, including Anxiety, also shared original music. Eli Wirth, singer and guitarist for Anxiety, said his favorite to perform is called “Freedom Flaw,” one of the first songs the band wrote together.
“It’s really cool, that feeling of writing your own song and then showing everyone it,” Wirth said.
Make Believe Residency, another band on the lineup, turned one of their songs into a western movie scene. Guitarist Lukas Wellman walked up the hill to “shoot” his singer during their original song “Marlboro Red.”
Wellman said it’s cool to gig and play live music.
“I never thought I’d really be focusing on music after high school, but everything else kind of doesn’t interest me as much,” Wellman said.
The festival was Make Believe Residency’s final show as a band, and the crowd sang along and danced to celebrate the band’s last hurrah.
There were also two bands missing from the lineup — Midusa and Ugly Lotus — because the festival was rescheduled from April to June due to weather. Kaiden Forbes, lead guitar and singer for Midusa, said the festival and the promotion that went into it helps uplift musicians. There were videos of performances, “Meet the Band” events and video interviews leading up to the festival.
“I think it’s a really great opportunity for the growing music that’s coming up in Omaha,” Forbes said. “There’s not a whole bunch of opportunities for bands to play. It’s kind of like who you know, you have to network.”
Midusa, which has grown its collection of original songs since they played in the festival last summer, has two shows coming up at the end of June.
Ugly Lotus has also had the chance to gig in the Omaha music scene. Lyle Cidlik, guitarist, said it’s a cool feeling to share the stage with bands he’s seen live before.
“It’s really cool to just be up on stage with these bands that I’ve seen before. It’s like, I’m doing the thing,” Cidlik said. “It’s almost indescribable, the feeling.”
Many of the musicians on Sunday were part of or graduated from music programs in Omaha, like School of Rock, the Omaha Conservatory of Music and SNJ Studio of Music. Reichwaldt said in addition to the young bands getting to perform, the festival also puts a spotlight on those places supporting young people in the arts.
“Maybe somebody comes out with their 10-year-old kid and sees a 14-year-old kid on the stage playing,” Reichwaldt said. “It’s like, whoa, that’s much more relatable to me than Metallica or something. I could potentially do that.”
The band Rose Lane has several alumni from SNJ Studio of Music. Lizzie Clark, vocalist, remembered performing with Blackbird Rock Co., which is the SNJ Studio of Music band.
“That program really gave me a lot and really helped me through a lot of things and made me realize that music is a really, really good way to just get everything out and get all your emotions out,” Clark said. “It was really, really great to be able to go on that stage and go before them, and be able to see them perform, see how the program’s going now.”
The Future of Rock Festival was the band’s second gig and first performance for some of the members, like Collin Newman, bassist and rhythm guitarist.
“It was a completely new experience, but I feel like we prepped pretty well, and we all did a great job,” Newman said.
Garlick, which was the final student band to perform before the headliner, is made up of School of Rock students and alums. Abby Hanna, lead vocalist for Garlick, said it’s a different feeling to know they booked this gig.
“I think it’s just really cool knowing that we have supporters and that we did this ourselves,” Hanna said.
Danny Bedrnicek, the keys player for Garlick, was a student at School of Rock and now teaches there. He said Garlick has a lot of chemistry.
“So far, I’ve just really enjoyed playing professionally and all that,” Bedrnicek said. “It’s very rewarding, and it’s a very different experience from before I graduated the School of Rock.”
Bedrnicek said the festival isn’t just about showcasing what they can do, but showing other kids that they can also rock on stage.
“It’s also just nice to be able to tell people that, ‘Oh, your kid, could be doing this, too,’” Bedrnicek said. “This isn’t just about the current future. It’s about the future, future, right? We’re there to inspire people, inspire kids, inspire parents to get into music.”
This year, Reichwaldt said they had a local band headline for the festival that’s been in the music scene a while — Grunge Pop. Each of the student bands could have members perform with Grunge Pop to end the night.
Reichwaldt has lots of ideas to expand the festival in future years, like having the kids help with planning and putting it on. He could even see the festival adding on days if enough bands apply. The one thing he wants students to take away from the festival though, is hope.
“I want them to feel like they have a future in doing musical stuff, and that people are out here to support them,” Reichwaldt said. “There’s a reason to put in the effort and to care and continue that passion.”