Matador
In January of 2020, Colt walked into the Firehouse for the first time with his friend Fintan, a talented drummer and student of Eric’s. Colt grabbed a guitar for the first time, and in the year-and-a-half since, he has gone from beginner-guitarist to writing, recording, and producing his first original song.
“I honestly never thought I’d enjoy playing music this much, but I just love it,” Colt reflects.
“I already enjoyed listening to music, but being able to play it and do it myself is awesome.”
Colt quickly took to the guitar, learning riffs from Yes to AC/DC in no time. Soon enough, he branched out and began learning drums. “The Firehouse has everything in here, so I was looking at the drums and thought to myself, ‘hey, what if I just tried this?’ And sure enough, it was just as much fun as playing guitar.” Eric and Colt began splitting their lesson time between both instruments, and even spent some time with the bass.
Combining his natural creativity with his newfound talent with the big three rock instruments, Colt set out to write his first song. “The songwriting process was completely new to me. Being able to workshop my sounds and ideas with {Eric} supporting me really helped.” The result is Colt’s first single Matador, a grungy rock tune with a simple message: stay true to yourself, and work hard despite the outside world’s attempts at taking you down.
When asked what he plans to do in the future as a musician, Colt’s dreams and vision are equally big: “I want to shoot for the moon. Right now I’m a jack of all trades—I want to be able to get good at everything. I feel like the sky is the limit.”
Colt’s band is called JACKELS, and his first single Matador is available here:
Check it out!
Meet Tyler
A couple months back, Eric visited the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center in North Avondale. During his visit, Eric sat down with several kids from the nearby neighborhood and played guitar with them. One of those kids was Tyler Cunningham, a talented Hayes 8th grader who loves nearly every genre of music.
Within a few days, Tyler was hanging out at the Firehouse and learning to play guitar with Eric. Recently, we sat down and asked Tyler about his experience at the Firehouse.
“It makes me feel good,” Tyler said. “I heard it [playing music] releases endorphins in the brain. It makes you happy.”
Currently, Tyler is learning his favorite song, “Electric Love” by BORNS.
Tyler is looking forward to the new renovations to the Firehouse, because he wants to perform on a stage for the first time. “It’s a chill place where you can play music,” he said. “You can share what you do.”
He also shared that he loves Philly cheesesteak sandwiches!
In the coming weeks, Eric will continue to help Tyler learn “Electric Love,” prepare him for his first performance, and, maybe, introduce him to the famous Philly cheesesteak at T-Bones in Five Points.
If you live in the Greater Avondale area and are interested in joining the Firehouse family, be sure to check out our Sign Up page here.
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