Night of Contemporary Music Performers

Smack Jupiter

Brady Corcoran, guitar/vocals; Theo Farnum, bass/vocals; Cole Morse, guitar/vocals; Tyler Ramos, drums

Where does the name of your band come from?

Our drummer, Tyler Ramos, just thought of it one day, and we thought it was catchy and cool, plus no one else had claimed it in iTunes or online.

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

An opportunity to play at a fantastic venue with other bands. And we love the JumboTron. It’s fun to have such a large screen shot of Smack on the back curtain of the Crest Theatre.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

Luigi’s Fun Garden for the Jammies battle for the last two years.

Where did you learn to play music?

Inspiration, perspiration, private lessons, hard work and inspired imaginations. Oh, and YouTube.

What sacrifices would you make in your life if you knew it meant musical success?

We’d be happy to sacrifice chocolate-chip cookies, Justin Bieber and even schoolwork if it meant we could achieve musical success.

Jaxx

Kyle Maxwell, bass; Alan Petterle, guitar; Nikkos Savas, guitar; Jack Petterle, drums

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Jack: It means the world to me. I just want the opportunity to win, that’s all. Just the chance to play at the Crest would be amazing.

What bands influenced you? Why?

Kyle: Two bands that have influenced me are Led Zeppelin and my favorite instrumental band, Russian Circles.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

Nikkos: I’ll always remember the first few months that we were together, learning our first song, “Happy Birthday,” by the Beatles.

Where did you learn to play music?

Alan: I taught myself to play guitar and have just recently decided to take classical lessons because I want to continue to improve and play for a living.

Into the Open

Dane Arnold, guitar; Keith Barreras, bass; Derek Rambo, drums; Sheridan Reed, guitar/vocals

What bands influenced you? Why?

Keith: I get influenced by Blink-182, A Day to Remember, Anarbor, the Audition, and Rise Against. I am also influenced by my bandmates, because we are always bouncing ideas off each other.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

Dane: For me, it was our show over a year ago at Club Retro where we won the Battle of the Bands.

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

Keith: My dad bought me a bass after I played guitar for a year. I found it easier and it allowed me more freedom than guitar.

Where did you learn to play music?

Derek: I primarily taught myself, but I did have a few teachers that taught me for a few months at a time. Jazz band helped tremendously in so many aspects of my drumming today.

Parie Wood

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Honestly, it’s not about winning for me—although that would be nice. I hope the Jammies are a start of something bigger in my musical career.

What bands influenced you? Why?

My main influence is Bob Dylan because of how honest and raw he is. Especially in his first, self-titled album.

Where do you want your musical career to take you?

Sure, I’d love to be a “rock star,” but as long as I am doing what I love, saying what I mean and people are into it, I will be fulfilled in my life.

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

When I was 10, I found an ad for a Lyon guitar in the paper and decided I wanted to buy it. My mom took me down to the bank, I emptied out all the money I had (literally) and went to Target to buy it.

Where did you learn to play music?

I started taking lessons from Pauly Parker at Skip’s Music when I was 11 or 12. Then when I was 13, I started taking vocal lessons from Larisa Bryski. I couldn’t have asked for better instructors.

What sacrifices would you make in your life if you knew it meant musical success?

Sacrifices? Whatever it took, I guess. As long as it didn’t involve human life or body parts.

The Hungry

Joey Eccles, guitar; Hadyn Johnson, bass; Drew Thomsen, drums; Bailey Zindel, guitar/vocals

Where did the name of your band come from?

Bailey: Our old guitarist wanted our name to be Dead People and we didn’t like it, so he said “Hungry Dead People,” and we decided on just the Hungry.

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Bailey: A shot at winning the Jammies is really cool for us because it will get lots of people to hear our music, even if we don’t win.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

Bailey: My favorite memory of us is when we played at The Refuge for our Jammies show, actually. It was so effortless and felt amazing, not like usual.

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

Bailey: My dad started playing guitar about six or seven years ago but wasn’t great, and I wanted to do better, so I taught myself to play and just went from there.

Southpaw Kings

Matt Brennan, guitar/ lead vocals; Jesse Lang, guitar; Alex Neifer, bass/backup vocals; Brady Thomas, drums

Where did the name of your band come from?

Jesse: Matt and I both play the guitar left-handed. That sparked the “Southpaw” part of the name, and the “Kings” part came after we created a logo that withheld a tiny crown upon the top.

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Jesse: A shot at winning the Jammies means a chance to keep our dreams alive. We all want nothing more than to play gigs forever, and this brings us one step closer to this.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

Matt: My fondest memory of the band was actually at the semifinals at Luigi’s. After that show, nothing else really lived up to the amount of fun that we had that night.

Where did you learn to play music?

Matt: I give a lot of the credit to my dad; he was the one who taught me all the basics. From there it was self-teaching and trial and error.

Zach MacLachlan

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Means a lot because it means being recognized for my abilities as a music artist, not to mention being celebrated, which is a huge deal considering the talent I am up against!

Where do you want your musical career to take you?

At this point I am savoring the present moment and taking in all that I am learning today.

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

Buddy Holly played the guitar, and I wanted to be just like him. Once I learned how to play, I never wanted to stop.

Where did you learn to play music?

My uncle, Kris Reilly, was my first teacher and inspiration.

What sacrifices would you make in your life if you knew it meant musical success?

Just putting in the time and effort it would take. It may mean giving up other things to do that, but because I love music as much as I do, I’d be all right with that. It’s all about doing what you love.

Exhale

Joseph Mansfield, guitar; Orrey Severet, drums/vocals; Emma Simpson, bass/vocals

Where did the name of your band come from?

It represents the effort we put forth into our music and toward making our fans stick around.

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Any opportunity we have at expanding our fan base is critical to us.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

We once sold over 100 tickets to our first show at The Boardwalk, and when we walked out on stage, we had a mass of chants screaming out our name.

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

Orrey: It wasn’t a random choice—I just always had the ambition to be the backbone of any band.

What sacrifices would you make in your life if you knew it meant musical success?

Emma: I love music and no matter what path I take in life, I know music will be a huge part of it.

Joseph: I would give up everything but my guitar, amp, family, friends and support.

Conquest

Peter Amato, guitar; Eric Dean, bass; Eric Fraine, bass; Maddy Kilpatrick, vocals; Elliot Minner, guitar; Dakota Pattinson, drums

Where did the name of your band come from?

Eric: It’s still an argument about who proposed it, but one of us was listening to the White Stripes song “Conquest” and decided it was perfect.

Where do you want your musical career to take you?

Eric: To the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! To the top!

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

Eric: I started out playing guitar, but I got frustrated because, well, I sucked! So one of my friends gave me a bass amp and a half-size bass and said, “Go crazy!”

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Peter: To be honest, I think we’d all be happy enough with just making to the Crest for the final show.

What sacrifices would you make in your life if you knew it meant musical success?

Peter: Whatever it would take, as long as I’ll still have my sanity and a roof over my head, I’d be prepared to make a good number of sacrifices to be happy.

Uncle Tony

Carson Bernard, drums; Jack Davis, vocals; Jason Harris, guitar; Spencer Snow, bass

Where did the name of your band come from?

Jason: I’m afraid the identity of Uncle Tony is a cherished band secret.

What does a shot at winning the Jammies mean to you?

Jason: To this point, we’ve been known primarily as a Davis band. We’d like to break into the Sacramento scene. Winning the Jammies would be a huge step in doing that.

What is your fondest memory of playing together as a band?

Jason: We had the opportunity to share the stage with One Eyed Rhino at Harlow’s in Sac.

What drew you to your instrument specifically?

Jason: My dad is a guitarist and has played in bands for much of his life. Listening to him play at home made me want to learn how to play the guitar.

What sacrifices would you make in your life if you knew it meant musical success?

Jason: I would be willing to forgo a safe, traditional career path in order to pursue my musical passion.