This Side Up, Begging to Differ: student bands land gigs

Courtesy of Bob Adamek

Begging to Differ lead singers dance to their music. Seniors Jaymie Inouye and Laura Ruple front the band.

Anna Rath, Feature Editor
October 9, 2015

This Side Up and Begging to Differ are two accomplished bands at HHS made up entirely of HHS students and one HHS alumni. These two bands are managed and mentored by Bob Adamek.

Jaymie Inouye is the co-lead vocalist and band leader for Begging to Differ.

“We have gotten a gig the past year and the year before, when I was in a different band, we’ve played at First Night, and Bob sets up gigs for us just spaced out throughout the year. We just did one[gig] about a month or two ago, for a celebration for back to school out at his house. They’re fun and he’ll [Bob Adamek] find a venue and invite anyone who wants to come out to listen,” said Inouye. 

IMG_9443Courtesy of Bob Adamek

Begging to Differ is made up of  co-lead vocalists, Jaymie Inouye and Laura Ruple, tenor saxophonist Rachel Rohrer, alto saxophonist Cecily Lawton, Keyboardist Seth Bontrager, Drummer JMU student and HHS alumni Dryden Labarge, Guitarist Noah Heie and they are currently in transition for a bass player.

“I don’t even remember, it took us forever to come up with a name and it was hard because there had been this running theme of high school bands at HHS where every name for each band could be found on a sign or a box; Help Wanted was one of the first bands here and previously I was in a band called Hours of Operation, so we didn’t know if we wanted to continue with that trend or not so we honestly had so many random names that we were choosing between, but I think we chose Begging to Differ because we liked the symmetry of it and the message of it and everyone felt comfortable with it so that’s what we ended up going with,” said Inouye.

Junior Keyboardist, Seth Bontrager is starting his first year with Begging to Differ. He took on the role of former Begging to Differ keyboardist, Chloe Richard, because she graduated and now attends JMU. 

“We practice at Bob Adameks house, he has a little shed outside with a bunch of band equipment and stuff,” said Bontrager, “We play old classic rock to punk rock [music] to more indie stuff,” said Bontrager.

The band This Side Up includes, base player, Ava Reynolds, keyboardist, Douglas Ritcher, alto saxophonist, Bianca Pierson, brass instrument players, Hollyn Slykhuis and Valerio Aleman, lead vocalist, Ellie Plass and drummer, Kieran McClay.

Senior Bianca Pierson is an original member of This Side Up and plays the alto saxophone.

“So the other high school bands that Bob [Adamek] helps each had like signs as their names, like Help Wanted and so we decided to go with a sign too, I guess one of us saw a box somewhere that said ‘this side up’, so that’s what we went with,” said Pierson.

This Side Up performs at SpringArts.
Courtesy of Bob Adamek
This Side Up performs at SpringArts.

This Side Up is a two year old band and plays multiple gigs throughout the year including First Night, in downtown Harrisonburg.

“Ellie[Plass] and Ava[Reynolds] really wanted to start a band in high school so they asked some of their friends if they wanted to start[a band], and we thought it would be a cool idea to get a group outside and just play music that we enjoy,” said Pierson.

Senior Kieran McClay is also an original member of the band, This Side Up, and plays the drum set.

“We play everything, everything except for reggae, we play soul music, funk, r&b, rock n roll, etc.,” said McClay, “[being in a band] It’s pretty fun, but sometimes stressful, and we have all grown closer together.”