On Mar. 26, Clover Hill High School hosted Jammin on the Hill where three local bands battled it out for the title of best band.
Jammin on the Hill was organized by senior Lance Aileo, Tri-M Music Honor Society Vice President.
“I’ve tried planning a battle of the bands at Clover Hill for several years,” said Aileo. “I started planning it two years ago when I was class president. It’s been great to finally put on a Battle of the Bands.”
Tri-M sponsor and Orchestra teacher, Teresa Maclin, also helped organize the event.
“As faculty sponsor of Tri M, I helped communicate with CHHS Administration to ensure that the event would run smoothly and safely,” said Maclin. “I was able to secure a sponsor who funded the trophies and have made connections in the community for future events.”
Lance and the Lovelies, a blues band led by Aileo, was the first to perform. Aileo played bass and sang as the lead on four of the songs, “Killing Floor” by Howlin Wolf, “Born Under a Bad Sign” by Albert King, “Hey Bulldog” by the Beatles and “How Blue Can You Get” by B. B. King. His brother, junior Everett Aileo, was on drums and took over as lead singer for the last song, “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry. Junior Scott Shockley was on guitar.
Purple, an avant-garde rock band, was the next band to perform. Their set was made up of two of their original songs, “Appalachian Whiskey” and “Notes from the Underground”. James River High School junior, Pearson Whaley, and Goochland High School freshman, Grady Eggleston, shared lead and rhythm guitar duties. Thomas Dale High School Junior, Braden Watts was on drums, and James River sophomore, Stephen Gellner, was on bass.
Supertonic, Clover Hill’s student-led jazz band, was the last band to perform. Their set started with Todd Terje’s “Alphonso Muskedunder,” an upbeat, jazz fusion number. Supertonic is led by senior and bassist Jude Molique. Other members include Tenor Saxophonist Joshua Wiseman, Pianist Luri Lee, and drummer Christian Singleton. Their next number was “Assassin” by Cory Wong followed by Herbie Hancock’s “Cantaloupe Island.” They closed out their set with a groovy and soulful rendition of the jazz standard “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.”
After the bands performed, audience members were asked to vote for the Audience Choice Award. Aileo started by thanking members of the Clover Hill Music department and faculty for allowing the event to happen. He also thanked the judges for the event: teacher and local musician Andrew Brown, community member Michael DeCoursey, and teacher Daniel Waidelich.
“Jammin on the Hill was absolutely great, andI had an awesome time being a judge,” Waidelich said. I feel bad picking a favorite band [because] as a judge I should be impartial. I thought all three did a very good job,” Waidelich said. “One of the things I liked about it was that the bands were all different.”
After the show, Maclin took the microphone to announce awards.
Commemorative medals were awarded to the members of each band. The best soloist award went to the drummer for Purple, for his solos in “Appalachian Whiskey.” Purple was awarded 2nd runner up, Lance and the Lovelies got 1st runner up and Supertonic was awarded the audience choice and grand champion.
The event was positively received by the community. Maclin is excited to make Jammin on the Hill a Clover Hill tradition.
“We hope the success of this year puts us in a place to make Jammin on the Hill an annual event,” said Maclin. “We want to bring together the larger CCPS community with the CHHS community.
