From 7:30 p.m. to nearly 10 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, various bands from Rockwood’s high schools performed rock songs in the second annual Rockwood Rocks. Students from Lafayette, Eureka and Marquette showed up to rock the house with both original songs and covers.

The event was sponsored by the Rockwood Drug-Free Coalition and Rockwood Helping Others Remain Safe (RHORS), who gave out gift certificates and prizes if trivia questions were answered correctly. In addition, student-made PSAs were played in between musical acts.

Volunteers from NHS attended the event to help serve pizza, candy and drinks for a dollar.

Lafayette students Ryan Devereux and Shayne Hayes kicked off Rockwood Rocks by covering Oasis’s song Wonderwall, followed by an original, slower piece entitled Surround Us, and ending with Breaking Benjamin’s song Rain.

The Oz Funk Project, a jazz band from Marquette, wowed the crowd with a repertoire of fun, upbeat songs, including When the Saints Go Marching In and Michael Jackson’s I Want You Back, and ending with a show-stopping rendition of the folksong St. James Infirmary.

The Moment, containing students from Lafayette, was up next, rocking covers of Anberlin’s Feel Good Drag, Little Lion Man, made famous by Mumford and Sons, and Evanescence’s Bring Me to Life. Band members included juniors Bobby Boxerman, Shayne Hayes, Jake Hill, Garrison Krotz and Tori Watson.

Another Lafayette band, The Furniture Movers, took the stage shortly thereafter. They began with a cover of Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Dani California and then moved on to perform two original songs: So They Say and Good Night and Good Luck. The band was composed of juniors Andrew Monson, Eric Rachell, Calvin Smears and Luke Uebelein.

A Eureka band, Flatline, took the stage next. The crowd was a lot more enthusiastic this time, standing up and making a half-formed mosh pit near the stage. They performed two cover songs, Sugar Cult’s Memory and Fall Out Boy’s song Sugar, We’re Going Down. Three original songs were also performed, entitled Damian, Merciful and ending with Fairytale Gone Wrong. They even had their own CDs to give out.

The band to end the night was Side Project, also from Eureka. They began with a rock n’ roll version of the National Anthem, and then went on to perform rocking original pieces: Funk Jam, Brrr-Adata and Metaphor. Rockwood Rocks ended with the blasting original Aggressive Short-Cut Skirt.

Students came in and out of the commons, some just arriving from the rescheduled football game. And yet there was a decent amount of people to keep up the fun, excited atmosphere.

“The [Oz Funk Project] was fantastic, the musicianship wasmore than impressive,” Sam St. Clair, senior, said of the event. “[The Furniture Movers] was entertaining. The singer had a great voice.”

Each band has a lot of potential to make it big someday. Overall, it was a great and fun showcase for talent and music.