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While they come from vastly different backgrounds, five men practicing inside Bluebond Guitars possess a common bond: they all know how to rock.
In a room no smaller – and much stuffier – than a typical half-bathroom, the guys try to turn notes, chords and drum beats into music. It’s rock and roll at its rawest, evident by the no-frills space covered with posters of The Beatles, The Clash, Rolling Stones and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.
The band, now about a month old and still without a name, is attempting to take on The Police classic "Roxanne." Daniel Schwartz, one of the teachers at the shop’s music school and a full-time guitar instructor, cranks up the actual tune to refresh everyone’s memory. He is set on having the band master a verse before the end of practice.
Due to his instruction and some trial and error, he achieves his goal. With South Philly resident Joseph Montanero bopping his head while strumming his bass and Peter Celona, formerly from the area, setting the beat while forcefully pounding on the drums, the band even surpasses the refrain.
The outcome was music to their ears.
The students at the Bluebond Music School will take on other rock classics May 21 at the "Best of the Best" concert at Indre Recording Studios, 1418 S. Darien St. Bluebond’s staff will highlight its best adult students in the unique band program that continually attracts rockers of all ages.
"Instead of having students come and go every three months, we have students with us for three years," Richard Chodak, Bluebond’s owner, said.
Members of the nameless band range in age from 23 to 51. Their professions are almost as diverse as their birthdates: Montanero works at a restaurant; Celona is a paralegal at a law firm; Hakim Morrison of West Philly is an enrollment specialist for Independence Blue Cross; and Donald Martiny of Mount Airy is a creative director for an advertising agency.
Yet the rocker in each is what links the group.
"Once they get hooked onto this [program], it just keeps growing," Chodak said. "They seem to come back and do it again. It’s almost like a dream come true. They’re on a real stage with a real sound system and they’re performing in a rock concert."
CHODAK BECAME OWNER of the store when former proprietor Dale Bluebond died in 1993 and it has remained a mainstay in the South Street area ever since, specializing in the sale and repair of guitars and basses.
Although the shop always offered lessons, the Bluebond Music School was created about a year and a half ago, giving one-on-one lessons to students who are encouraged to perform at an open-mic night at Oscar’s Tavern in Center City.
"What we found is that if you give them a performance goal, they stick with it," Chodak, of Audubon, N.J., said. "They practice a lot more. That really motivates them to get better."
Chodak said friends and loved ones usually attend performances, making for a very supportive audience.
"Ninety percent of people at the bar are there for them," he said. "It helps them grow and after they perform two or three times, you hear how much better they get."
Further separating Bluebond’s educational techniques from its competition, the teachers divvy up the rockers into bands based on a student’s willingness and musical tastes. With help from instructors, they undergo a 12-week session, dubbed the GED program, where they learn the ins and outs of being in a band. The adults have weekly, one-hour rehearsals for $7 each.
"It’s not just one-on-one lessons. It’s learning to play with other people," Celona, formerly of Second and Christian streets, said. While he can tickle the ivories and strum a guitar, the 23-year-old joined Bluebond to learn the drums.
Montanero, of 10th and Morris streets, first came to Bluebond after purchasing his instrument a few months ago.
"I bought a bass, but didn’t know how to play it," he said. "I started playing on my own, but didn’t get anywhere." Since taking lessons and working in the band, Montanero is happy with the improvements he has experienced. Most of his band mates have participated in other groups formed by Bluebond.
"For musicians to get better, playing with other musicians is the way to do it," said Chodak, who has 165 students enrolled in his school and 30 members in the adult band program.
During the concert, seven bands will perform three to five songs each, said Chodak, adding there also will be time for five solos.
Montanero and his band mates are planning to perform "Roxanne" and Aerosmith’s "Walk this Way," among others.
Chodak and the other teachers try to persuade bands to flex their creative sides and put a personal spin on popular tunes.
"A lot of bands are taking a lot of songs and reworking them and doing their own version of it," he said.
Bluebond has conducted roughly seven of these Best of the Best concerts, each having an affect on the band and the audience. New students always enroll and the bands decide to continue rehearsing, Chodak said.
"It becomes like a real band, like a real social thing with them," said Chodak, noting many musicians become good friends through their experience. "They’re taking it beyond what our program is because they feel it’s a real band. It’s not a school thing."
Chodak promises what’s played during the concert rivals similar acts throughout the city. The bands, he said, are "just as good" as performances "at the Khyber [in Old City] or any local venue."
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Advance tickets for the Best of the Best concert are available at Bluebond Guitars, 511 S. Fourth St., or at Indre Recording Studios, 1418 S. Darien St., the night of the show.
