Peavey & Hard Rock Academy Team To Help Aspiring Musicians
(Peavey | Posted 2003-09-30)
Peavey Electronics Corporation recently teamed with Hard Rock Academy and its high caliber talent to create Peavey Rock Week, a rock 'n' roll summer camp that teaches aspiring musicians how to play musical instruments, write and record songs and perform in front of an audience. The 19 students, averaging 15 to 16 years old, were divided into groups and taught to rock by veteran vocal and instrument coaches, then unleashed on a packed house at Orlando's Hard Rock Live in what was, for many, their first live performance.
"It was a very successful camp," said Dennis Steinmetz, executive director of Hard Rock Academy. "We just got the final mix of the tracks today, and we were impressed. It turned out pretty well." Steinmetz, a behind-the-scenes luminary, has been involved in developing pop music's biggest stars, including the omnipresent Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and N*SYNC.
The students at Peavey Rock Week were just as driven as those now-household names, and Steinmetz and his staff built on their interests and talents in the same manner—not only teaching them how to play, but also introducing them to how the music industry actually works. He and longtime artist manager Diane Reed spoke with the students about the many facets of "the business," from performing to management and record label deals, sharing their experiences with the attentive, eager group. But the camp taught another, often overlooked, rock 'n' roll lesson: life on the road, where hotels become home and the daily regimen is neither peaceful nor quiet.
"Everyone stayed at one hotel on the same floor," he said. "The camp was in the same hotel, and living accommodations were right above the practice rooms." That means if any students slept through their alarm clocks, they were rudely awakened by roaring Peavey amplifiers. Peavey outfitted the bands with guitars, basses, amplifiers, drums and more, and even gave away two Rage® guitar amps and a Generation™ electric guitar customized with vibrant art and the Hard Rock Academy logo.
The partnership of two high profile entities such as Peavey and Hard Rock attracted a lot of interest and participants, according to Steinmetz. "Some of the kids came in because of the allure of being Hard Rock and Peavey," he said. Just as enticing, though, was the prospect of jamming with other players. "We ran the gamut from someone who had never picked up a guitar before they came to the camp—younger kids who came just for the experience of playing with other kids—all the way up to some heavy duty players."
Peavey Electronics Corporation is one of the largest manufacturers of musical instruments and professional sound equipment in the world. Peavey holds more than 130 patents and produces more than 2,000 products, which are distributed throughout the United States and to 136 other countries. To find out more about Peavey Electronics and its artists, visit www.peavey.com.
