Season 4 Step 1 Blog 22: Here We Go Again

 Here We Go Again

My brother Ryan's band, Cousin Simple, consists of him (lead guitar), Mitch Whitaker (Guitar, piano, and ukulele), and Will "Harsh" Hoag (font man). Will, Ryan, and Mitch went to middle school together. They started Cousin Simple while attending St. Charles Preparatory High School. St. Charles is also where Ryan and my two younger brothers, Luke (Senior) and Josh (Junior), attend school. Now I have known that Luke and Josh also have a band, but I thought it was more or less them making fun of Cousin Simple.

I work at New Story from 8-3 every weekday and Kroger from 6-10 Monday through Thursday. Even though I have a 2-3 ½ break between jobs, not a single member of my family is home at that time. I had a day off from New Story last week, so I saw Mom for the first time all week.

"Luke and Josh's band is playing a show this weekend!" Mom said out of nowhere.

I paused to process the information. "Well," I said with a big goofy grin, "here we go again!"

On Saturday, I got in my car with our neighbors, Megan and Rachel, and we drove to the house that the show was at. The only people I recognized at the show were my parents, a few family friends, Ryan, Will, one of Luke's friends, Cole, and Josh's girlfriend, Sophia. The boys and two other bandmates, Freddie and Max, performed in the backyard right in front of a pool. Thirty minutes after we arrived, the band entered the stage.

First, Josh started playing the drums while Freddie and Max began to play guitar and bass. When they had finished the intro, Luke ran onto the stage and sang the first cover song. When that song was over, Luke told everyone to come up closer to the stage. I did as Luke told me, and I found myself surrounded by a pack of Saint Charles guys.

They had eight songs prepared, one of which was an original that they would play for the encore. The band played their last cover and did their obligatory walk off the stage. Before they had all even left, one of the boys in the crowd started chanting" encore," and everyone else followed. Because nobody was walking back towards the stage, the crowd gave up. Knowing that they still had one more song, I tried to restart the "encore" cheer. Luckily I saw Cole in the crowd, so I started chanting directly at him. He got the message, and the crowd started chanting for the boys again. The band played their song "Almost There," and after hyping everyone up, they jumped in the pool at the end.

It was an entertaining night, Especially considering this was the first time I've heard live music since everything shut down. I'm so proud of Luke, Josh, and their friends, and I can wait to see what they do with this talent!

Have a Greattastic Day and be Safe!

J. Mitchie Ulibarri