The School Of Rock’s Star Student

Photo Courtesy Of Boyd Family

BY JEREMY HAAS

The smoky room is abuzz with discussion; bits and pieces of various conversations briefly overpower a classic rock ballad playing out of distant speakers.  Several tattooed, bearded men are sitting around tuning their acoustic guitars, and quietly singing to themselves.  After taking a moment to notice my surroundings, reality chimes in; Cagney’s Pub is certainly no place for a high school kid, right?   Suddenly, another teenager, even scrawnier and out of place looking than I, struts in wielding an electric guitar.  The attendees shift their attention, and their faces turn from nonchalantly bored to positively delighted. It’s hard to get a look at this kid, since his middle-aged group of buddies surrounds him.  The out of place boy steps on stage, modestly plugs his gear in, and starts jamming.  Cagney’s takes a turn from the stereotypical, grungy dive I was in just moments ago, into an all out concert venue.  The center of it all, at least on an “open mic-night” Thursday, is Ryan Boyd, teenage guitarist extraordinaire.  He gets on stage with a few of his musician friends, and I see exactly why he’s so praised.

Ryan Boyd is your average high school junior.  He gets good grades, he studies for his SATs, and he hangs out with his friends on the weekends.   But there’s just one thing that sets him apart: he’s a rock star in training.  Ryan Boyd is a guitar virtuoso, but it didn’t just happen over night.  Boyd has been playing guitar ever since sixth grade, when he picked up a guitar to attempt replicating the music he grew up admiring.

“Originally, I was really into Slash, but I guess everyone went through the Slash phase,” Boyd said.

In addition to classic rock, however, Boyd also grew up listening to funk, jazz, and even some tribal music.  Boyd claims that ever since he was four, and heard a band called  Rusted Root, he was hooked on music for good.  Toward the end of middle school, he started his first band with a few of his friends, calling themselves “New Vinyl”.

“We basically wanted to make music that sounded like classic rock, but was obviously modern, hence the name ‘New Vinyl’,” Boyd said.

Eventually growing bored with playing shaky “middle school music,” as Ryan puts it, he looked to expand his horizons.  Boyd found the “School of Rock,” a music studio that gives normal lessons, as well as serving as a meeting place for a group of kids who love rock and roll. The school gives them a place to discover new music based on the tastes of their peers and often leads to the formation of new bands. The School of Rock not only gives these new bands a place to practice, but also aids them in scoring gigs.  From clubs to carnivals to performing in front of 4,000+ people at “some national volleyball convention” according to Boyd, the “School of Rock” certainly helps get these kids out there.

Perhaps the most impressive thing Boyd has done with the help of this program is playing Lollapalooza in Chicago last year.  As a part of a nation-wide competition, Boyd was chosen as one of the select few “all-stars” who would get a spot on this music festival.  Boyd, along with several other “all-stars,” got to perform alongside professional bands, and even got to meet a few real-life rock stars.

“I remember our group was eating lunch and the Killers were sitting at the table next to us,” Boyd said.  “At dinner, we actually got to sit with, and talk to the Queens of the Stone Age, which was really cool.”

All of this, however, never went to Boyd’s head.  Though he got to play alongside some of the modern greats, Boyd still jams with kids at school.   He has started a number of bands simply for fun.  He claims that as of now, he’s trying to start a ska project with a few friends from his music theory class.  In addition to that, Boyd meets a lot of adults who he performs with regularly, such as the house band at Cagney’s Pub.

“The first time we went to Cagney’s, someone just told us about this local open mic night, and we decided to give it a try,” Boyd’s mother Mary Beth said. “People looked at us like we were nuts.  But now, we walk in and everyone’s like ‘Hey, it’s Ryan! Hey, it’s Ryan’s parents!’”

For such a normal family, it’s nice to see just how musically supportive they are.  As Boyd is constantly looking for people to play music with, and ways to expand his musical horizons, he disregards age, gender, and setting, as do his parents.  They realize it’s about the music, and not the grungy clubs where it’s sometimes performed.

As of now, Boyd is slowly but surely looking for colleges that will allow him to get a prime education in music.  Everyone has high hopes for his future, and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see Boyd as one of America’s next rock stars.

“I think if Ryan wants to rise to the top, he will,” Mary Beth Boyd said. “He has the drive and passion to do so. Whatever Ryan sets his goals to, he will accomplish, and I know all of this because I’ve seen it first hand.”

After a lengthy set of classic rock covers and all-out jams, Boyd modestly accepts the applause of the audience, and walks off stage.  He takes a seat next to his dad, orders a soda, and carries on comfortably.  It might look odd to some; a skinny, bushy-haired teenager spending so much time at a pub, but anywhere Boyd can perform is where he belongs.  If it’s a pub where he’s less than half the age of most attendants, then so be it.  At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter where he plays, as long as he gets to play.