Guelph CVI Chamber Choir is at it again and this time the choir started the school year off by performing with American '90s rock band Everclear.
On Saturday the choir performed three songs with Everclear at Casino Rama Resort in Rama, Ontario. This was an unofficial first performance by the band, said Lane Osborne, GCVI teacher and choir director. It was ahead of the band’s 2024 tour kicking off in San Francisco on Sept. 13.
The first of three songs the choir performed was So Much for the Afterglow. The choral beginning of the song meant the choir was on stage before the band and got to drum up the audience. The students had to sing a fairly complicated nine part harmony, said Osborne.
She chalks up the opportunity to networking. The more performances the choir does the more it gets. During the summer the students performed with bands Wilco and Foreigner.
“I mean, it's always thrilling to work with bands that have such a known presence ... in the history of like North American popular music,” said Osborne. She said the students were on cloud nine after this performance and the ones they were part of in the summer.
Below is a video of the choir performing with Everclear shot by Guelph local Zoey Ross.
The choir was back in rehearsal at school ahead of the start of the school year at the end of August to get ready for Everclear. The students were "hyper-committed" to rehearsing, said Osborne.
When Osborne was a high school student she was a fan of Everclear. “And for the past 25 years, it was like, I know Everclear’s music, and then all of a sudden when you're standing on stage and they're there and all of a sudden your students are singing songs, not even necessarily just the ones that we performed but other ones because they've sort of done a deep dive into the discography. It's sort of this like Twilight Zone moment,” she said.
Along with So Much for the Afterglow, students got to sing Everclear’s Wonderful and a more recent song called Sing Away. The content of the song dealt with youth mental health.
“It's a beautiful song but also … extra meaningful when the band got to have teenagers on stage sort of backing them for that piece,” said Osborne.
For Grade 12 student David Cadogan-Blackwood it was an amazing experience performing on the same stage as Everclear. “A lot of their music reflects a lot of their beliefs in terms of youth mental health and that's helped me get through a lot, even recently,” he said.
“I always try to teach my students that, you know, being involved in the arts is an excellent way to sort of combat mental health issues. And I think a lot of students actually find a lot of solace and comfort being involved in the arts and music in particular,” said Osborne.
During rehearsals Osborne discussed the life experience of Everclear’s lead singer Art Alexakis with the students and talked about how they could support him as a choir with their presence.
Cadgan-Blackwood got to speak with Alexakis at the venue. He was eager to speak with Alexakis to thank him for his music and tell him how much its helped him. Osborne made the introduction.
The two musicians shared a personal connection. Cadogan-Blackwood’s mom has had multiple sclerosis for a long time and Alexakis was diagnosed with it in 2019. It meant a lot for Cadogan-Blackwood to see a musician put their life into their music. His mom couldn’t make it to the show but Alexakis made sure she could see parts of the performance through videos that were shared with her.
It was special for Osborne as a teacher to see Cadogan-Blackwood and Alexakis connect in the way they did.
