Ron Noyes saw something special in a small group of students in his Parker Academy music classes last year.
“They just had the most focus on music and the greatest desire to do something,” Noyes said of the eight students he picked out of the school’s ensemble. He had them stay after school a couple days a week to practice and they were soon playing open mic nights and getting their own gigs.
The group is made up of just five students: Seniors Talia Grodman, Alexis Ramsey and Jack Kretovic, and juniors Tyler Lawrence and Hunter Bolduc. The artists formerly known as the Ron Noyes Project (not really, but Ron probably wouldn’t mind that) is now known as Occasional Piracy and is already getting a jump on its third album.
The band’s first album, Evidence, was released in 2014, featuring covers of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks,” and Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire,” as well as a pair of originals from Grodman and Bolduc.
The second album, titled Case #OP8 and released at the beginning of this year, features four original songs, as well as covers of Echosmith’s “Cool Kids,” Vance Joy’s “Riptide,” Lenka’s “The Show,” and (the song that deservedly drew the loudest cheers from the crowd when the band performed at Market Days last month) David Guetta’s “Titanium.”
The band members keep on rolling (like a stone) straight through the summer, even when their classmates are home for their break. They meet in the music room at Parker every Wednesday, keeping the group, with members from as far away as Farmington, in touch.
“There’s a level of mutual immaturity that brings us together,” Ramsey half-joked. Immediately following the comment, a few of the band members commented on Bolduc’s impressive beard, backing up Ramsey’s statement. Minutes later, foam Nerf bullets were flying around the music room – apparently just an average Wednesday in the Parker Academy music room.
Dave Parker, the owner and director of Parker Academy (who said he enjoys dunking on Insider editor Keith Testa at the Y) has been very supportive of not only the band but the entire music program over the last couple years as Occasional Piracy has grown. Noyes’ music room was moved down the hall to a much larger space than before, an upgrade that was just made since the formation of Occasional Piracy. Parker has also helped the music department through the purchase of new equipment, which has allowed the band to record each of its first two albums right in the Parker music room.
The band continues to crank out new songs in bunches, as they prepare for their third album’s recording and eventual release, as well as preparing for an upcoming gig at the Concord 250 celebration Aug. 16. The band will be selling copies of their albums at the event.
In terms of what will happen to the band after the three seniors graduate, members say they plan on staying in touch, but mutually agree that their band is more of a high school band and something they do for fun. “It’s a great hobby,” said Ramsey, “But it wouldn’t be as fun if it started to be more than that.”
