It looks like any other bus. But the John Lennon Tour Bus transformed eight students Tuesday from strangers into a band that wrote, recorded and performed an original song in the course of one day.
"Kids get on this bus and it just happens," said Herminio Quiroz, a staff engineer. "It's magic. Music is a universal language."
The students were selected by teachers to participate in the songwriting activity on the bus, which features a full recording studio and is at Carson High School until today.
They assembled at 9:30 a.m. to begin work on composing the music and writing the lyrics.
"We thought it would be hard but it all flowed really well," said guitarist Mac Malikowski, 15. "We all had the same mind set of what style we wanted."
Sarah Kugler and Whitney Myer, both 16, sang the lyrics of their original song "Scissor Thief" for the band, which they named Fat Man Observing.
"It was a really good experience because we got to see what it was like to record music and understand the process," Kugler said.
And Myer, who wants to have a career in singing, said the experience in writing will get her closer to her goal.
"A lot of times, singers have other people write their songs," she explained. "You have one up on them if you can write your own."
Each of the students learned something new during the process.
"I've never played with anyone other than a regular band," said flutist Brooke Milholland, 16. "It was different playing with instruments I never even listen to. It was really fun."
Chris Martinovich, 17, came to the group as a trombone player, but the band needed someone to play the drums -- so he did, and never missed a beat.
Ian Anderson, 18, played piano and bass guitar and Eric Robinson, 17, played guitar.
"You don't usually get the opportunity to play really nice equipment like this," Robinson said. "The sound quality is really good."
Jessica Mapes, 17, was selected from among the video production students to tape the music video.
Video production teacher Brian Reedy arranged for the bus to visit the high school.
He said it inspired him to include production of music videos into his curriculum next year.
"They expanded everybody's minds," he said.
ON THE WEB:
For information about the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, visit: www.jlsc.com
