Jammin’ on Everything is true to its band name.
“We all have very different music tastes, whether that’s classic rock, funk, or modern pop,” said lead vocalist Spenser Johns, a 2023 Westfield High School graduate. “The beauty of music is that there isn’t a specific mold. We can play whatever we want, however we want. We are also all very young, and I know for me I listen to completely different music than I did a year ago. Our styles and interests are constantly evolving, and we often bring those new interests to the band, which allows for us to have a wider repertoire of music.
“We have even begun to work on some of my original songs that I have written, which I am very excited about.”
Johns, an IUPUI freshman, is joined by two WHS students, sophomore Conlin Doran and senior Noah Flynn. Doran plays bass guitar. Flynn, who also sings backup lead vocals, and Noblesville High School sophomore Roman Blount, are the lead guitarists. Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School freshman Julian Lenard, from Carmel, is the drummer.
The band originally formed in 2021 at Carmel Music Academy as a super band.
“We went through a few members and eventually our group was put together in early 2022 as the All Star Band,” said Johns, who was the CarmelFest Has Talent winner in 2023. “We did numerous performances with Carmel Music Academy at the concert series in Clay Terrace and Westfield Rock The Block.”
The band’s first performance separate from the academy was Dec. 9 at Carmel Holiday PorchFest. The group has been invited to the Carmel PorchFest Sept. 15 and plans to start booking performances.
“What I like about the sound we make together is that it feels authentic,” Johns said. “Especially when we play songs like ‘Say It Ain’t So’ and ‘I Will Survive,’ you can hear that we are just kids who really enjoy music and play together because we love to. We also all have musical minds and can add our own touch to songs, whether that’s singing notes differently, adding in new guitar riffs or completely transforming the genre of a song.”
Doran has played the bass for almost six years and takes lessons from John Gunnell, also known as Jon. E. Gee, a bass player for John Mellencamp and owner of Carmel Music Academy.
“Everyone is a very talented musician, so it makes it easy to play together,” Doran said. “I enjoy playing all genres, but I really like playing classic rock, crowd pleasers, and bass slapping is fun.”
Lenard said he likes the flexibility of the group.
“For example, when we play an already-written song, we can sometimes adjust my specific drum part or cut out an unnecessarily long chorus,” Lenard said. “When we write our own music, it’s all up to us. We get to add or drop anything we want.”
Lenard said the group is getting better and evolving the more it plays together.
“As we play and practice and learn and grow, we change,” Lenard said. “We all naturally grow up and get a better understanding of music, but we also improve a lot with each practice. Although we practice on our time, when we come together once a week we get to practice and see what the music sounds like with everyone playing at once versus one of us playing to the track at home.”
Lenard said he loves variety.
“If a member of the band wants to play a song or write an original, they just have to bring up the idea of playing the song or present their base idea for the original, and then we have a new song to play,” Lenard said. “Plus, we can do any genre and combine it with other genres. For instance, we can write our own song that’s more classic rock and then play a heavy metal song, followed up by some alternative rock. Maybe we wouldn’t do it in that order, but you can find vastly different song types in one setlist.”
Blount previously played in a four-piece band, which included Doran and Lenard. Blount said the band’s sound is much fuller with the five members.
Blount especially enjoys playing The Eagles’ “Hotel California.”
“We are going to have to search around ourselves and find someone who wants to let us play for them,” Blount said. “I hope to have a lot of gigs over the summer. PorchFest was fun. It was a new experience, having to set up our new equipment because we never did that because we always used the Academy’s equipment, so it was a learning curve.”
