May 5, 1997

10-man band hits local scene

By Niki Clark

our last final is completed. Your dorm room looks like it did the day you moved in, empty of all your posters, memories and Flash pictures collected throughout the year. The parking lot, for the first time ever, has a lot of great spaces available.

No longer are all your friends from Dallas; they now reside in California, New York, Florida.

School is over.

It is a general misconception that with the beginning of summer comes the end of the good times at SMU. For those students remaining here over the next three months, however, Dallas remains a source of entertainment despite the lack of frat parties and football games.

The music scene still abounds.

One of the many bands students can see perform live over the summer is Afton Shack. The 10-man, Plano-based band plays regularly at Trees in Deep Ellum and Rick's Place in Denton and can be heard throughout the summer.

Adam Miller, a sophomore music education major and trumpet player with the band, calls it an "average white band" playing "good time music."

Afton Shack's alto sax player and sophomore business major Raoul Strouff said they play his "favorite style of music - happy music."

Miller and Strouff combine with vocalists Tyson Summers and Ryan Ochoa, tenor sax Jack Kang, baritone sax Fred Sampson, organist Kyle Smith, guitarist Matt Sandate, drummer Mike Verdez and bassist Peter Grothe, to become Afton Shack.

The band formed in 1994 when four of members started playing in a garage-type setup. Through introductions by several mutual acquaintances, the group grew to its present number.

Miller said being in a band does present some difficulties.

"We sometimes argue about where the band is going," Miller said. "For some it's more fun than anything. Others are more serious and think of turning it into a career. We argue about money sometimes. Music is almost the easiest part, we all click real well together with that. For me, it's a good time. But all of us enjoy playing together."

Strouff, echoing Miller's sentiment, said, "I play in the band to get away from the intense music we play [at SMU]."

Afton Shack has recently experienced several successes. They played at the Austin Jazz Fest after receiving the second place award in competition and have released a CD titled Nine O'Clock.

With ambitions to become a performer and trumpet instructor, Miller said as a child he loved music, singing in choir and playing in jazz ensembles and wind orchestras in high school. He said early influences included teachers in high school and especially jazz musician and composer Wynton Marsalis, the 1997 recipient of the Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts.

Although Afton Shack is just a fun part of college life, Miller said music is much more than just that.

"It is the only thing I can see myself spending my life doing," he said.

For information on when Afton Shack is playing throughout the summer, check local listings or call Trees in Deep Ellum or Rick's Place in Denton.

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