LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor Dan Sousa is always on the lookout for an interesting feature story so when he heard a local band had two members of the VHSL AA state title winning Broad Run High School football team on guitar ... well, he had to hear it for himself which led him to a Brambleton basement south of Briar Woods High School in Ashburn on Sunday evening ... listening to the cool sounds of the band "Skamp Age" ... Keep in mind we didn't have a mic for the lead singer Felix Birdie but you can get an idea of the sound of the band from the three songs they perform.
By Dan "John Phillip" Sousa
LoudounPrepSports.com Senior Content Editor
Ashburn (Mar. 16, 2009) - Rock Band! Who doesn't want to be in a rock band these days or a Guitar Hero!
There are a group of Ashburn high school juniors who are doing more than playing video games when it comes to rocking as the group "Skamp Age" recently took it to a new level as they put on a blazing 20-minute set at a DC Battle of the Bands and the four young lads are now dreaming of bigger and better things.
"Skamp Age" is made up of three Broad Run High School students -- Felix Birdie (guitar and vocals), Anthony James (guitar) and Brian McCann (bass) -- and Briar Woods High School drummer Justin Partlow. James and McCann are linemen from the 2008 Spartan football team who capture the AA state title and both are now playing lacrosse. When they aren't on the field blocking, they are in Partlow's basement in Brambleton rocking.
Birdie is the driving force behind the band -- he coined the name Skamp Age to reflect rambunctious youth -- which first formed in middle school. The band members have been friends much, much longer ... some have been mates since preschool days. While they first started playing together in middle school it wasn't until Birdie was contacted by somebody who had heard his music on the World Wide Web and wanted to know if his group wanted to play at a Battle of the Bands, that things got serious.
So the four started practicing whenever they could and they do more than just cover songs as Birdie has penned some songs, some of which they played including "Skamp Age", "SOD" and "Rosetta Avenue".
The band falls somewhere into the ska/punk landscape but their are varied tastes in the group. When you listed to this young group you can hear influences of Green Day and Blink 182 in their sounds.
Want to hear Skamp Age for yourself ... check them out at a Battle of the Bands on April 29 at Broad Run High School.