School of Rock set to rock East Rockaway

Some young musicians are set to put the ‘rock’ in East Rockaway when they perform in the first School of Rock Fest on Sept. 10 at Memorial Park.

The free concert will begin at noon and will go on for the next eight hours. The festival will feature a “best of the fests,” as students and national touring bands cover music featured at Ozzfest, the Warped Tour, Coachella and Lilith Fair. Bands involved in the event include The Inoculated Canaries, Craving Strange, Revel 9 and Midnight Mob.

Show director Dylan Gross, who is the assistant general manager and an instructor at the School of Rock in Rockville Center, is spearheading the concert.

“Most of the music that day will be performed by School of Rock students,” Gross said. “As directors and instructors, there is a special feeling you get watching your own students shine on stage. With each lesson and rehearsal you see them face difficulties to grow both musically and personally.”

Gross said he expects over 300 people to attend the festival. He also emphasized that it’s an all-ages family event.

The four bands will play in between the students’ performances throughout the day. Two of the advertised acts have deep ties to the school.

School of Rock alumnus Michael Rubin, who has performed nationally with School of Rock’s All-Star program, is the singer and lead guitarist of the Inoculated Canaries. Jimmy Gerovac, who is an instructor at the school, sings and plays guitar for Craving Strange.

“I’m one of the teachers so I’m super excited to see the kids perform because I know how hard they’re working,” Gerovac said. “It’s a doubly cool thing because not only are they doing the show, but they get to be around the other bands and meet them.”

Revel 9 and Midnight Mob have become friends of the School of Rock and have toured around the nation, according to Gross.

Gross, 23, plays many instruments, including the bass, drums and keyboards and graduated from East Rockaway High School in 2011. He then moved on to Five Towns College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in music.

He currently attends Hofstra University, where he is working toward getting his masters of science in music education. And though he isn’t hitting the stage on Sept. 10, Gross, a musician in his own right, has played a pivotal role in organizing the event.

“Since our program is performance based, we always try to find and create new opportunities for our students to not only take the stage but to actually share the stage with seasoned, professional touring artists,” Gross said. “It was a no brainer when the idea of ‘Best of the Fests’ was decided.”

The event is just another step in the growth of the School of Rock, which started with one school in Philadelphia and has morphed into the leading performance-based music education program in the world with 180 locations internationally.

Gross is imploring the whole community to come out, bring their lawn chairs and enjoy a free day of rock. “School of Rock is family-oriented, and loves to bring different generations together to enjoy the universal language that is music,” he said. “This is the first music festival to come to East Rockaway, and we’re more than excited to be a part of it.”