Inside a music room at McDevitt Middle School Yvens Alexis belted out the lyrics to Twisted Sister's classic rock anthem "We're Not Gonna Take It."
Tapping his foot to the beat of a kick drum, Alexis, 16, yesterday enthusiastically tackled singer Dee Snider's lyrics, leading a small band of Waltham High School students enrolled in the The Waltham Summer School Rock Band Camp.
"I've been singing ever since I was a little kid. I used to sing in church," he said. "Here you get to take a lot of songs and kind of make them your own. You can sing them the way you want to sing them."
Percussion was provided by Jack Davis, 16, whose musical influences include rock bands the Foo Fighters, Metallica and Dream Theater. During the school year, Davis plays in Waltham High's pep band and percussion ensemble.
"I've been playing drums since the fifth grade, (but) I was tapping on stuff way before that," he said.
Now in its fifth year, interest in the summer program, founded by school music teachers Kevin Coyne and Kevin Burke, has grown exponentially.
Coyne said popular selling video games such as "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" have added to its success.
"It's made rock popular again. We've now started holding auditions for it. We're at the point that we had to start turning kids away it's gotten so popular," Coyne said. "I've played in several bands and I know how much fun that is and I try to pass that off to the kids."
Davis said Coyne and Burke are perks to the program.
"It's easier to have fun here," he said. "I think it's easier to like the teachers, you get to tell more jokes."
For singer Danielle Mountain, 17, participating in the camp for the last two years has been a dream come true.
"I've grown up loving rock music and I think it's cool we get to cover these songs," she said.
For four years, she's been a member of the high school's show choir. But this summer program allows her to stretch her vocal cords to a different beat.
"Usually the music we do in school is more classic pieces," she said. "Here the songs are new, they are more up to date and you're more free than what you're doing in other music programs."
Burke said the program offers an outlet for students to perform music that might not be found in a traditional school setting.
"We have really talented kids, some don't always take it upon themselves to get friends together to perform music," he said. "This is an opportunity to get kids together to work on rock songs and put on a concert."
Two groups of students will meet for practice twice a week throughout the summer. At the end of the five-week program there will be a concert at Kennedy Middle School on Aug. 4, at 7 p.m..
"People can expect a great show with lots of loud music and lots of fun," said Ryan Harriman, 15, a guitar player in the camp. "The toughest part was having to learn so many songs in such a short period of time."
Song selections will include modern rock and classic rock songs including "For Those About To Rock" by AC/DC, "Pinball Wizard" by The Who and "Even Flow" by Pearl Jam.
"(Coyne) and I got together and based on the students enrolled, we picked songs that we think challenge them," Burke said. "We try to cover a great variety of music for the course."
For more information contact Kevin Burke at burkek@k12.waltham.ma.us.
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com
