West Music hosts Weekend Warriors

Dustin Peverill/Staff Writer

Have you ever wanted to play in a band? Do you have an old instrument that you want to dust off?

Well, you could have your chance! West Music is hosting their 11th annual Weekend Warriors program.

Weekend Warriors takes other people of your age, musical interest, availability and style and puts you in a band. Now, you may say that you have no time for this, but Weekend Warriors is only once a week for eight weeks.

After the eight weeks of jam sessions, your band will play a show at one of many popular destinations in Cedar Falls or Waterloo. Recently, the Weekend Warriors band Dead Innocence played at Jameson’s on March 30; they played songs like “21st Century Breakdown” by Green Day and “Enter Sandman” by Metallica.

You can play just about any instrument in the program, from guitar to a harmonica, so some of these bands are extremely interesting to watch.

Weekend Warriors will provide you all the equipment you need to play, like guitars, amps, cords, drums sets, basses, vocal equipment and anything else you can think of, but if you take your band farther than the program, you must use your own equipment and book your own shows. You’ll be on your own, but you’ll have the experience needed to be a successful group.

Program times and dates vary by location. Weekend Warriors in Cedar Falls is just ending, but the next sessions start July 10 and Sept. 18. “I believe it is $125 per session and the sessions last eight weeks. I think but am not 100 percent sure for Cedar Fall’s program. We provide all the gear and sound for rehearsals and the gig, plus the coach for the session,” Coralville store manager Sara Volz said.

To see the show of the current sessions, go to West Music on University Avenue. The most recent show was on May 18.