Lifelong love for music inspires careers
Story by Avery Gregurich
Photo courtesy of Caitlin Podemski
Everyone has the incurable dream that one day they will be on a stage somewhere, performing live music to fans that actually want to hear them perform. Only some, though, have the required passion to hone their skills and actually pursue this universal fantasy.
Sam Pritchard, junior, is a member of both the Drake Choir and the popular male a cappela group, The Brocal Chords. Along with his vocal talents, he is a self-taught guitarist, bassist and drummer, as well as a DJ and a producer. Pritchard lists his favorite up-and-coming band as the Olympics and his favorite album as the Kings of Leon’s second studio album, “Aha Shake Heartbreak.” Pritchard’s own performances stretch across many different genres and his musical tastes are hard to pigeonhole.
“I love performing everything from classic choral works, to top 40 covers to dirty blues rock,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard’s inspiration to perform comes from the stories contained in the lyrics that he sings.
“Anytime I have the chance to tell a story through my performance, I find that it often results in something very special, both for myself and for the audience,” Pritchard said.
He doesn’t see this passion for music going away anytime soon.
“Music is such an integral part of my everyday lifestyle that it is difficult to imagine not performing in the future,” Pritchard said. “I fully expect to keep creating music for the rest of my life.”
Another talented Drake musician is sophomore Chris Fairbank. Fairbank is a guitarist and solo performer of 10 years who describes his music as falling under the genre of “singer-songwriter.” He currently has an EP available through iTunes and is in the process of recording a full-length album set to release in the fall of this year. He has performed at the Vaudeville Mews in Des Moines and on the Drake Campus, but performs more regularly around his native Denver area. Fairbank’s inspiration to perform comes from his favorite artist, Josh Ritter, and the everyday events he encounters. He also stresses that songwriting is an unpredictable and complex process.
“Sometimes it takes me months to write a song and other times it takes just hours. It all depends on where the puzzle pieces have been scattered for that day,” Fairbank said.
Much like Pritchard, Fairbank predicts that his life will always contain music in some fashion.
“My career choice is (a) music publisher which will encourage me to maintain my passion for creating while pushing my creative limits,” Fairbank said.