Rock Camp Students Ready To Jam

This summer school session is going to rock. Thirty-two teens ages 12 to 19 are participating in the eighth year of PJ Olsson’s Rock Camp and the jams show no signs of stopping.

The camp started after PJ Olsson was slated to play a gig in Houghton but couldn’t afford to get the rest of his band up here. He noticed talented local kids taking lessons at Good Times Music and asked if they could be his replacement band. Olsson and those 19 kids rehearsed for the gig for 10 days and the rest, he said, is history.

“We’ve just kept on growing. The next year, we immediately had more kids interested and it wasn’t about me doing a show at that point. It was about keeping kids inspired and year by year, that’s what we’ve done,” Olsson said.

At camp, the kids assigned into bands and at the end of the two-week session, they perform in a rock show to display their new-found or refined skills.

Olsson said “There’s a lot of talented kids here, so we just want to make sure that every one of them gets a place to shine.”

Everyone benefits from attending, but take it from Jake King, Daphne Maki and Ruby Walker.

“There’s guitar workshops, drum workshops and so on, and the guitar workshops, there’s such great instructors here. They teach you so much about scales and how to write your own songs,” said fourth year camper Jake King.

“It really helps you grow musically and as a person. It helped me gain a lot of confidence on stage and just in general growing up as a teenager,” said fifth year camper Daphne Maki. “It helps, a lot.”

“It’s amazing. I love being around people who are like me and I love learning new music with great people. There’s not just one thing, it’s all amazing,” said first year camper Ruby Walker.

Catch Rock Camp in concert Saturday, August 5th at 7pm in the Rozsa Center. Visit https://tickets.mtu.edu/Online/seatSelect.asp to purchase tickets.

“These kids, they really work their bums off to make sure the community sees a great show and we’re proud of it,” said Olsson.