A band finds its feet

    Guitarist and vocalist Mohamed Kamara organized the three other musicians to create the band. "Yeah, it was my idea. I knew Brian since seventh grade and saw him in a talent show and he killed it, he was just so good. Then last year I started asking him about it [making a band]," he explained.

    "At first I thought he was joking," laughed guitarist Brian Chan. "But then he just kept asking and I realized he was serious." Originally the band was made up of Chan and Kamara as well as two other members, but the group experienced problems.

    "They didn’t end up working," explained Ramara. "They weren’t all that serious and our drummer always had to go work."
So Kamara and Chan looked elsewhere and found bass player Tommy Wall and drummer Miguel Sitoe to complete "Skyway Blvd".

    The four musicians have only been playing as a band since last February and have only practiced as a group twice. Because of this, progress towards creating, practicing, recording and performing their music has been slow.

    The band makes most of their music by creating songs individually, writing it down, and then sharing it with the rest of the group adding what is needed to create a complete song. Drummer Miguel Sitoe created a CD of solo work, which can then be added to guitar and vocals to produce a song.

    "I have a lot of songs. I record them on this program I my laptop. Drum beats I don’t practice but we use them," he said. Brian Chan also has produced some music on his own.

    "I have made my own music. I haven’t played it for the band yet but we’ll see if we do anything with it," said Chan. Kamara also does solo work.

    "I play on my own. Usually not really on electric, just on my acoustic because that’s all I have, but I’ve made a lot of songs," said Kamara. Although each band member has produced their own music to play individually, Mohamed produces the majority of the music the band plays as a group.

    "So far Mo has written most of them [songs], we just follow it right now," said Wall. Kamara said the ideas for beats and songs come to him at random times during the day.

    "I have a bunch of crazy ideas in my head," said Kamara. "Yesterday I trashed a bunch of songs, I think every artist goes through that. You think you’ve got something good then the next day you’re like, ‘what the hell was I thinking?' So like this week I probably kept maybe three of twenty songs I had in my head."
One of these songs, "Misery", is one of the first the band performed as a group. The band is working on practicing this and other songs and plans to start recording in as soon as a month. Preventing their start is the lack of combined practices and equipment to record with. However, with other bands’ recording equipment available for use, they are optimistic about getting more serious as a group.


    “Skyway Blvd” is unsure about the future. Short-term plans include putting on performances within a few months and recording complete albums. “This summer sometime we're going to start shows, we've just got to practice,” said Sitoe.


    “I think we need to start out small,” said Wall. “There's a skate park near here where I've seen people play at, we might do that.” Kamara seemed much more enthusiastic and optimistic about the future. “We might do talent shows for school and we might play at homecoming. We were going to do that this year but by the time I talked to the person it was too late,” he said.



    As for longer term planning, Kamara has expressed interest in, “Saving up money, renting a van and touring for about a month.” Brian Chan and Tommy Wall both anticipate attending music school after high school.

    “Going to music school is the plan. Maybe I'll get into a band if I'm lucky, we'll see. With this band I don't know about college. We don't have plans yet, we'll just see,” said Wall.

    “We have to think realistically in case anything goes wrong,” continued Chan.

    Miguel Sitoe is also unsure about the future of the band. “It could turn into something but right now it's just a really good hobby,” he said. He plans on keeping music as a hobby but wants to pursue business after high school. “It's a really good hobby. It's good intellectually and good for the mind,” he said.


    As a band only beginning to find its feet, both long term and short term plans are unsure. However it is likely that their music will be made available soon in the form of CDs, online at “MySpace.com” and at live performances. It seems there is no road map to the future for “Skyway Blvd”, but with no lack of talent or drive with a lucky break, “it could turn into something big.”