by Author James Edwin Lane

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A New Musical Collective

What’s that silhouette? PLANK!

From the loamy earth of the rolling fields of County Durham rises a new youth music collective. Strong. Dependable. Loud. Frequently available at B&Q.

That last bit may be a lie, but they are definitely those others things.

PLANK! is Jack Drum Arts latest Youth Music Collective. For the past few months my good friend and colleague Aidy and I have had the pleasure of working with a host of passionate young people of all age ranges and abilities to create youth-led original music in a safe and supportive environment on Friday evenings at Jack Drum. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never played an instrument before in your lifetime or if you’re a top tier guitarist regularly blasting through the modes of harmonic minor on a wild journey of introspection and self-realisation. If you like to write original music, PLANK!’s gotchu yo.

Currently a 9-piece band, our young people have explored a host of genres from surf to funk to rock and 90’s metal ballad over the past months, but always influenced by the core values of DIY garage and punk rock: Keep it fun, Keep it simple, Keep it loud and make it r i d i c u l o u s l y  c a t c h y. With this accessibility at its heart, the sessions are far more informal than a usual workshop environment, with topics and learning driven by what the young people are interested in learning about on the spot as they discover more and more. In the past we’ve covered basic songwriting, the notes of the fretboard, structure and the roles of the instruments in a band setting, but we’ve also discussed modal interchange, polyrhythm, compound time signatures amongst a host of other things.

In the process of learning and having a good old musical time, PLANK! have built up a set made entirely of original songs, and they have their first big public gig on Sunday the 23rd of June as part of the Sage Gateshead’s Comusica showcase. They’re incredibly excited to get the ball rolling and get on stage, and I’m personally so excited to see all of their hard work pay off.