The Weekend Warriors

"It’s really easy to describe it," begins Weekend Warriors coach Bob Spencer, "it’s fantastic."

The Weekend Warriors was founded in Sacramento, U.S.A. by a music store owner simply known as ‘Skip’, who noticed a growing number of people coming into his store for a ‘play…’

Noticing many of these people weren’t in working bands at the time, Skip decided to create a program which would give expert coaching from Professional Musicians, access to top-of-the-range equipment, and the ultimate chance for many to fulfil their dream of being a ‘Rock Star’ at least once, (or perhaps even thrice! Confused? More later…).

"A lot of us have actually been playing in our bedroom for 40 years," says Weekend Warriors’ Gary Walsh, "We’ve all got our family, we’ve all got our mortgages, (and) our full-on jobs… We missed the boat when it came to being full-time (musicians)."

Walsh continues, "But now we can get out there, live the (dream) for 4 weeks (through) practising, and one big gig."

Having gradually spread to Australia and England, Weekend Warriors is a phenomenon showing little sign of slowing.

Passion, it seems, is the key.

"The talent has nothing to do with it," says Bob Spencer, "it’s irrelevant to me. I don’t care whether people can play 600 notes in three seconds or they can only play one chord. The program is strictly about getting (music lovers) together so that they can have fun.

"One way for them to have fun is that I help them become better players. If I can help them learn how to put a set together or learn how to perform a little bit better (or) interact with an audience, or to choose songs… Whatever skills I may be able to impart to them that helps them have more fun. It’s not required that these people play guitar like Jeff Beck or Keith Richards - that is really not the point. What I have found (is) that some people will come into the program and they can literally barely get their hands around a chord, (and) then two years later they’re playing in front of 500 people confident as buggery."

Accountants, Tradies, ‘Stay-at-home-mums’, Doctors, Retirees, 20-somethings - people from all ‘walks of life’ have come to Weekend Warriors and lived their dreams. Many Weekend Warriors bands have even gone on to perform regularly around Melbourne and beyond.

"They know that they can do things in other fields because they’ve done them. There are many skills that they have, they just haven’t been for the most part shown how to apply those skills to playing music," says Bob Spencer, citing a familiar scenario.

I first came across the Weekend Warriors with a big question weighing on my mind: How on earth will this group of non-professional musicians get up to a strong performance standard in just one month?

(Are the Weekend Warriors planning on a miracle?)

4 weeks after viewing a fairly nervous group of Bands perform (aka The Weekend Warriors) I was pleasantly surprised by the ‘grand finale’. Run via an ever-increasing number of music stores, the Weekend Warriors go through constant rehearsals; working closely with a coach. The transformation by the end of these 4 short weeks is, in a word, extraordinary.

So what’s in it for the music stores? Surely their involvement isn’t completely altruistic.

"The reason it runs through shops is that someone needs to provide good equipment,’’ says Bob Spencer candidly, "Those of us (who) were brought up listening to bands like the Rolling Stones (and) Led Zeppelin, we want to have the same sort of equipment that (those bands) had… A shop can’t run it if they’re going to supply $200 guitars for example, because that’s not part of the romance of the Weekend Warriors.

Spencer explains further; "Everybody wins in this. When someone has been through a program and they (feel) rejuvenated, (a) lot of them walk into the shop and buy a $5000 Les Paul because that’s what they (have) always wanted. (So), the music retailers in general win. The warriors win because they’re having the time of their lives.

"Not only that but there’s a flow-on effect. The families of warriors win because now dad or grandad is actually happy - whereas maybe he hasn’t been in the past - because he’s playing in a band. It inspires the kids. There have been many cases of (Weekend Warriors’) children or grandchildren taking up an instrument, inspired (by) grandmum or mum. It seems to have a direct bearing on what the kids do."

It is obvious that the Weekend Warriors is a winning formula. At the cost of approximately 6 instrumental lessons, Weekend Warriors will change your life!

"My car is parked in the driveway again," says Weekend Warrior ‘Ted G’, "because I’m turning my garage into a music room."