Its music consists of songs about werewolves, vampires and other undead beings, accompanied by grinding guitars, vicious drums and operatic howls that give Schoolyard Heroes a sound that is a potpourri of all things hard and heavy.
Led by a fiery chanteuse, 19-year-old Ryann Donnelly, the young Seattle band’s dynamic and engaging performances have earned it a reputation as an outstanding live act in its five years on the local scene. Now the Heroes are ready to go national.
Donnelly seemingly flips a switch from meek and mild-mannered offstage to musically maniacal when onstage. Her stage presence is a cross between the sexiness of Gwen Stefani with the unpredictability of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O. She prances, jumps and crawls everywhere as she bewitches the crowd with her demonically delicious charisma and charm, generating an atmosphere of scary rock ‘n’ roll fun.
While her vocal acrobatics combined with her highly physical stage antics make her the star of every Schoolyard performance, Donnelly has more modest reasoning for why the band’s live show is so captivating.
“I think part of it is that we are a fun band. We have so much fun onstage ourselves and I think that is interesting to watch and simultaneously people want to take part in that,” said Donnelly.
“We would act the same, dance the same and jump around the same if there were two people in the audience as if there were 150.”
She’s joined onstage by guitarist Steve Bonnell, 21, drummer Brian Turner, 23, and bass player Jonah Bergman, 23.
Bonnell’s guitar work is reminiscent of a young Kirk Hammett (Metallica). Turner and Bergman create a formidable rhythm section and Donnelly’s vocals, which mix operatic phrasing with murderous screams, are possibly the most distinguishable in Seattle.
They’ve been playing gigs for the past five years, releasing two albums in the process, all the while scratching and clawing toward the top.
The band appeals primarily to a younger crowd, with a rabidly loyal fan base whose ages range from 6 to 16. The band calls them its Skeleton Army.
On the road
Fresh off the release of its second record, “Fantastic Wounds,” Schoolyard will begin a 38-date national tour with fellow Seattle band Vendetta Red on Monday.
Schoolyard’s debut album, 2003’s “The Funeral Sciences,” has sold more than 5,000 copies and its sophomore effort has moved 1,500 copies in its first two weeks on shelves. The success is a result of the band’s hard work, which includes plenty of practicing and performing anywhere it can.
“We spent two years really trying to figure out what we wanted to sound like. Once we did that then we started getting popular in Seattle and from Seattle we branched out into Olympia and all of these other places in Washington,” said Donnelly.
“We are so grateful for all the fans we have here because they afford us to go make more fans nationally.”
Because the group’s tour mates, Vendetta Red, have already been on a few national treks, Schoolyard will be in good hands on its first national tour, according to Nabil Ayers, owner of record label The Control Group, which releases Schoolyard Heroes’ albums.
“This is the best thing that could happen to them right now,” said Ayers. “It’s even better than a massive stadium tour opening for Green Day or somebody because they are on the road with a similar band that has already established a fan base in the cities they are going to.”
The Control Group’s distribution has opened up the possibility for Schoolyard’s music to reach a larger audience. Sam Goody and FYE carry Schoolyard albums as do trendy punk-fashion retail chain Hot Topic and Hear Music Stations at Starbucks, an impressive feat for an indie label.
Four quirky kids
When not performing their ghoulish music, the bandmates are just four quirky kids any grandmother would love. They spend their free time watching episodes of “The Outer Limits” and “The Twilight Zone” while eating pizza and discussing the finer points of their favorite horror films. During a two-hour interview, the conversation shifted from comments about the resurfacing of guitar riffs, to jokes about Keanu Reeves.
Bergman, the bassist and primary songwriter, was quick to point out while the band appears fixated on science fiction and horror films it doesn’t mean the songs don’t convey messages.
“There’s still a lot of emotion within the songs. We use the science-fiction and horror formats as a metaphorical context for all of our songs to tell something like a love story or a hate story,” he said.
The combination of dark and spooky subject matter and Donnelly’s remarkable voice has been a winning one for the band. It recently performed at the music industry showcase SXSW in Austin, played a sold-out CD release show at El Corazon and in 2003 it finished second at EMP’s Soundoff! competition for young bands.
The Skeleton Army
As a result of its hard work, Schoolyard has amassed its Skeleton Army of fans.
At a recent Bremerton gig, hundreds of rock-starved teens packed a small community church building to see Schoolyard Heroes. Unexpectedly, the show became controlled chaos as nearly a dozen Skeleton Army members got onstage uninvited and danced as the band continued to play.
It was at this point when a tweenage girl excitedly hugged Donnelly and kissed her on the cheek while she was singing. Although it took Donnelly by surprise, she kept her composure and finished the song.
“I thought it was really cute and charming. It wasn’t harmful, but if a boy had done that I don’t know what I would do,” said Donnelly.
“But it also depends on the boy and if he was cute,” she added with a coy smirk.
Midway through the set Bergman had to ask fans to leave the stage. Once the stage was cleared, the band thrashed through the final 15 minutes of its performance, and Schoolyard left a throng of sweaty and satisfied “skeletons” in the wake of its set.
Perhaps the band’s nickname for its fans came from the “Funeral Sciences” song “Bury the Tooth of the Hydra and the Skeleton Army Will Rise.”
Schoolyard’s hometown Skeleton Army will have to wait and see if fellow armies appear throughout the land. If indeed armies do rise, the phenom could bring to life another popular Schoolyard song, “Dawn of the Dead.”
