Local artists are once again displaying their talent to the community, along with some new faces in the performing facet.
By Alex Gallagher
Web Master
Local musicians, ShellShock, McBooze, The Homekeepers and some past and current Patriot alumni performed at the second Live at the Library event in January of this year. Music from popular artists like Laufey, The Foo Fighters and Fall Out Boy were also sprinkled in with the original work from a few of these artists. Sponsored by our beloved librarians at the Twin Beaches Library, the concert was led by former alumni, Gabe Zografos and current Junior Patriot, Bryce Richards.
The show began with a set from two prior Patriot graduates of the Class of 2025: Wren DeFiesta on vocals and Gabe Zografos on guitar. The duo performed one of DeFiesta’s original songs, “i cant write a song about you” as well as two covers: If It Makes You Happy by Sheryl Crow, and favorite crime by Olivia Rodrigo. DeFiesta’s single, “i cant write a song about you” is out on all platforms, under the name “wreny,” and she has aspirations to continue releasing music in her style. After their chill-inducing performance, some current Patriot musicians, Seniors Gavin Halper and Caroline Wingate, kept the energy going, performing Blackbird by The Beatles, Brick by Brick by Laufey, and Halper performing Rain by Rob Scallon, an instrumental track which features a very expressive use of delay. Up next was ShellShock, a band based in Calvert County, comprised of current students that attend Calvert High School. The band gave the audience a grand display of their talent, performing crowd-favorites such as Everlong by Foo Fighters and The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. ShellShock plans to continue performing in the area, and currently has an upcoming single in the works.
Then, Senior Patriot Charles Watts brought his music to the stage after the release of his self-titled album, under his alias, McBooze. Accompanied by Christian Daelemans of The Homekeepers, and aforementioned concert orchestrator and 11th-grade Patriot, Bryce Richards, Watts was able to introduce the audience to four of his originals: two of them being unreleased demos. As spotlighted in a previous Patriot Press article, Watts is very inspired to create more music and perform it, now that he has a solid team of fellow artists to help bring his art to life. Additionally, the bakist, a popular bakery in North Beach, introduced Watts’ music to their very own radio, further establishing McBooze as a quickly growing name in the region. As mentioned before, Daelemans’ project, The Homekeepers—also backed by talented musicians—finished out the show, playing many songs from their evergrowing catalogue of music: particularly from their self-titled album. Daelemans set his focus on performing and introducing The Homekeepers to an even broader audience.
These talented artists will continue to perform throughout the region; updates will be made on each artist’s respective Instagram account. For more information, be sure to follow @wrenykarolina, @shellshock.md, @mcbooze_guy, and @the.homekeepers on Instagram, as well as @nhspatriotpress for any further updates regarding music and other news.