Youth-led musical projects are packing local venues—and a large number of those young rockers have the Academy of Musical Performance to thank.
The Academy of Musical Performance, known as AMP, is a music-education program based in downtown Indio. Students ages 8 through 18 go through a number of musical-learning environments—most notably, AMP’s Rock Band program. Students are placed in bands, and while learning more about playing and creating music, they learn cover songs and perform them in their assigned band.
AMP’s Summer Camp is returning from July 8-26, culminating with a final showcase from 2 to 4 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m., Saturday, July 27, at College of the Desert, in Palm Desert.
During a recent interview with Abie Perkins, AMP’s musical director, he talked about this year’s AMP Summer Camp, which this year will take place on the COD campus.
“In the past, we’ve had them get in bands and stuff like that, which we still would do, but because we’re at the College of the Desert, they’re also going to offer a commercial music-production program,” Perkins said. “They have a room that, being a keyboardist and a sound engineer, I was just salivating over, because it’s literally a room of keyboards and computers. They’re going to teach them how to do their own recordings and possibly make their own beats and things like that. This year, we’re still going to have them in bands … but we’re also going to teach them some real-life skills: ‘This is how you set up a PA properly.’ ‘This is how you use a microphone properly.’ ‘This is how you advertise your band or your act properly.’ ‘This is how you make an (electronic press kit).’ Anything that we do as professional musicians in the business, we want to teach them these skills, so if they stay in the field, they’re ready to go.”
I’ve covered many musicians and bands who have come from the AMP program. Perkins provided a few more examples of the academy’s hard work paying off.
“My oldest daughter is at Cal Poly Pomona studying music industry,” Perkins said. “She went through the AMP program for five years, and she not only became the musician who she is by going through the program; she also became, in my opinion, a better person. Our motto is, ‘Create, communicate, collaborate,’ and we want them to learn how to collaborate with folks, so she’s now working for a nonprofit organization—doing slightly different stuff than AMP, but because of the foundation that she’s learned here at AMP, not only is she good at producing; she’s good at talking with people and doing the stuff that you need as a musician, and just in my opinion, as a good human being.”
Another great example is a new band called Whitewater. Led by Jason Zembo (formerly of Pescaterritory) and two other AMP alumni, the band has quickly gained a sizable following on TikTok and Instagram thanks to a faithful approach to classic ’90s rock gems. Check out more at www.instagram.com/whitewater.official.
“Jason Zembo was one of my first students in my first year of camp, and to see the growth he has taken—it’s just leaps and bounds from the last time I saw that kid,” Perkins said. “Daniel (Duardo), the drummer, has been trying to find a band, and I remember the last time I talked to him … I said, ‘Hey, the hardest part is finding that right connection, but once you find it, you’ll know it’—and they finally found it. When I saw them, it was during Coachella, and I was like, ‘You guys could have easily been at Coachella.’ It just makes me proud to see how much they’ve grown, how much they took the experiences and everything that we tried to teach them, and they utilized it.”
This is the 10th year for AMP.
“It’s been a great experience,” Perkins said. “The program’s been around 10 years, and I’ve been with the program nine, so I’ve gotten to see just so much. Even seeing the alumni, sometimes it does remind me I’m getting old, but it also reminds me that this program really is awesome.”
A few years ago, AMP moved into a space on Miles Avenue and has had a front row seat for the music-driven revitalization of downtown Indio. The city’s Second Saturdays event recently featured a performance by AMP alumnus Jordan Austin.
“It’s all coming together, and everything that’s happening on this street right now is really uplifting,” Perkins said. “It’s really inspiring. When it’s all said and done, if everything goes correctly, there are going to be five stages on this street alone that kids can play on.”
As AMP looks toward its second decade, Perkins and his team are looking forward to offering even more.
“When I came on board, it was considered a contemporary music program,” Perkins said. “It was inspired by the School of Rock, and I got that. I remember my first year, we were more focused on singer-songwriting, writing your own originals, and then somewhere within my third year, all of a sudden, we became like, ‘Let’s just do rock and Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones,’ and I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. What happened to all the original music and the songwriting?’ So I’m telling the board members everything I remember about the first year and how it was more about contemporary music and doing what the kids love to do, and not just so focused on rock ’n’ roll. Michele Penn (AMP’s executive administrator) pulled out these little thumb drives from the first year of AMP, so I’m watching the videos, and literally everything that I was talking about going back to is what they wanted to start with the first year. … Now, up to the 10th year, I see that we’ve literally come full circle.”
AMP’s Summer Showcase will take place at 2 and 5 p.m., Saturday, July 27, at College of the Desert, 43500 Monterey Ave., in Palm Desert. For more information, visit ampcv.org.