Don’t look now, but Schaumburg High School’s marching band concludes this season’s halftime show with with an iconic guitar solo from Metallica’s Master of Puppets album, that was featured in Season 4 of Stranger Things. The dramatic finale features Junior Luke McCoy on a raised platform playing his electric guitar, and backed by the rest of the band.
Schaumburg junior Luke McCoy after his featured solo
“You don’t hear rock guitar with marching band very much,” says Band Director Vinnie Inendino. “We thought it would be a powerful and unexpected ending to the show.”
It is and the Marching Saxons will play the entire show — called Otherworldly — one more time, next week, when Schaumburg hosts its cross-conference rival, Fremd High School, on Oct. 18.
For Luke, the chance to rock out on his electric guitar merges his two passions: his love of music and his love of rock music and the electric guitar.
He figures he first picked up a guitar at the age of 5, after playing Guitar Hero with his two older brothers and watching the classic film, School of Rock, over and over again. He began taking lessons and in 2017 he realized his dream of studying at the School of Rock in Schaumburg.
Nearly immediately, he auditioned into its house band, which performs about 25-30 shows per-year throughout the surrounding community. Some of their more high profile gigs include playing at the Cubby Bear in Chicago, Schaumburg’s Septemberfest and at Summerfest in Milwaukee.
At the same time, he immersed himself in nearly every music ensemble at Schaumburg High School, playing percussion in the wind symphony, percussion ensemble, D211 honors orchestra, jazz ensemble, and all while being a drum captain in the Saxon Marching Band.
It was Luke who approached Inendino and Band Director Anthony Graffeo about the possibility of playing his electric guitar in the halftime show, though he concedes he had no idea what to expect.
“It was Mr. Inendino and Mr. Graffeo who suggested we do Metallica,” Luke says. “Being the Metalhead that I am, I was hyped! The end result far exceeded my expectation of what the performance would look like.”
At Schaumburg’s home game on Sept. 28, students in band programs throughout Schaumburg Elementary District 54 joined the Marching Saxons for pre-game and during the halftime show.
Luke at a recent band practice at Schaumburg High
“It was cool to show them how much you can ‘rock out’ in marching band at the high school level,” Luke adds.
It turns out, this year’s halftime show may not end after the last home game. Inendino found out about a competition launched by Metallica, encouraging bands to send in videos of its members performing Metallica’s music. At stake is the chance to win new music equipment for their school.
“We’re planning to submit a video of the SMB’s performance later this season and see what happens,” Inendino says, ” but for us, it’s not at all about the competition.”
It’s about making music, building in an element of surprise and featuring one hard-working and talented musician.
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