According to band “Sunnyside Up,” girl bands are the future, and they certainly proved that at Tower Rock on December 8, 2018 as the winning act.  Tower Rock, the annual music competition sponsored by The Tower, is a well-known musical event for the Adams community that gives many musicians the opportunity to refine, perfect, and finally perform their skills, perhaps taking home the trophy. This year’s Tower Rock champion is newly-formed, all-girl band “Sunnyside Up,” comprised of Seniors Skylar Dungy, Natalie Fish, Claire Hargis, Jordan Lewis, and Junior Anna Tarner.

“Sunnyside Up” began in the spring of 2018, with only two of the five members, Tarner and Hargis, performing at National Honor Society’s Night of the Arts. “It was just missing something,” Tarner said, about her performance with Hargis. We needed a little bit more. You know, we were good together, but we needed more,” Hargis commented. And so, the search for the other three members began. “We wanted a girl band because it’s the time for women. Right now is the time for girls and for women,” Tarner commented.

Tarner and Hargis soon connected with Dungy (guitar), Fish (percussion), and Lewis (bass), and their dream of forming a band grew into reality. They began to rehearse, not long before their first gig at Tower Rock, and their music took off from there, describing their style to have elements of classic rock, throwbacks, and 80s. And Tower Rock certainly is not the end of their journey. When asked if they plan to continue performing together, they all answered with immediate positive enthusiasm.  

They are furthered inspired by the lack of female representation in their musical style. “You don’t see a lot of instruments [in other girl bands],” Lewis commented, adding that many bands include at least one male on either bass or percussion. The girls of “Sunnyside Up” are trying to break this musical standard, as their recent performance proved.

Their next step, according to Lewis, is to start writing their own music. “We’re just constantly changing things up; we’ll take different songs and make them our own, basically[…] we just want to get together a lot and start finding our style, writing our own stuff, and hopefully making some good music out of that. We all definitely want to keep this going and see where it takes us beyond high school.”

With a band of all seniors with the exception of one junior, there are obvious conflicts with future plans, as high school is coming to a close and different opportunities are approaching. “Sunnyside Up,” however, is determined not to let distance not to let distance divide their relationship. Hargis explained how many of them are hoping to attend college close to home for their freshman years in order the stay together and advance their career.

Whatever they decide for their future, “Sunnyside Up” is only beginning a promising journey in their  musical career. From their origin at John Adams High School and their first success at Tower Rock to wherever their music takes them, The Tower wishes them the best of luck in the future.

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