On Apr. 9, Pete Eckstein, 17, of Standish, and Sky Critchfield, 14, of Casco, and their band, The Shams, are bidding for the top spot at this year’s Reindeer Rock Off at Catherine McAuley High School in Portland.
Along with 25 other local high school bands, The Shams will be performing for two weekends, beginning Apr. 1, trying to win one of five slots to perform at the finals in May. To proceed to the second round, bands are judged in many categories including originality, songwriting, musicianship, marketability and stage presence. The Shams were one of the five finalists at last year’s Rock Off and won awards for originality and songwriting.
Eckstein plays cello and Critchfield plays drums for The Shams. They are joined by brothers, Marcus Bagala (guitar and vocals) and Sam Bagala (keyboards and vocals) of Gray and Haydn Deal (guitarist and back up singer) and Andrew Deal (bass) of Cornish.
Eckstein, son of Mary and Tom Eckstein, is taking courses at USM through the early studies program and is interested in non-electronic gaming. Critchfield, son of Bob and Lisa Willey Critchfield, participates with the Western Maine Homeschoolers and is competing at the Maine state finals of Destination Imagination in April. Both are homeschooled.
The Shams’ latest studio recording, “The Haunting”, can be heard at www.purevolume.com/theshams. Tickets can be obtained by e-mailing theshamsrock@yahoo.com.
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