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Artist of the Issue: Harrison Rohrer ’16

As lead singer of the senior rock band, singer and section leader of Tenor 2 in B-Flats, Harrison Rohrer has had a prolific music career at Belmont Hill, taking guitar and piano lessons in middle school and concentrating on his singing in upper school. Rohrer helped start the Spanish Rock Band, a group formed by several of his fellow then-eighth graders who focused on playing Latin-inspired music, such as “Smooth” by Santana. The band still holds its core membership of Rohrer, Juan Carlos Fernandez-del Castillo, Matt Armstrong, Greg Katz, Tommy Ruggles, and Gabe Schmittlein. “It’s always a team effort,” noted Rohrer. The band occasionally features guest artists like guitarist Sean Rayment and singers Alex Afeyan and David Yellen.

Rohrer’s repertoire holds a diverse spread of genres, ranging, for example, from rock classic “Only The Good Die Young” by Billy Joel to modern blues piece “Coming Home” by Leon Bridges, which were both performed at his final Coffee House in early April. Although those songs are vastly different, each compliments Rohrer’s vocal range. “We’ve all gotten better at our instruments, but we’ve especially improved in knowing what we can do as musicians,” he says. Harrison’s band capped off with a grand finale at last month’s Coffee House, performing “Bright Lights” by Matchbox Twenty. In college, Rohrer hopes to join an acapella group or band, but “I can’t imagine anyone beating our band here.”

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