Jamming to the classics

Teenage band, Port of No Return, balances school, work, practice



Clockwise from top: Port of No Return, made up of Peyton Beck on guitar, Dylan Shelton on bass and Jacob Williams on drums, practices in Shelton’s laundry room on Friday, Sept. 11, playing ‘Blitzkreig Bop’ by Ramones and ‘Kryptonite’ by Three Doors Down. Shelton warms up on bass while the rest of the band sets up their equipment. Williams steadies a symbol on his drum set while playing. Beck focuses on a solo while playing a song.

Clockwise from top: Port of No Return, made up of Peyton Beck on guitar, Dylan Shelton on bass and Jacob Williams on drums, practices in Shelton’s laundry room on Friday, Sept. 11, playing ‘Blitzkreig Bop’ by Ramones and ‘Kryptonite’ by Three Doors Down. Shelton warms up on bass while the rest of the band sets up their equipment. Williams steadies a symbol on his drum set while playing. Beck focuses on a solo while playing a song.

It’s not too cramped; perhaps you could call it cozy?

Staff photos by Joe Martinez

Staff photos by Joe Martinez

And it’s almost soundproof, as you can expect most laundry rooms are.

There is space, though, for a drum set, a microphone stand, two amplifiers, three teenagers and a full-size washing machine and dryer.

This is where Port of No Return, made up of Peyton Beck on guitar, Dylan Shelton on bass and Jacob Williams on drums, jam out and practice.

They are Port Aransas High School students. Beck and Williams are juniors, and Shelton is a sophomore.

The band made its performance debut to an audience on July 17 at the monthly Sunset Sounds concert at the Patsy Jones Amphitheater at Roberts Point Park as special guests of the Port Aransas duo, Unrehearsed and Unashamed, AKA Ken Yarbrough and Mike Jones.

 

 

“It was thought of at the last second,” Williams said about the band’s name. The group got its name the day of its Sunset Sounds performance. The boys say it’s a play on words: Port Aransas and the point of no return.

“It might change though, we don’t know,” Williams said.

While the boys have band experience from school, they agreed that they don’t really read sheet music. Instead, they’ve learned the music they can play by ear, mostly rock music.

 

 

Bands like Nirvana, Iron Maiden, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Metallica top the guys’ list of music they listen to.

“We started out playing a bunch of Nirvana,” Williams said. “It was fairly easy to learn, easy chords, easy vocals.”

A goal for the group, though, is to take part in the 33rd annual Songwriters’ Showcase next year. The group agreed though, they’ll have to write their own music and practice more, something they’re trying to make time for inbetween school and work.

“Sometimes when I’m just jamming on the guitar and I come up with new riffs,” Shelton said, adding that he and Beck wrote a song called “Chuck Billy” about the lead singer of a metal band called Testament.

“It’s a song we came up with on the fly,” Beck said. “In the song, I say ‘we just made a ridiculous song.’”

And, like every great band, the group said they’ve already developed a curse when they play a particular song, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by The Clash.

“We try to play it, and our microphone doesn’t work,” Beck said. “Or we played it in the gym, and the acoustics were just awful.”

Aside from the band and school, the three teens are also busy working. Williams and Beck work at the latchkey program at H.G. Olsen Elementary School. Shelton works at Third Coast Beach Company.

For some in the band, music is growing on them. Shelton said he’d like to try his hand at writing, producing and being a musician.

“Its’ hard to think about what I want to do, but (music) is definitely one of the options,” Beck said.


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