“I don’t want to say stupid,” says Adam Ives, laughing, “but stupid.”
I’m in the middle of a conversation about songwriting, sitting in a Northampton ice cream parlor with Rool Bunk, a rock-punk band made up of Ives and his bandmates Jasper Coles and Nate Jones. Ives is talking about their writing process. The three laugh as they recount rejecting early ideas for songs, including one about a favorite video game of theirs. The conversation ranges from their influences to their plans to record a second album. What makes Ives, Coles, and Jones unique is their age: they’re 12 years old. They won Battle of the Bands last year — a triumph overshadowed by the viral controversy surrounding a judge’s comments to competing band Kalliope Jones — and were asked to play at a festival at Northfield Mount Hermon High School, in which all the other bands were comprised of high school students. With all this success, it’s clear that the final products of the band’s writing process are far from stupid.
When I arrive at Herrell’s in Northampton, the band is already waiting, coats and backpacks spread out across two tables in the back. The place is otherwise deserted, so they’re easy to pick out. We get ice cream, everyone somewhat overwhelmed by the enormity of the brownie bowl one of them receives. We settle down to talk. The three band members seem flawlessly in sync even in conversation, speaking for each other, riffing on each other’s answers, and taking turns talking and eating their ice cream. They have such an air of familiarity that it’s a surprise when they say they weren’t close friends before forming the band, which just celebrated its first anniversary.
The name Rool Bunk, it turns out, is a more recent development. Rool is for rule— “as in, we rule,” Ives says, smiling— and bunk means nonsense. The band started out as the Keys and Strings, with Jones playing the saxophone and both Coles and Ives on guitar. “That didn’t really work out,” Ives says. Coles switched to the bass and Jones to the drums, while Ives picked up singing. They agree that switching instruments “wasn’t that hard.” All three are in seventh and eighth grade band as well as the school jazz band.
For Ives, the biggest change was becoming comfortable with singing in front of people. He says he used to “make sure my parents were at least 10 feet away” if he was singing. Now, though, singing in front of crowds is “just normal.” The video of their winning Battle of the Bands performance makes it clear they’re all more than comfortable onstage.
Each had some experience performing prior to forming Rool Bunk— and all three enjoy it. Coles likes the opportunity for promoting the band— when they perform, “more people get to know about us,” he says. Jones and Ives enjoy the performance itself: “I get a big adrenaline rush,” Ives adds.
They’ve already recorded one album, which they say took them only three hours. They agree that it was a lot of fun, but “we learned we need to spend more time to get all of our songs down really well, like at least a day,” Ives says. This is a major goal for their next album, which will be a rock opera with a story they describe as “pretty powerful.”
This one is also more punk rock than the first self-titled album, they say. They’re inspired by bands like Green Day, the Ramones, and Blink 182, but Ives also finds songwriting inspiration from heavy metal and deathcore. “Not so much the voices,” he says, “but a lot of riff inspirations.” Their songwriting process often starts with topics they dislike, such as school— “sometimes,” they clarify.
Their song “Same Old Thing” sums up their attitude toward music and its importance to them, including the line “You got to learn to fight/Because you know what’s right” in reference to bringing back classic rock music to replace “electronic music” on the radio.
It might be surprising to hear such nostalgia from tweens, and it might also surprise some to learn that their other songs include lyrics expressing sentiments such as “life is pretty brutal,” “just to let you know, it’s been a day,” and “sometimes I wonder if I’m the only one [who] cares.”
Though confident about their prospects, the band members also try to be realistic. There is general agreement that, barring catastrophe, the band will continue through high school, but afterwards “It depends,” says Ives, but also brings up the possibility of a record deal. Later, when asked if music and the band seem like a possible career option, Jones again says it depends what happens after high school. The prospect of parting seems to darken the mood. “We don’t really try to think about that now,” Coles says.
Ives adds, “We try to see what happens and not predict the future.”•
Contact Emily Atkinson at emilyhelenatkinson@gmail.com.
