U students who make up the pop-punk band Learn From This can be found jamming every Friday evening in the basement of a house on Palma Way, a quiet suburban street in Cottonwood Heights.
The practice room used to be in the bedroom of Justin Lord, the drummer and a junior in sociology and psychology at the U. However, because of cramped space and parental complaints, the band moved to the basement, which is now decorated with Sports Illustrated swimsuit calendars, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Marilyn Monroe cardboard cutouts, as well as amplifiers covered with stickers the band has accumulated over the years.
“We’ve thought about having shows down here, but we don’t have the right PA system or a way for people to come down here without stealing our stuff upstairs,” said singer Brian Lord, who is Justin’s brother and plans to attend the U next year.
When they practice, the band is loud, but because they’re in the basement, the sound hasn’t been a problem.
“We’ve had nothing but support from the neighbors,” Justin Lord said.
The window behind his drum set is about 15 feet away from the home of an older lady living next door.
“When we used to wrap up and were heading out, she would say, ‘You guys were so good, and I love listening to you every week,'” he said.
Three of the four band members are students at the U. The band formed when they were attending Brighton High School.
“In high school, we wanted to start a band but didn’t play any instruments,” said Andy Dwenger, bassist for the band and biology junior at the U.
After buying instruments, the band found Justin Lord and asked him to play drums for an upcoming talent show.
“I remember the exact day they asked me to do that,” Justin Lord said. “It was Dec. 15, 2002, our sophomore year. Oddly, we never even tried out for that talent show.”
The band draws inspiration for songs from friends and other people in their lives, Brian Lord said.
“There’s times when we’re working on three new songs at the same time, but then there’s times when we’re not working on any,” he said. “It just depends on when we feel inspired.”
Major-label bands that inspire them include Angels & Airwaves, Rufio, NOFX, blink-182, Jimmy Eat World and Rush.
“There’s a period when we make a new song and don’t want to talk to each other for six weeks,” Justin Lord said. Often when a new song is written, some members of the band aren’t content with their parts, and tension fills the basement for several weeks.
Band members said that they have matured a lot since graduating from high school and that it can be heard in their music. An example is the song “Shadows,” with lyrics written by guitarist James Ferguson, a junior in biology. The song is about growing up and coming out of the shadows of one’s parents.
The band members also said another way they have matured is by changing their name from their original, purposely misspelled name, Dusn’t Matter.
“All of the bands from our high school are no longer bands, and all of the college bands are guys who just get together and play but don’t really write and practice,” Justin Lord said. “As a college band, we can either go on tour or play with high school bands.”
Learn From This is gearing up for a concert at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts Auditorium on Nov. 30. The concert is sponsored by the U Acoustic Guitar Club. The band has played other shows at venues such as Kilby Court and The Circuit. They have also been featured on radio station X96’s “Live and Local.”
One of the songs the band is changing for the acoustic show is called “So How Does It Feel” The lyrics were written by Ferguson, who said it’s about a friend who doesn’t know where she’s going in life.
“She has gone to four different schools and taken the same math class, like, six times,” said Ferguson, who is one of the co-founders of the Acoustic Guitar Club.
Band members said a lot can be expected at the show.
“About four years ago, we were playing a house party, and the cops showed up because we were loud, but the cops actually let us finish our set and watched us,” Dwenger said. “They didn’t let the other band play.”
Aside from the excitement of playing shows and jamming, band members said school comes first.
However, studying for courses can get in the way of band business.
“At the beginning of the semester, we take a five-minute period where we say what nights can we play shows, and it usually works out with all of our schedules to one or two nights a week,” Justin Lord said.
The time conflicts faced by a student musicianare nothing new to Dave Anderson of Code Hero, another band playing the acoustic concert.
“It’s always a struggle to try to fit music in, especially if you’re playing shows,” said Anderson, who is a recent U graduate in physics. “If you’re playing on a weeknight, you might not finish until 1 a.m. or something like that. I’m sure there were times when I didn’t study as much as I’d like to because I was busy out playing or practicing.”
He said the band has an old country sound to it.
The band was formed by Nate Pyfer and has had its current lineup for about one-and-a-half years. Pyfer said he was inspired by Ernest Hemingway to name the band Code Hero, because heroes Hemingway’s books always follow a specific code. The band recently released an EP and will play those songs at the concert.
“Music was always sort of a release from school and work, a chance to do something different and exercise different creative muscles than the sort of work that I did at school and that I do now as a day job,” said Anderson, who plays keyboard, piano and occasionally saxophone for Code Hero.
The bands will appear at the concert alongside Chris Merritt and Joel Taylor.
“We are bringing in four local artists, each with 30-minute sets,” said Eric Lo, president of the club. “There is so much musical talent out there today, and it’s exciting to see the level everyone is bringing it to. All of the artists coming are acoustic, but none of them sound like each other. It’s fantastic!”
Maegan BurrLearn From This is a band of U students. The band will be playing a show Nov. 30 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts Auditorium.