Princes of pop

They can't be called kings yet, though they're drawing crowds. And four of the five members of Jamms, a new bay area boy band, are under 13.

By MARTY CLEAR
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 12, 2003

[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar] Adam Irizarry, 12, of Carrollwood plays guitar at a New Year’s Eve concert in Tampa. Behind him, 13-year-old Max Wolford of New Tampa provides a drumbeat.

TAMPA -- The members of Jamms, one of Tampa's newest and hottest rock bands, aren't old enough to remember the Beatles. They're barely old enough to remember Nirvana.

In fact, guitarist Santino Rumore wasn't even born when Nirvana recorded In Bloom, one of the songs Jamms regularly performs. Add up the ages of all five Jamms members, and you've got the approximate age of a single Rolling Stone.

But in only about six months of existence, Jamms has regularly rocked crowds that would make a lot of more established local bands envious. Boy bands are nothing new; in fact, one of the band's mentors is Lee Ahlin, who helped get teen idol Aaron Carter (brother of former Backstreet Boy Nick) discovered.

What sets Jamms apart, however, is that the members actually play instruments and have begun writing their own songs.

The boys made their stage debut at Guavaween in October, and they've played three more concerts since then, usually with hundreds of people in the audience.

"I never played in front of an audience before," said keyboardist Joe Coyle of that Guavaween gig. "I was nervous at first, but once we hit that first note, I thought, 'This is easy.' "

At 11, Joe is one of the younger Jamms. Only 9-year-old Santino is younger. Bassist Mikey Rumore and guitarist Adam Irizarry are 12, and drummer Max Wolford is 13. The band name is an acronym for the five members' first names.

It's the first time any of them have been in a rock band, but they take their music seriously.

"I like baseball," said Adam, who gave up the game for Jamms. "But this seemed more like something that was a career."

Santino recently entered a speech contest at his school, Carrollwood Elementary. "(My speech) was about how music is my life," he said. "It was about how music helps you learn math, how it's good for your coordination skills, and that it's loads of fun." He won the contest and soon will deliver the speech again at a regional competition.

Last year, Max was named the most outstanding seventh-grade musician at Benito Middle School, where he plays in the jazz and symphonic bands.

At their Lowry Park concert, brothers Mikey and Santino (both members of Sammy La Rosa's World's Youngest Jazz Band) played sax with Jamms for the first time. The concert, part of a "Noon Year's Eve" celebration, was sponsored by Radio Disney, as were two other Jamms shows. The idea was to let kids get a taste of New Year's by pretending that noon was midnight. So as the clock ticked toward 12, the brothers Rumore picked up their saxophones and belted out a smooth rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

In addition to its usual set of songs by the Beatles, the Kinks, Green Day, Blink-182 and Nirvana, the band played its first original number, Max's I Thought She Was the One.

"Now at least we've got a show down," Mikey said. "If we could eventually do all originals, that'd be great."

Lots of kids in Jamms' general age range put rock bands together, but few get to play in front of significant crowds so soon. Jamms' nascent success comes from a combination of musical talent, parental support and some fortuitous connections.

All the Jamms members say their parents have given them the backing -- and chauffeuring -- they need to make the band work. Adam said his father, Nelson Irizarry, himself an amateur athlete and musician, helped him with the difficult decision to give up organized baseball to devote his attention to music. Max's father, Brice Wolford, developed the band's Web site, www.jammsrock.com, which includes information about the boys and their performances. But Santino and Mikey's father has been especially helpful.

Dick Rumore owns Paragon Music, Tampa's largest independent music store. For several years through the mid 1990s, Paragon operated the Rock School, where young musicians (and sometimes older ones) were organized into bands. Professional musicians would teach them not only to play their instruments, but to play together as a group.

When pop music tastes changed to more DJ-driven hip-hop and packaged teen stars who performed to canned music, interest in traditional rock bands waned and Paragon Rock School was discontinued.

Last year, Rumore sensed that guitar-driven rock was about to make a comeback and decided to revive the school. To get things started, he found five of the most talented young musicians in the area and arranged for Ahlin, a longtime Rock School teacher, to coach them as a band.

Ahlin is perhaps best known in the bay area for creating the music for the American Stage in the Park shows (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale) as well as writing the music and lyrics for Webb's City: The Musical. He also teaches theater at Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg.

"Lee's a great teacher," Rumore said. "He can correct them, but he does it in a way that turns it into a positive. He'll say, 'Yeah, that's good, but why don't you try it this way and see if you like it better?' There are very few teachers who have that kind of temperament."

Max had been studying drums at Paragon. Adam was a longtime friend of Mikey's. Joe, who didn't know any of the other members, was brought into the band through his grandfather Joe Staggi, a jazz pianist who has played around the Tampa Bay area for decades.

When they first got together, the boys found they all liked basically the same kind of music. Bands like Green Day, Nirvana, Tool and Good Charlotte are among several band members' favorites. Santino has also developed a fondness for Frank Sinatra.

Ahlin taught them songs by newer bands but also insisted that they learn British invasion-era numbers. Those songs are often simpler, Ahlin said, and they've helped Jamms members develop their songwriting skills by honing their sense of song structure. Those songs also helped infuse a sense of rock roots and history.

The boys say they've started to like those older songs. They're also savvy enough to know that if they're playing to kids their own age, they're usually playing to parents who remember the old tunes fondly.

Ahlin says he thinks Jamms has what it takes to make it in the notoriously tough music business.

"They have the talent and the drive to succeed," he said. "They also have the parental support. And with that combination, they may very well succeed."

[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar] Jamms has been together about six months and has played four concerts, including this one at Lowry Park Zoo on Dec. 31.

Meet the band

Adam Irizarry, 12, guitar, vocals

Joe Coyle, 11, keyboard, vocals

Santino Rumore, 9, guitar, vocals

Mikey Rumore, 12, bass, vocals

Max Wolford, 13, drums

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