Girls Rock starts the countdown to 2024 concert

Camp Week is about to start at Girls Rock St. Pete, and every day the campus will be buzzing with young people between the ages of 8 and 18, learning the basics on guitar, bass, drums and keyboards from seasoned and/or professional musicians, all of them women.

The end game is the annual showcase concert, Saturday, July 20 at Jannus Live. Executive Director Jesse Miller believes the garage band, punk rock DIY ethos really works for her girls: “You learn a few chords and you’re on the way.”

The campers are putting rock bands together, writing songs together, and performing them at the Jannus Live show. All in five days.

Modeled after a nationwide program, the nonprofit Girls Rock St. Pete has been working with local girls for nine years. Although there are year-round programs, including several for adults, summer camp is the centerpiece. Fifty campers have signed up for 2024.

There’s more to it than music. Music, Miller likes to tell parents, is a “Trojan horse,” a delicious carrot-y temptation to dangle. “We’re trying to build a community of sisterhood – not just for girls, but also non-binary, trans, gender-expansive youth, but also adults and men. We’ve built this huge ripple effect of positivity throughout our camp and into all of our programs.”

Girls Rock Camp is all about building self-esteem through collaboration, trial and error, creativity … and fun.  “Working in bands,” Miller explains, “kind of creates this perfect microcosm of learning healthy communication skills, learning conflict resolution skills … if you’re quiet, you have to learn how to get out of your comfort zone and speak up. If you talk a lot, you have to learn to become a passionate listener.

“Working in this band model, you have to have fast decision-making – we put this pressure cooker on them of only having five days. They’re learning a brand-new instrument; so they’re all learning that making mistakes is OK. And in fact necessary.”

Here’s how it works: Campers will spend five days next week prepping for the big day. Ninety minutes each morning is for instrument study – Girls Rock has its own supply of plugged-in gear – and there are two afternoon hours in the band room, working toe-to-toe with others.

In between are classes and workshops on everything from songwriting to social justice. It’s an environment of creativity and purpose.

Most, if not all, of the campers have never strummed a guitar, tapped on a drum kit or vocalized into a microphone. That’s all part of the instrument study classes.

“It’s not about mastering your instrument in five days,” Miller admits. “We know no one can do that.

“But it is about what can you put together with these new skills that you have? Can you prove to yourself that you can write a song? You know, most pop and folk songs basically have three chords.”

The Jannus Live concert, according to Miller, is “like a big family-friendly rock ‘n’ roll show.” There’s a full professional backline (sound and lights) for each of the eight 2024 Girls Rock St. Pete bands. “We really want campers to get on that stage, and look out and see their whole community has shown up, to help them see that their voices matter.”

Hex Appeal, from the organization’s Ladies Rock program (for adult women) will perform, as will the Girls Rock Youth Showcase band Anarkitty. Also planned: A DJ with line dancing for participants, punk rock crafting and other vendors, a drag performance celebrating Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album, a “not-so-silent” auction, interactive activities and more.

“We’re not trying to crank out Taylor Swifts, and we’re not going for a classically-trained model,” Miller says.

“What we want to do is turn the tide of that gender-confidence collapse that happens for girls in that age range of 8 to 17. And allow girls some different tools to take back to their homes, and back to their schools, and use.”

Tickets for the July 20 concert at Jannus Live are here.

For information about Girls Rock St. Pete programs, visit the website.