Brighter Side Band, Fresh From Memphis Trip, Comes Back to North Canton

The last North Canton Patch heard from the Brighter Side Band, they were prepping for their high-profile trip to Memphis, where they .

Now that that trip is behind them and they’ve had time to reflect, the young members of the blues band say it couldn’t have been more of a success.

“It was extremely successful, even though it wasn’t a competition, I think we did amazing,” said , a student at . “And just the fact we got to go down there by itself was amazing. The whole band had an unbelievable time.”

The blues challenge on Feb. 4 originally was a competition, but it was switched to a showcase, meaning no winners.

Jake said the band made connections with other bands, including other youth bands across the country. They played with professional bands, met big names in the blues, played at venues they had otherwise only talked about in reverence and passed out CDs to radio stations that may play their songs around the U.S.

Not only that, but they turned out a great performance during the showcase, said Nan Friel, Jake’s mom and band manager.

“They blew the roof off of it,” Nan said. “They got a standing O at the end. It was pretty crazy.”

The Brighter Side Band also includes Keith Wilson, 18, on drums; Fuad Farah, 14, lead guitar and saxophone; and Noah Simionides, 16, bass. The group met in 2010 while participating in a .

The band will perform for the first time since it arrived back from Memphis at 9 p.m. tonight at Nathan’s Patio Bar & Grill, 725 30th St. NE, in Canton. They also will have a welcome back party at .

Nan said the musicians took advantage of their time in Memphis and had e-mailed her ahead of time with one thing they wanted to do while there. Fuad took his Gibson guitar to the factory where it was built,  Keith went to the Memphis Drum Shop. Jake went to Crossroads, on the famous blues highway.

“And in Noah’s e-mail, he says, ‘I want to jam every day and ride a horse,’” Nan said, adding they never came across any horses to ride. “So Noah’s the only one who didn’t get his wish.”

She said one of the highlights was seeing Cleveland fans, many from the NE Ohio Blues Association, supporting the Brighter Side Band and the Akron-based Juke Hounds. Having local support “made all the difference.”

“We got so much out of this,” Nan said. “We didn’t walk away with a record deal. We didn’t walk away saying ‘We’re the No. 1 band.’ We have other bands wanting us to open for them at other venues.”