TAKING OUT THE TRASH, STOMP CREW STYLE. A student group formed just three years ago, North High School’s Stomp Crew is looking to stage solo shows.

Despite schools frequently cutting back, and sometimes even eliminating music programs, Eau Claire North High School students have created their own group to keep the music alive.

North’s Stomp Crew is a mix between the Blue Man Group (their inspiration) and a high school drumline. Their instruments of choice aren’t the typical percussion pieces you would expect to see at a band concert. Stomp Crew switches things up.

“We use trash cans usually for most of the pieces, buckets sometimes,” said Sara Nicolai, a senior at North as well as an original member and the new leader of Stomp Crew. “We’re going to hopefully perform a song where we use brooms.”

“We use trash cans usually for most of the pieces, buckets sometimes. We’re going to hopefully perform a song where we use brooms.” – North High Stomp Crew leader Sara Nicolai

The crew is a new addition to North, formed just three years ago, and is trying to gain a following around the school. Performing mostly at band concerts as filler for stage changes, Nicolai said they’re hoping to do more shows outside of the band concerts.

“We’ve gotten a lot more publicity this year, and we even performed at a pep rally, which was cool,” said Justin Jarvis, the Crew’s second in command.

Unlike a typical high school band, the Stomp Crew is completely student-led, and they aren’t recognized as an official school club. The crew doesn’t usually write their own music, but they revise different parts of songs to fit their style and make it more their own.

“We want to show (the audience) we can do more than just play traditional percussion parts,” Jarvis said. “Just being able to play and have different mediums, it’s not something you get to hear everyday, so we’re glad to be a part of it.”

Gratitude seemed to be a recurring theme among the Stomp Crew members, who devote the extra practice time outside of their regular band commitments to perfect their performances. Bruce Hering, the North High band director, won’t take any credit for the Stomp Crew’s success, but is excited to see his band students branching beyond band class.

“As a music teacher, my main goal is to try to instill a love of music that carries beyond those groups, and beyond high school as well,” Hering said. “It’s really cool to see that manifested in outside groups as examples.”

Although the crew members aren’t looking to make a career out of their music talents, they enjoy the camaraderie of the group and entertaining their peers.

“We really want people to know it’s all student-led, we’re doing this on our own,” Nicolai said. “We just love it.”

To catch the Stomp Crew live, admission is FREE to their annual Band POPS Concert on May 16 at 7:30pm in the North High auditorium.