By Dan Aceto

Staff Writer

For Alex Goodwin, The Study of Wumbo isn’t another class in his high school curriculum.

It’s an education in the world of rock.

Earlier this month Goodwin and fellow Wumbo band mates Dylan Lecomte, Curran Lecomte, Stuart Roelke of Scarborough and Zach Austin of Kennebunk, helped host a benefit concert for the Westbrook Mission Possible Teen Center as part of Reindeer Records’ ongoing Off-Ramp: Exit 26 music competition. 

The event marked the fourth of five tasks the band has completed since members embarked on a six-month journey through the rigors of rock and roll stardom to test not only their musical chops but marketing skills.

The competition is sponsored by Reindeer Records, founded in 1985 by Louis Philippe to promote, develop and encourage the talent and abilities of young performing artists in Maine.

The competition will conclude May 7 with a red carpet finale at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center. Out of the nine bands entered, only one will be named Reindeer’s Best Young Band in the State of Maine and awarded $1,000 per member. 

The competition will also help raise money for Reindeer’s Alternative Music Program (R.A.M.P) and its goal to establish an accredited music industry-based curriculum for Maine’s alternative education students. 

Philippe said the competition is kind of like the television show “The Apprentice.” Each band participates in a series of tasks related to the music industry that later are judged for performance and achievement. 

Philippe, who held an annual “Rock-Off,” battle of the bands competition in Maine for 25 years, said he wanted to do something more involved this year.

“I had the desire to do something that had a longer lasting impact for high school-age musicians,” Philippe said. “Rather than just another battle of bands, I wanted something more.”

Philippe previously worked in the 1980s for PolyGram records in New York. He said he modeled the competition after typical tasks bands encounter in the music industry, such as songwriting, recording, live event production, music video production and marketing.

He said the competition strives to not only provide a rewarding and fun experience, but education and enrichment for musicians. And so far, he’s impressed.

“The level of talent is unbelievable,” Philippe said. “Not only does each band have incredible musical abilities, but their attitudes are so professional. Everyone is so easy to work with. When they’re given a task they absorb it with passion and it’s been a joy to see how far they can go with it.”

Goodwin, who plays lead guitar in his band, said he appreciates the realism the competition offers.

“It’s really stressful, because it’s more deadlines then the band has ever seen, but it’s far and away one of the most realistic things we’ve done,” Goodwin said. “You meet a lot of different types of people in the music industry and it helps having this experience.”

Among those deadlines were a variety of specific challenges each team was required to fulfill.

Each band first was asked to write and record an original song around the title, “I Scream at Walls.”

Bands were allowed to interpret the title any way they wanted as long as they all kept the same name.

Goodwin said lyrics of his band’s song deal with the struggles of growing up, as well as questioning authority.

“Most of our songs are about fighting the tide and not going along with what everyone else is doing,” Goodwin said. “A lot of people tend to go with the flow and not think about what they’re doing. But we’re not trying to write a song with a secret political message or anything.”

Bands were asked to document their rehearsals during the recording process and submit a tape that illustrated development of their song.

Philippe said the experience offered greater insight into how each team approached the task.

“In watching these videos you realize how much they learn and the challenges they overcame – it’s amazing,” he said.

The songs were then compiled on a CD that can be purchased online at cdbaby.com. From there, it was up to each band to market themselves to get as many friends and family to download their song as possible. 

Goodwin said the band used a variety of social media outlets to promote the song, such as announcements through Facebook status updates and text messaging.

Bands also were asked to hold an all-ages concert to benefit a nonprofit organization. The concert, designed to enhance the bands’ marketing and promotion skills, evaluated bands on the number of advance ticket sales each gathered as well as teamwork, promotion, communication and involvement of the nonprofit. The Study of Wumbo hosted the event along with fellow bands, Beware of Pedestrians and Crossed Out.

In preparation for the event, Goodwin’s band designed and printed T-shirts and stickers to sell at the concert and handed out flyers to increase promotion.

When the band met with teens at the Mission Possible Teen Center to discuss the concert the audience was more than enthusiastic, Goodwin said.

“The first thing they wanted to know was if they could ‘mosh,’” Goodwin said with a laugh.  

And mosh they did.

Goodwin, who describes the bands sound as, “progressive post-hard core,” the genre can be a “little difficult” for everyone to enjoy. 

“You almost feel bad playing to mothers and children,” Goodwin said with a laugh.

Although the music may involve yelling and distorted guitar, there are quieter passages as well, and Goodwin said the band has a wide range of influences.

“We draw from hard core, but there’s kind of a late-’80s twist with a progressive side and some jazz,” Goodwin said. “There’s a little bit of everything sprinkled in the mix.”

Although for a band that cites hard-core music as an influence, the inspiration for its band name is quite the opposite – it comes from dialogue in the Nickelodeon cartoon “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

“It was just one of those things that came up in conversation,” said Austin, who plays rhythm guitar. “Sometimes we play the clip in concert.” 

Goodwin said the band has experience with live performances because it plays about once a month at clubs in downtown Portland.

“Normally money can be a hurdle,” Goodwin said. “One of the difficulties we had doing this event was communicating with the other bands and coordinating everyone’s schedules.” 

Their final task will be production of a music video that will be posted online for viewers to watch and vote on by April 1.

Goodwin said the band’s goal is to make an EP, or extended-play album this spring. 

Philippe said bands will be judged on a variety of levels, including lyric message, originality and how well each used their time to organize their band. Philippe will judge the bands throughout the competition on their progress, and on May 7 an audience of more than 150 local Maine artists and others will also contribute to the decision. 

He said every team is talented and deciding who takes home first place will not be an easy task. 

“It’s going to be very difficult to name one winner, because they’re all so good,” Philippe said.