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Boys just wanna have fun

Riverside student band rocks the Golden City

By Julie O'Shea
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
May 23rd, 2007 issue

Photo by DANIEL SWAIN
Riverside School's Absolute Zero gets into the groove at a recent fundraising show.
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Absolute Zero's next gig

What: PRAGUESTOCK expat festival
Where: Riverside Terrace, Občanská plovárna, U Plovárny 8, Prague 1
When: Saturday, June 9, at 3 p.m. Bands start at 5 p.m.

Still mourning the breakup of 98 Degrees and ’N Sync?
Wipe away those tears. There’s a new boy band in town, and this one’s homegrown.
Give it up for Absolute Zero — Alessio Bechi, Sebastian “Seb” Jacques, Jonny Prudek, Lucas Stone and Luke Yurkovich.
Alessio
Lucas
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Jonny
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Seb
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Luke
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These guys have the right lyrics, the right beat and, honestly, the right hairstyles to be the next great act of the new millennium. Or maybe just the next great opening number at one of Prague’s various open-mic nights.
They’re not exactly ready for any heavy-duty tour schedules quite just yet. Right now they still have curfews, science projects and final exams to worry about. But after they graduate from high school, then perhaps they can start thinking about hiring a groupie van.  
In the meantime, they’ll have to be content with their adoring fan base over at Riverside School, where all five of these budding rock stars attend class.
It doesn’t seem like they will have much of a problem with that.
Taking a break after a recent impromptu jam session in the school auditorium, the boys provide some very clear ideas on what they are looking to get out of this experience.
“Fame,” Seb, 14, quickly offers.
“Teamwork,” Alessio, 15, pipes up.
But it is the youngest band member who seems to hit the nail on the head.
“Girls,” Lucas, 13, shouts. The others say nothing, but they are smiling.
A few minutes later Jonny, the group’s pensive 15-year-old lead singer, declares: “I need to practice being more like Mick.” As in Jagger.
Absolute Zero is a cover band. The White Stripes, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana are some of their favorite tunes. The Rolling Stones don’t appear to be on the set list at the moment. But, as the band’s “manager” Alan Thomas stresses, everything comes with time, patience and lots and lots of practice.
“What these boys are doing is what rock ’n’ roll is all about,” says Thomas, who heads Riverside’s math department. But when the final bell rings for the day, it’s all about making music for Thomas and his young protégés.
“I’m not as ridiculous as Jack Black — but almost,” Thomas cracks in reference to the 2003 hit movie “School of Rock.”
It was Thomas’ idea to hold auditions for a student band. He already had a couple of good guitar players in his midst. What he was really looking for, however, was a singer.
“Jonny stole the show,” Thomas says. “Can he sing? It doesn’t matter. It’s rock ’n’ roll. It does matter.  
“I didn’t choose Jonny because he could sing,” Thomas explains. “I chose him because when you put him in front of an audience he just comes alive.”
That’s an understatement. Jonny and his band mates look like there’s no place in the world they’d rather be when they are onstage and the music starts.
They immediately get into the rhythm, banging their heads and shuffling their feet. The crowd goes nuts. Sometimes the lyrics are hard to make out against the whine of guitars and drums, but somehow that doesn’t seem to matter because these boys have got all the right rock ’n’ roll moves down pat.
Lucas has “lightning-fast Jimmy Page fingers,” Thomas says proudly, and Alessio “does this Dee Dee Ramone thing.”
“These guys are serious,” Thomas says. “They really do make the covers their own.”
Lucas and Alessio both play guitar. Seb is also on guitar, while Luke, 14, is in charge of the drums.
“He is, like, the best drummer of the school,” Seb gushes.  
 The teens, who came up with their band’s name during science class, have already taken the stage a couple of times this year and have even been paid for a recent appearance. Each received 100 Kč ($4.82).
“I think I bought myself five cheeseburgers,” Jonny says.
His friends laugh. “That‘s how he thinks — with his stomach,” Seb says.  
Jonny merely shrugs.
“They are learning teamwork,” their teacher says. “But they are still goofy.”  
Regardless, it’s obvious that Absolute Zero is also about having absolute fun.
Absolutely, the boys agree.

Julie O'Shea can be reached at joshea@praguepost.com


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