The end of the year at Westwood View Elementary comes with the delight of the school’s annual talent show — and this year one group of 5th graders at the school rocked. They rocked…so hard.
Named “The Arachnids” (which is really, really awesome), the group of burgeoning musicians have been playing together for three years now. As 3rd graders, the trio of Preston Hooker on vocals and guitar, Grady Allen on guitar, and Matthew Waters on keyboards made their talent show debut playing Smoke on the Water. Last year, as 4th graders, they nailed Eye of the Tiger. This year, with the addition of not one BUT TWO drummers — Lex Kangethe and Hank Hunter — the expanded group went after The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army.
“Do you all have faces?” Hooker asked the crowd of kids as the group set up. “Well, if you do, they’re about to get melted after this, okay?”
What followed was a master class in garage band glory — and based on the Beatlemania-esque screams from the crowd after it was all over, it’s fair to say the thing went over pretty well.
H/T to David Waters (father of Matthew and Westwood city council member) for sharing the video below: