Colleen Cook (9) stood under bright stage lights rocking her head and strumming her bass at the 28th annual Fiesta de los Peñasquitos, May 9. She smiled at the crowd gathering to watch her band: The Maniacs in Charge. Their set opened with “Everlong” by Foo Fighters and closed with “Tonight Tonight” by The Smashing Pumpkins.
The Maniacs in Charge have been playing together for two years and cover rock music from the late ’80s and ’90s, performing at local festivals and fairs. They are self-taught musicians and play gigs both large and small. Cook met two of her three other band members from playing ice hockey. They created a band in June 2023. It was then, Cook said, that The Maniacs in Charge were born.
“I’ve always wanted to be in a band and be on stage,” Cook said. “It’s been a dream of mine to be a rockstar. When I was in my middle school band, my dad was teaching me guitar on the side. I started watching Julie and the Phantoms and fell in love with being on stage. Music became my therapist. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard someone say they’re “talking to their guitar” but that’s what it felt like.”
At the Fiesta de los Peñasquitos, Cook could hear the crowd singing along to her music and see kids dancing in the front. After the last song, she ran into the crowd to find her friends and fans, taking pictures and talking with them.
“Being on stage under the stage lights, having everyone there for you, and interacting with fans after and meeting a lot of new people is my favorite,” Cook said. “I’ve made a lot of really good connections through music in general, and then also from the band. You can feel the audience’s energy and our energy radiating off of them.”
Despite being younger than most of the bands she performs alongside, Cook said she believes that music can bridge these gaps, and she has made many connections with her fellow musicians.
“Our biggest [show] was [at the] Point Loma summer concert series where we played in front of around 3,500 people,” Cook said. “When we play our bigger shows, I get more nervous, but just being there is amazing. We’re playing there again this year on July 25 and it’s literally a dream come true standing up under the stage lights in front of that many people all singing along to the songs we were playing. We meet a lot of older bands that play the same music as us and it’s so cool to talk to them because they’re like our future selves.”
Cook has developed her musicianship through being in a band as well as her ability to adapt to mistakes.
“Being in a band has helped my musicianship because I had to learn a new instrument, bass, as I had only been playing guitar before,” Cook said. “While they translate very closely, the calluses didn’t. I remember during one of our 4th of July shows last year we had had three shows that week so my fingers were already cooked. I had to use a pick, which I’m not very used to, but there was this one part of a song that I just couldn’t use a pick for so I dropped it on the floor and when I played this riff my fingers started bleeding.”
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“Playing bass in a band has improved my musicianship because [messing up] causes me to get off beat and we can’t just stop the song so we all have to use what I like to call “band telepathy” to get back on beat together.”
Leading up to performances Cook and her band members have to be disciplined,dedicating much of their free time to practicing.
“It’s definitely a pretty big time commitment, and there’ve been a lot of times where I’ve had to cancel activities with friends because I’ve had rehearsal or a show,” Cook said. “But it’s definitely worth it because it’s not every day that you get the opportunity to play in front of thousands of people as a 14-year-old.”
Although it’s time-consuming, Cook said she is always working towards playing her best and putting her all into her music. As she plays in more and more shows Cook has grown in her abilities alongside her growing audiences.
“There’s a quote that I live by: ‘music is what feelings sound like,’” Cook said. “I never really understood it until I put myself in the musician’s perspective and really how much someone can just pour their heart out into a song. Our first show that I ever played we only had 20 people in the audience, maybe less. As our music has improved so have the venues. We now average 200-300 people in the audience depending on the show. I have messed up so many times in front of so many people it doesn’t even affect me now, I just keep going.”
Despite the hard work it takes, Cook finds that playing music and seeing the crowd react makes it all worth it. According to Cook, she said she will continue to share her love of music with her listeners.
“The most fulfilling part is when you’re on stage and everyone knows the songs you’re playing and they’re just singing along with you and everyone’s dancing up in front,” Cook said. “You know that you’re the ones who made that energy happen because you have good stage presence and good music and you’re good at what you do.”
