January News

Surely you have seen him around school, he’s the guy ALWAYS carrying some sort of instrument, and if not, he’s probably singing a lovely song.
But what was Clayton like as a child you may ask?

Well, he was obsessed with the Power Rangers and danced along with the Ninja Turtles theme song. None of this actually has anything to do with his musical abilities, or does it?

Dancing to a theme song points out that yes, he did enjoy music. So, perhaps his inspiration in life was the Ninja Turtles. But Clayton says that his actual idol wasn't quite so innocent.

"My inspiration would have to be Vanilla Ice, known to some as Satan." Other musical influences include Shakira, J. Lo and a Blue Grass band named Nickle Creek. Seriously Clayton is musically inclined. But first Clayton wanted to draw, and then he wanted to paint, and finally he decided that he wanted to play music.

Now he wants to write songs and learn to play every instrument ever.

Clayton received his first guitar when he was a freshman. The first song he learned to play on his guitar was “American Pie” but he only learned it so he could play the Weird Al version about Star Wars.

But the reason that Clayton actually plays music is because if he didn't, he wouldn't know how to express himself.

"Also as a child when Clayton recieved a new toy he was so excited about it that he slept with it at night.

He wishes that he still got excited about things like that. Now the only thing that makes him excited is music," his sister says.

"Sometimes I see him and he's just written a new song or he's just heard this great song and he shows up just raving about it and talking in capital letters, and you can just tell he feels the same about the song as he did about that new toy."
"I bring my instruments to school because they make me look ten times cooler," says Clayton.

So, if you ever want to hear him play a song, most likely you could randomly stop him in the hallway. Surely he will stop and perform for you.