At Patriot’s music-themed World Tour winter rally last school year, a band took the school by storm; one that no one had ever seen before, but quickly piqued the interest of students and staff alike. This band was called Beach Rat, and while only featuring 2 out of 3 members physically at the rally, Logan West (PHS Alumni, vocalist) and Cody Jones (11th, guitar), they quickly were a hit amongst the Patriot community. I was fortunate enough to be the fill-in bassist for Gavin “Tree” Jones (PHS Alumni, bassist) at the rally along with Dominic Valenzuela, who sat in on drums. In the months after the rally, many students could be seen sporting Beach Rat merchandise with their iconic rat character, Reggie, big and proud on the front.
The music Beach Rat has created, whether satirical or serious, shows their love for music and creating in general.
The group released their first full-length album in November, Geezers vs the Youth, after weeks of anticipation (and gatekeeping from their distributor). Geezers vs the Youth features singles “Hero” and “Hit My Line” along with hard-hitting tracks (“Blues Song”, “Mirage”) that tie in perfectly with the light-hearted satirical songs (“Mudskippin Giraffe”, “The Silly”) that make them so intriguing. “Big Homie Tree” even makes a nod to their bassist Tree who unfortunately has to part with the band for a few years to serve as an LDS missionary in Utah, but the band assures throughout the song that, “Beach Rat will never die”, which is a sentimental message seeing that Logan will be leaving in the coming months for his mission in Georgia as well. Geezers vs the Youth shows the hard work these 3 put in to create a well-rounded, praiseworthy project that will leave a lasting impact on behalf of their temporarily departing members.
"Releasing an album is the ultimate step of the work all members put in together to create it." — Cody Jones, Beach Rat guitarist
In my time being close friends with Beach Rat, I’ve been able to get some insight and advice on how this band was able to gain a fanbase of new and familiar faces among the student body. Logan could talk your ear off about music if he wanted to, and Cody has been playing guitar for half his life, which puts one core value at the forefront of the group: passion. The music Beach Rat has created, whether satirical or serious, shows their love for music and creating in general.
Exclusive Interview with Beach Rat Member Cody Jones
What challenges has Beach Rat faced since forming?
The biggest challenge has been staying near each other to continue to practice and create new music. Two of the band members (Logan and Gavin) have graduated high school, and are currently away serving on their two-year missions.
Another challenge, which is part of the creative process, is having creative differences. It’s also what makes an album so personal. You create a lot of memories with it.
How did you all handle creative differences?
Compromise. For example, we could have different opinions on the duration of a song or what particular chords should be mixed in a song, etc. At the end of the day, the part that brought it together was just seeing the other side of each argument and making a decision together for the sake of the group.
What have you learned about being in a band?
It made me see the difference between just practicing music versus releasing music. Practicing is fun and free, and at times, not very streamlined. You can get sidetracked and that’s okay.
But releasing music is a different fun experience. There’s so many different parts to it that there’s a level of high commitment needed. It’s a different creative process that I really enjoyed. Releasing an album is the ultimate step of the work all members put in together to create it.
Best memory with Beach Rat?
I’d say making our first single “Hero” is pretty special.
And definitely making “Hit My Line” because it took longer to make due to more creative decisions being made. We celebrated finishing the single by camping out and listening to the song over and over. It means a lot.
What would you say to people looking to start a band or even start playing music overall?
Go for it! No matter how serious or not serious you are about it, just start playing and making music together. Don’t care what other people think, do it for you.
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