Hitting the right notes: Young Belchertown musicians making their mark

BELCHERTOWN —When Lily Voisine, Jake Demento, John Demento and Wesley Hill learned their band Ultraviolet would play at the statewide music education conference last year, they pictured performing on a main stage to their largest audience yet.

After all, 500 music acts auditioned for one of these five spots at the Massachusetts Music Education Association All-State Professional Development Conference expected to draw hundreds of music educators into the DCU Convention Center in Worcester for the multiday event.

But the four Belchertown High School freshmen instead crammed into small corner on a balcony — next to an escalator. It was not a main stage. It was not even a stage. There was an an escalator were wings should be and a view of a wall where an audience normally stood. Initially, they all felt was disappointed.

As the seconds counted down until their set started, Ultraviolet shook away their dismay. If the setting would not provide the presence, they’d have to make an entrance — a loud one.

“We [started playing] right as the doors were opening from the big conference room,” Voisine said. “So as everyone was piling out, and he [Jake] hits the drums, and everyone stops.”

The band enthralled over 1,600 educators with their renditions of alternative rock and pop-punk songs from Green Day, Blink-182, Foo Fighters and Pat Benatar. Stick them on a field behind a banner, put them on stage or squish them in a corner, these four teenagers will give a show.

Music enthusiasts will argue for hours whether rock of the 80s and 90s is dead, out of the mainstream or just undergoing a metamorphosis. Ultraviolet, however, proves that the rebellious teen music lives on in the next generation, and so too does its famous resolve.

“I never really imagined being in a band other than a rock band,” Jake said, with his bandmates nodding in agreement.

Growing up with music

Ultraviolet was born out of a rock band supplement enrichment course at Chestnut Hill Community School. Jake and John joined in fifth grade, followed by Voisine. The unnamed trio played a few times along with their Band Director Jason Mosall on euphonium. Hill joined the summer before seventh grade, and the four teens spent the summer building a tight repertoire of songs from their childhood.

Jake and John DeMento began playing music at 2 years old. Jake recalls his father, also a musician, recording the twins banging on the drum sets in their basement. He continued to smash on the skins, but John decided on a different path.

“I just bought a guitar, $100 Stratocaster. It was, like a kid-sized one,” John said. “I was like 6 years old, and then I just learned to D chord, and that was it. I never went back to drums.”

Hill got that same red, mini Stratocaster at 3 years old. Like the Dementos, his father inspired his passion for music, purchasing that first guitar and setting the example as a musician himself. Hill’s dad bought him a bass several years later, but Hill keeps true to his roots as a guitarist.

“For the bass parts, some of them, I don’t play the actual bass part, and I play like a modified guitar part,” Hill said.

Unlike the men of the band, Voisine does not come from a family of musicians. She might as well have: her grandmother, aunts and mother all sing constantly, and Voisine quickly joined them. She’s been in as many choral and performance groups as she can pack into her schedule.

“I always quote the ABBA song, ‘She says I began to sing long before I could talk,'” Voisine said. “I’ve done so many singing [events], it’s unimaginable.”

Ultraviolet becomes visible

As the band began booking gigs, Voisine, Hill and the Dementos had yet to decide on a name. So, like any teen born in the digital age, they turned to trusty Google and found a band-name-generator to get the creative juices flowing. None of the suggestions resonated with them. Ultraviolet was the one they disliked the least.

“The thing is so many people know us as Ultraviolet now,” Voisine said. “It’s gonna grow on us at some point.”

Soon, Ultraviolet built up their network through fundraisers, municipal events and open mic nights at Workshop13 in Ware and Luthier’s Co-Op to get their own acts. They play the Belchertown Fair, headline Clapp Memorial Library’s Teen Summer Reading Party and jam out at the Lake Wallace Fall Fest at Foley Field.

“We went from people that we know getting us gigs to getting gigs on our own,” Voisine said. “We did open mic nights at Workshop 13 and Booth Years. We had people asking us, so you wanna play at this fundraiser? Do you wanna play at this event, and so on and so forth.”

The band member’s parents along with the Belchertown schools began advertising the teen band — still nameless at the time — to event organizers. Hill made sure to mention Corrina Smith, a former Jabish Brook Middle School band teacher, for supporting them through the All-State audition process. And the band would likely not exist if Mosall had not agreed to make a rock band elective at Jake’s request.

While they may ooze talent and chemistry, time is scarce for Ultraviolet. Each member has a schedule chalk full of sports, extracurriculars and pre-existing commitments to juggle. The teens’ parents try to stay out of the band business as much as they can, but scheduling is the single exception.

“This has been really a learning experience for me. At performances I’m often asking, ‘What are you looking for? What is this thing? Where does this go?’ I’m walking around with equipment going, ‘Who gets this?'” said Donna Voisine, Lily’s mother. “It’s a little bit of a juggle for the parents making everything work, but it’s worth it to see them enjoying it.”

Unlike Fleetwood Mac or Pink Floyd, the members of Ultraviolet actually get along. The four musicians have known each other since first grade. Hill has been on sports teams with the DeMentos, but the band added a whole new level to their friendship.

They are, first and foremost, teenagers. Throughout the short interview, the bandmates jabbed, joked and teased each other before dissolving into a bundle of laughs. John and Jake quickly fall into sibling bickering over who is the best musician, then the best gamer. Voisine laments over her nickname “linoleum” before jabbing at Hill for being too softspoken on stage.

“They enjoy each other’s company as well as playing together,” Donna Voisine said. “When somebody has a little slip up, you see these little smiles that they exchange with each other. But it’s so natural that the audience, most of the time, doesn’t even pick up on it. It’s fun, and I think that’s really what it should be.”