As Bryan Adams said, “Everywhere I go, the kids want to rock.”Solid Fuel’s first recording is proof of that.

Solid Fuel is a band of Yukon middle- and high-school students consisting of Logan Frasher, Ale Peters, Madison Dixon and Ragnvald Royle, and their teacher, the multi-talented Graeme Peters. Having shown the kids how to rock out in the music room and on the stage, Peters has taken them into the recording studio to record their first EP,Solid Fuel.

The opening track,Good to Me, is a folk song in the early-Bob Dylan style. Madison, the youngest of the group, displays a social conscience beyond his young age, looking at homelessness and injustice. “I’m finding it hard to believe/that there’s people living on the streets/when you’re so good to me.”

With Fish Falls from the Ground, the band performs one of Graeme Peters‘ originals, providing a tight drum and bass rhythm. In contrast to his work with Speed Control, Solid Fuel provides him with a fuller and more melodic sound. There’s also a great guitar solo from Logan, who accompanied Speed Control at a recent gig.

Showing a possible influence from his teacher, Logan contributes Numero Dos, an emo punk song that also has a 1960s garage band feel. With its lyrics, “All I want is your love, all I get is your hate,” this song could work in a Speed Control set.

The band’s anthem song, Solid Fuel, also written by Madison, declares that the band won’t follow the rules. And with its sound moving between heavy metal guitar solos under a lighter New Wave guitar riff, Solid Fuel shows it won’t be squeezed into simple categories either.

This EP shows that Solid Fuel isn’t just learning how to rock and how to play together as an amazingly tight band, it is also picking up rock ‘n’ roll history. From Good to Me’s 1960s protest roots, through heavier classic rock, metal and punk of the ’60s and ’70s, and contemporary pop punk and emo, the band is on the verge of creating something new.

As Solid Fuel matures, it can only get better. And with Graeme Peters as their mentor, these young musicians are on their way to greatness, on the stage and in the recording studio.

Long may they rock.

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