Borderland Band Camp is a summer music program for middle-school and high-school teens with a BIG goal–sharing the stage with professional musicians for two stage performances, culminating in a spot on the Homespun Stage at Borderland Music + Arts Festival.
In partnership with Jen Brazill of the Borderland Music Festival, Jason Hall of Sportsmen’s Buffalo, and Jeff Miers of the Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation, Buffalo Music Club is hosting our first-ever summer music camp. As usual, we’re not offering your average music camp, but something much more ambitious and far-reaching.
Through participation in the camp, our teaching artists aim to help students become better and more well-rounded musicians. But on a deeper level, we hope to instill in them a “big picture” view of what a career in music is actually like in real life–the discipline, the decisions, and the nuts and bolts of everything BEYOND the art. To that end, our camp activities will be focused on giving our participants the skills they need to put together a killer set for the final Borderland Festival performance—both on and off the stage.
Middle-school and high-school students who were in 6th to 12th grade during the 2023–2024 school year are invited to attend.
Drums (led by Damone Jackson)
Bass guitar (led by Alex Overton)
Electric guitar (led by Jeff Miers)
Keyboards (led by Marcus Lolo)
Trumpet, Trombone, & Saxophone (led by Jacob Jay)
Vocals (led by Blaise Mercedes)
Rap (led by Chuckie Campbell)
Our first Borderland Band Camp will be focused on hip-hop, rap, funk, and soul music.
15+ hours of camp rehearsals and workshops
A commemorative Borderland Band Camp T-shirt
A live “dress rehearsal” performance at Sportsmen’s Complex
A live performance on the Homespun Stage at Borderland Music + Arts Festival
August 19–21
Monday–Wednesday
12:00 p.m.–5:00 p.m.
Additional rehearsal time the week of September 9 before Borderland performance (Day and time TBD).
All group activities will take place at the Sportsmen’s Complex in Black Rock Buffalo, including:
The Cave
Sportsmen’s Tavern
Sportsmen’s Park
Imagine Studios & Event Center
Live @ The Cave
Thursday, August 22 or Friday, August 23 (TBD)
“Dress rehearsal” performance
Live @ Borderland Music + Arts Festival
Sunday, September 15 (Time TBD)
Homespun Stage
$450 per student includes:
Sportsmen’s Americana Music Foundation is offering some scholarship funds to help out students who may be highly qualified but would otherwise have difficulty paying the part or all of the fee.
If you are interested in applying for the camp, but the cost is in any way keeping you from signing up, please write to us at info@buffalomusicclub.com to discuss the matter further. Please note that financial assistance is not guaranteed.
Want to become a sponsor? CLICK HERE.
100% of donations made through this link will be used to sponsor students that may otherwise not be able to participate in the Borderland Band Camp through either a full or partial scholarship.
We’ve put together an absolute dream-team Buffalo house band for the first year of Borderland Band Camp.
And even more artists to be announced!
Award-winning pro drummer, music educator, mentor, and founder of The Damone Jackson Outcome.
Pro bassist and drummer (Rance Allen, Alexis Spight, Mike Epps, Chuckie Campbell)
Director of the Love Supreme School of Music Faculty Band at the Historic Colored Musicians of Buffalo Club
Pro trumpet player, composer, music educator (Villa Maria College), and founder & artistic director of the Jay/Sharptet.
Pulitzer Prize-nominated music journalist, musician, former Buffalo News music critic (2002–2023), author of the Miers on Music blog, host of the podcast MWhy Music Matters, Executive Director of Sportsmen’s American Music Foundation, and Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inductee (2014).
The directors of Borderland Band Camp 2024 bring decades of music performance, education, and industry experience.
Award-winning multi-instrumentalist & entertainer (CRiTT’s Juke Joint, Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, Sinbad the Comedian, Michael Franti, G-Love & Special Sauce, Jefferson Airplane/Starship, Dirty Dozen Brass Band), music educator (IMAGE Urban Arts Workshop, BCAT, BPS), CEO of CRiTT Presents, and co-founder of Buffalo Music Club.
Award-winning indie recording artist (ECR Music Group, NYC), founder of Hook & Ladder Records, and co-founder of Buffalo Music Club.
Pulitzer Prize-nominated music journalist, musician, former Buffalo News music critic (2002–2023), author of the Miers on Music blog, host of the podcast MWhy Music Matters, Executive Director of Sportsmen’s American Music Foundation, and Buffalo Music Hall of Fame inductee (2014).