A father has many roles in a child’s life, from inspiring talent to dispelling fears. Many of these roles are played by the members of The Dad Band, who will kick off Verona’s summer concert series this year. These dads from Verona keep the community entertained and help children overcome stage fright.

As the name suggests, The Dad Band was reunited by authorship. Each member of the group has young children and a passion for music. Seeking to stay musically active while also being parents and building careers, the group met at a holiday party with an ugly sweater in December 2017. Realizing these common characteristics, the men exchanged contact details and got started. practicing music for fun together, before meeting at HomeFront Studios in West Caldwell, after putting their kids to bed.

“The idea has always been to perform in front of an audience made up of our wives, children and friends,” says Liam Holland, lead guitarist. “Bring good times and be a fun part of the great community of Verona. To be the ‘Dad band’ of Verona.

In addition to Holland, The Dad Band includes David Menez, bassist; Chris Piccuirro, rhythm guitarist; singer Conor Mulcahy; and percussionists Steve Jendi and Todd Raffa. The group performs mostly alternative rock covers from the ’90s, but are also working on covers from other decades to add variety to this summer’s performance at the Civic Center.

Beyond music, one of The Dad Band’s main goals is to help children overcome stage fright. Shortly after The Dad Band debuted, one of Holland’s daughters told him that she was afraid of being in front of people. He shared this information with the group, and they agreed that they wanted to address the anxieties that so many young children feel when it comes to appearing in front of an audience, whether it be musical performances or a presentation at the theater. ‘school.

“I wanted to show our kids that you don’t have to be embarrassed, intimidated or scared to stand in front of an audience, even a hall as large as City Hall. It can actually be fun and you don’t have to take it too seriously, ”says Holland. “Also, for us dads, it’s a nice change from our usual routines because we all have a lot of responsibilities and none of us are professional musicians.”

Practices must have been different during the pandemic.

The Dad Band has been in front of the public at many events in Verona since, including performances at the SCA Food Truck Festival, Newman Cares Blockfest, as well as the Verona Inn in support of Team Zoey. However, The Dad Band considers the Verona Summer Concert Series to be their biggest event yet. When Holland got a phone call in late January inviting his band to perform, he was thrilled and The Dad Band immediately started planning.

“During the pandemic we got this invitation so we trained in the aisle of Piccuirro because it had the widest aisle of all of us so we could sit down, socialize and start to train for the Verona summer concert series, ”says Holland. . “We also used the Menez warehouse to install extension cords to amplify the sound while we were socially training outdoors. However, we were training less often, once a month, while we were doing weekly performances. “

Performing in front of their biggest crowd so far after training for months on a less frequent schedule, The Dad Band, too, can get nervous when he takes the stage outside City Hall on Wednesdays. July 7. But they are committed to finding fun in the game.

“When we played our first concerts, my kids would ask me if I was scared before playing in front of an audience, but I always taught them the importance of just being yourself and bringing a feeling of joy and of pleasure to those around you, ”Holland says. “By normalizing the idea of ​​being in front of a crowd and having our children enjoy the Verona concert series, we are thrilled to help this community grow.”

Verona’s free summer concert series begins Wednesday, July 7 at 7 p.m. with The Dad Band. There will also be performances on July 14 (Time Machine), July 21 (Frontiers, a tribute to Journey) and July 28, Strawberry Fields, A Journey Through The Beatles.