‘Monday’s Project’ delivers a message

By SCOTT BAUGHMANLedger Staff Writer

Brandon Turner strums on his guitar as Greg Patterson plays bass during a rehearsal for “The Mondays Project Band” Sunday night at West End Baptist Church. The group performed today as part of Gaffney Middle School’s Cultural Awareness day and often uses their music to educate students about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

For David Perry, the dream of being in a rock and roll band has never died. And for the past two years, this father of two has joined with a few friends to make it a reality and try to positively impact the community as well.

The band is called “The Mondays Project Band” and the group makes it a point to have their music deliver a message. Today, at Gaffney Middle School, Mondays Project took the stage to help out with the school’s cultural awareness day and belted out perennial crowd favorites like “Johnny Be Good” and “Sweet Home Alabama.”

But more often than not, Perry said the band’s message is to Just Say No to drugs.

“A few years ago I saw a video for the song ‘I Don’t Like Monday’s by a band called, ‘The Boomtown Rats,’ whom I’d never heard of before,” Perry recalled. “I liked the song so I hit the internet to look up the lyrics and I found this whole story about the band and the song.”

The Boomtown Rats were at a U.S. radio station for an interview in the late 1970s when the story of Brenda Spencer came over the news wire. The 16-year-old California high school student made headlines when she grabbed her father’s gun and opened fire on her school from across the street, injuring eight students and killing the school’s principal and custodian. When later asked why she’d gone on the shooting spree, she responded “I don’t like Mondays.”

Police later determined the girl was high on a mixture of cocaine and alcohol. Perry took this as his cue to use the song as a way to teach children about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

“Right now our group consists of myself on rhythm guitar, Brandon Turner on lead guitar, Terry Tate on drums and Greg Patterson on bass guitar,” Perry said. “I’m in the praise band at West End Baptist Church with Terry and Greg so it’s a real honor to get to play with them in Mondays Project.”

Reverend Rodney Cook also had high praise for the band. “Anytime we can, we need to inform our children of the dangers of drugs and alcohol. I think this is a great way to get the kids’ attention.”

Turner has been with the project almost since day one. “I just got back from Nashville on Saturday after spending a week recording with Emmy Lou Harris for a new album by Fayssoux McClain,” he said. “It was a blast up there. I’ve been playing guitar for about 15 years now and I just love making music.”

The Hames Music Store employee added, “Playing with Mondays Project means a lot to me. Anytime there’s a charitable event where I can give back, I want to do it. We’ve all been blessed with the ability to play and I think we should use it to do good work when we have the opportunity.”