Peel police officer rocks out with local band Vinyl Ambush

By Faiza Amin

 

 

It was a police visit that five Mississauga teens will never forget.

Teen band Vinyl Ambush played a set at a private event Saturday night, when Peel police received a noise complaint around 6:30 p.m.

“They’re like you’re here to shut us down, and I’m like don’t worry about it, we just gotta turn it down a little bit more,” Constable Joel Clark tells CityNews Monday.

The homeowners agreed to turn down the volume, enough to satisfy the neighbour. After speaking with the band, they also agreed to stop playing by 9:30 p.m. But it was when police followed up a little later in the evening that the teens got quite a surprise.

Instead of stopping the show, Clark got behind the drums and started jamming along with the band.

“I dropped my guitar, put it down and moved away,” the band’s guitarist Pedro Alvarado tells CityNews on Sunday. “I thought he was going to give us a ticket or something for being loud, but then he said ‘rock on.’”

The band, which has been together for less than six months, was performing at a surprise birthday party for the father of one of the members.

A video posted to the band’s YouTube page, shows the officer playing in the backyard of a home located near Dundas and Hurontario, as a crowd of onlookers cheered on.

 

“We just played some of our own songs, and he said ‘okay I’m going to sit down and play,’” said drummer Jack Laing. “I gave him the drum sticks, and said ‘here you go.’”

They ended up performing one of their original songs, ‘Curiosity’, and the band members say they were shocked.

“He played perfectly all the way through,” said lead singer Belle Matthews. “It was amazing, I was astounded”

The homeowners say they did advise neighbours the band would be performing at the birthday party.

“I’ll probably remember this for the rest of my life,” bassist Corwin Bjelic explains.

Following the performance, Constable Clark, who’s been with the Peel Police Force for less than a year, shared his personal experiences as a young musician, going on tour, before embarking on a career in policing.

“It’s tough work, don’t expect to make money,” the officer could be heard telling the group. “Play for free, get exposure, and then you can make demands.” He added that giving up music was “the biggest regret that I have in my life.”

The officer who began playing the drums at the age of 16, also told the group he had regrets about quitting music. Clark says he stopped playing the drums when his own band broke up in 2015.

“I never had somebody other than my dad tell me to keep going,” Constable Clark explains. “It’s important to have people who are in authority positions giving you encouragement.”

“It was good advice he gave us, always stick to what you want to do,” said guitarist Anthony Caetano.

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