Labor Day Show

The Labor Day show was a learning experience. We played on the hottest day of the year. I clocked 102 and 80% humidity at one point. The equipment started overheating almost immediately. First, the iPads stopped responding to touch. Next, the router overheated and gave out, making it impossible to connect. We ended up bringing in fans and ice packs to cool everything down, but the condensation made everything worse as water spilled out onto Aaron’s keyboard.

So, yeah. Brutal.

But, rumor has it? We sounded great. I mean – sure, maybe everyone was delirious from the heat, but after we killed the mains I had a handful of people come up to me and want to talk.

One handed me a twenty. “A tip”, he said.

The other really wanted to play with us, or at least know how to start his own band.

How to start a band … ?

“I don’t really know what to tell you,” I replied. “There’s a bit of magic involved in getting six guys with competing responsibilities together once a week.”

I’m always a little amazed when it all comes together – even for a weekly rehearsal. I’m also a little amazed that people come to me asking, “How?” Like I’m some professional musician or something. At best, I’m the most average at everything that ever walked the stage.

“Look”, I told him.

“Find one person to play with. Just one.”, I said, “You don’t have to be good. You just gotta’ show up.”

Told I was horrible when I started. Shawn, too. We both started playing together 5 years ago as I was winding down cancer treatment. I played three chords and he played drums back then – poorly.

“You have friends you used to play with, right?”, I asked, recalling what he had told me.

He nodded.

“My guess is they are just like you. They have kids, jobs, responsibilities….and they are probably looking for an outlet, too”, I said.

“So find one”, I encouraged, “Not four. Not five. Not a band – just one. If you grow too fast it’ll all fall apart.”

“And play together and try to play out”, I suggested, “because it’ll motivate you to keep doing it – even if it is just an open mic.”

He nodded and smiled.

“And get in touch with me in two months, because I want to hear how you’re doing.”, I ended.

I kinda’ hope to hear from him again.

Special thanks to “Spoiled Bananas” and “Dencity” for opening for us. Kenn, our lead singer, invited the Bananas, a 6th Grade rock band. “Dencity” has opened for us before at last years’ Halloween show. The drummer, Benji, is the son of our multi-talented guitarist/keybaordist, Aaron.

Hope to play for you all again at Rancho BEER-Nardo on Saturday, October 3rd!

Live life. Stay healthy. Support live music.

-Scott

#westwoodclub #ranchobernardo #livemusic #dadband #sandiego #therubberband #ranchobeernardo

You and Me

The Rubber Band has been keeping me busy learning covers for a couple of shows that we have coming up, but I’ve been meaning to record this.

It’s called, “You and Me”.

I wrote it for my wife, Jodie, after a particularly rough week. She has been and always will be my rock. I just wanted her to know I’ll be hers, too.

And the shows?

The Rubber Band will be playing at The Westwood Club on Labor Day at 3:00 and at Rancho BEERNardo at Webb Park on October 3rd.

Hope you can come out and see us.

Live live. Stay Healthy. Go create something.

-Scott

#singersongwriter #ranchobernardo #drawnandcoded #therubberband

Rubber Band Summer Kickoff

The Rubber Band shook the dust off of our guitars, drums, and mics to perform at the Westwood Club on June 12th. We played for a couple of hours to a crowd made up of our neighbors, friends, and families in a pergola overlooking a shaded grassy field. It was the perfect summer kickoff.

Here are some pictures from the event.

And here are some video clips for the newer songs in our lineup.

Schools Out

Here Comes Your Man

The Man Who Sold the World

Corduroy

I Got Mine

Just What I Needed

Creep

Self Esteem

More videos are available on YouTube if you’re interested.

Thank you to Nora and Steve for allowing us to play. I hope you’ll invite us back, because we’d love to play for you again soon.

Please follow The Rubber Band on Instagram or Facebook.

Take care. Live life. Make some music.

-Scott

#livemusic #westwoodclub #ranchobernardo #coverband #dadband #therubbetband

Swish

The gig that never happened ( sniff, sniff )

Well, the good news is that my daughter, Ashley, got Rancho Bernardo High School to invite The Rubber Band back to play for a Basketball Fanfest. The bad news is that ticket sales weren’t enough to justify the cost of having us play.

… and we’re free, so, yeah – that was a gut punch.

But, I get it.

No hard feelings.

It takes a lot of coordination and sweat to get everything set up. Heck, I was amazed when the band were all able to commit.

So, it was the gig that never happened and all I have to show for it is a cool flyer that made.

Live life and stay healthy

-Scott

#dadband #ranchobernardohighschool #rbhs #therubberband #illustration

Bye, Bye Twenty Twenty-Five

Good-bye, 2025, you were a good year. I guess I am in the minority as 25′ seemed to have a bad rapport amongst a lot of my friends and family, but for me it was good.

I’ve seen my girls grow up a little more and become their own not-so-little people.

I saw my wife’s business, Vandervort Realty, grow and expand.

My band, The Rubber Band, has been playing more ( and bigger ) gigs, and I’ve taken on more vocals and acoustic guitar to fit in a little better.

I’ve been drawing a lot more. Although a lot of it is hidden away in a sketchbook, here’s a couple fresh of the press!

Feeding kids on a budget … we’ve all done it!

I’ve been composing my own music and accompanying myself.

I’ve started playing music with a new, smaller, group of people with the hopes of doing some open mics next year.

I’ve been happily employed at Poway Unified for the better part of a year now. It was a nice change of pace compared to the last couple of employers I had. The people are great, the workload is manageable, and for the first time in a long time, I believe in the product ( education ).

Lastly, I, along with my friends and family, walked in my fifth Prostate Cancer Walk.

So 2025 set the stage for 2026, which I have big plans for. Hope to see ya’ all around next year.

Take care of yourselves. Live life. Stay healthy.

-Scott

#newyears #goodbye2025 #illustration #costco #costcofreebies #costcosamples #therubberband #singersongwriter #vandervortrealty

Return to Alacran

A flyer I churned out for our Halloween performance.

Happy Halloween!

Alacran Court invited “The Rubber Band” back to play for their annual Halloween block party. This year we had a band of middle-schoolers, called “Dencity”, open for us. Dencity played through a set of five songs – including a couple of originals – before we took the stage. I wish I had their guts back when I was their age. It took me another 30+ years to gain the courage, I guess. Better late than never. We played for an hour before retreating to our respective halloween festivities.

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Our take on “Werewolves of London”

“Shook Me All Night Long”

You can follow The Rubber Band on Instagram ( the.westwood.rubber.band ), or through on YouTube ( @WestwoodRubberBand ).

… and as always, live life and stay healthy!

-Scott

#TheRubberBand #WestwoodRubberBand #DadBand #GarageBand #Music #RockBand #Halloween #WerewolvesInLondon #RanchoBernardo #SanDiegoMusic #PowayUnifiedSchoolDistrict #PUSD #Westwood #SupportLiveMusic

Rancho BEERnardo

The Rubber Band was invited to play at Rancho Bernardo’s annual Oktoberfest festival at Webb Park on October 11th. We opened for Par Avion, an instrumental surf music-inspired band from Santa Monica, to a crowd of 900 beer aficionados.

The local paper and ( no joke ) Union Tribune picked up on the event, and ran articles in which we were published. As our lead vocalist announced to the crowd ( jokingly ), “Yeah, we’re kind of a big thing.” We almost laughed him off the stage.

The Chieftain interviewed us. Other local papers, including The San Diego Union Tribune, re-published the article. My co-workers at Twin Peaks Center found out and surprised me with my own copy in the main conference room.

Would we do it again? Absolutely. However, we couldn’t have done it without the help of a lot of people…

Thank you Eric and John from San Diego Event Pros for making us sound so good. You guys are awesome!

Thank you Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club for inviting us to play for the festival

And, as always, a huge thanks to our wives and families for letting us chase our middle-aged rock star dreams.

Set One

Set Two

You can follow The Rubber Band on Instagram at the.westwood.rubber.band

Thank you for your support!

-Scott

#RanchoBeernardo #RanchoBernardo #WestwoodRubberBand #DadBand #92127 #RotaryClub #RanchoBernardoSunriseRotaryClub #SanDiegoEventPros #ParAvoion #GarageBand

Homecoming Tailgate

A “quick and dirty” flyer I created for RBHS homecoming.

I went to my first homecoming in 31 years last night – sort of. My daughter, Ashley, is in ASB at Rancho Bernardo High School. About two weeks ago she and her friend, Lizzie were brainstorming a tailgate party for the upcoming homecoming game. When asked about a live band, Lizzie suggested – The Rubber Band.

RBHS Homecoming Tailgate Set One

We played for about an hour over two sets. We even got the principal of RBHS to join us for a cover of “I Wanna Be Sedated”, by the Ramones.

And the Broncos? They won.

RBHS Homecoming Tailgate Set Two

If you want to follow the band please join our Instagram page at The.Westwood.Rubber.Band

Live life. Stay Healthy.

-Scott

#RanchoBernardoHighSchool #RBHS #Homecoming #DadBand #GarageBand #RubberBand

Sunset on Summer

The Rubber Band played for the neighbors’ of Chieftain Court at their Labor Day block party this weekend. We kicked it off with a set of songs from 60’s through early 2000’s. In a little over a month ( October 11th ) we’ll be playing at Rancho Beer-nardo for Oktoberfest, so it was good to get in some stage time.

John Hatcher, our bassist, mastered the audio, combined it with with video we captured using a GoPro, and posted it on our new Rubber Band YouTube Channel. Here is just a few of the videos….

And that’s all, folks! Thank you, as always, for your continued support. And….if you could subscribe to our YouTube channel, that’d be great …..m’kay.

Take care.
Stay healthy.
Live life.

– Scott

#therubberband #westwoodrubberband #dadband #labordayblockparty #coverband #90s #90sCoverBand

Rock Out, School’s Out!

The Rubber Band played at yet another block party on June 13th to celebrate the end of school and the start of summer break. We played for about an hour-and-a-half, running through about twenty songs.

Good photographs were few and far in-between this go around. I stole this one from a GoPro we clipped onto the speaker stand.

I think everyone had a good time. The only complaint was a lack of water bottles – but that’s what happens when six guys plan a party. Beer? Plenty. Water bottles? None.

The band is going to take a much needed break for the next two weeks before hitting it hard for our upcoming gig at Rancho Bernardo’s upcoming Oktoberfest celebration, “Rancho Beer-nardo”.

Keep livin’ life,

-Scott

#therubberband #garageband #illustration #dadband #ranchobeernardo #ranchobernardo #westwood #drawnandcoded