When Newburyport High School student Jordan Dunn-Pilz contracted viral encephalitis, a potentially deadly disease attacking the brain, at the age of 10, he was taken to Boston Children's Hospital, where the doctors worked night and day to make him well. Now, at the age of 17, Dunn-Pilz is giving something back to Children's and helping out his rock band Big Fair in the process.
The band, a trio featuring Dunn-Pilz on guitar and fellow Newburyport High students Clayton Vye on drums and Dan Alvarez De Toledo on bass and vocals, will put their tunes up against seven other high-school bands from the New England area during the Boston Children's Hospital's Battle of the Bands at the Hard Rock Cafe Sunday night.
"I think it's great that this has come full cycle," Dunn-Pilz said. "Now, it's our turn to help out the hospital and raise some money and awareness for them and to finally say thank you for what they did for me."
The Battle, a fundraiser for Children's Hospital, asked potential performers to submit a song with a hopeful, uplifting message. Big Fair had a song that people really liked called "Mine to Share," but there was only one problem.
"It was not hopeful," said Alvarez De Toledo with a laugh.
"We've been playing the music to the song for a while," Dunn-Pilz said. "However, the original lyrics didn't present that make-it-better, feel-good message, so we rewrote the lyrics. It's a song we always had fun playing ... everyone's always enjoyed the melody and the riffs, but we changed the lyrics."
The people at Children's liked what they heard, and Big Fair made the cut for the big gig Sunday at 6 p.m. It will be the first show they've played south of Ipswich — and it will also be their biggest.
"It's a big jump from playing the Newburyport Education Foundation gig we played in October," Alvarez De Toledo said. "It's a really big jump. But none of us have any stage fright."
Along the way to the Hard Rock, all the bands were asked to raise at least $500 for the cause. Big Fair raised almost $750.
"We've only played out live maybe two or three times," Dunn-Pilz said. "And what worked for us the last time we played, and what is great, is that people are going to underestimate us. We don't have a gimmick, we don't wear suit and ties or anything like that. We're three individuals coming together to create a piece of music."
That music is something that Alvarez De Toledo describes as "an attempt at an indie/alternative, soft rock mix."
"Vampire Weekend is our goal," he said. "That's a really independent sound, then there's Two Door Cinema Club, which is kind of similar to what we do now."
Big Fair is a true Newburyport band. Dunn-Pilz and drummer Vye are neighbors and have been playing together since sixth grade, eventually starting a cover band called What She Said, with Matt Kiley on vocals.
When Kiley left the band in 2009, Dunn-Pilz took over as lead singer, and Alvarez De Toledo came on board in August of that year.
A little over a year later, the band went into the Thomas Eaton recording studio to cut a demo and found their name along the way.
"We were on our way to the recording studio lacking a name," Dunn-Pilz said. "And Clayton and I were driving to pick up Dan from his house when we saw a sign that said, 'Big, big, big, fair,' and we were like, 'Oh that's funny; let's just be Big Fair.'"
The trio currently have nine songs in their arsenal but will be called on to play only three at the Hard Rock.
"It's funny, because we're still trying to find our sound," Dunn-Pilz said. "And at the Battle of the Bands, we get to perform three songs, and the three songs we're playing provide a completely different mood. And the big centerpiece that ties them all together is that Big Fair element — even though one might be on acoustic guitar, one might be up-tempo. one might be right in-between."
But the Battle is, after all, a competition. One that Dunn-Pilz sees as an opportunity to gauge how his band stacks up. He won't be going in too cocky, he said.
"I think we want to go there and give it all we've got," Dunn-Pilz said. "One of the strengths we have is the actual song writing and the work that goes into that, so I hope that people listen to the words and the melody and listen to the music."
Admission is $15. To purchase tickets, visit www.ticketweb.com and search "Battle of the Bands."
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