Local teen rock band, ‘Take Back The Sun,’ takes Brat Fest stage in May

By Kim McDarison

A microburst of exuberant conversation filled a corncrib retrofitted as a gazebo Sunday afternoon on the McIntyre family farm in Koshkonong as five teenage boys —  Ivan McIntyre, Hunter Hemenway,  Luke Huber, Eli Szabo and Ben Lund — gathered to share their thoughts about forming and engaging in their rock and metal band: “Take Back The Sun.”

With a kind of rhythmic ebb and flow, the boys, each of whom is 16, and have been friends since they were 11, passed their thoughts between them, playfully adding memories and observations as they wandered through various topics.

The boys, and Ivan’s mother, Katie, agreed it’s been an interesting journey as they each, beginning as youngsters in grade school, developed a relationship with music, which eventually brought Ivan, Hunter and Luke together as they took lessons and participated in a band camp offered in 2019 by Knapton Musik Knotes in Janesville. After camp, in 2020, Ivan and Hunter asked Ben and Eli to join them in the formation of a band. By 2021, the were searching for a drummer, which brought Luke into the fold. In 2022, the group played at the Jefferson County Fair and the Fort Atkinson Farmers Market, and they made their first music video in 2023.

The band today takes on gigs year-round, and have seven lined up between now and August, one of which is Brat Fest in Madison. The group is one of 75 bands that have been selected to play during the three-day event. Some 1,000 applicants sought a spot, Katie said, and while the band received a fee to play, Take Back The Sun chose to return the money to the sponsoring organization, which, she said, is a nonprofit. Proceeds support some 100 local charities, the Brat Fest website states.

Katie serves as the band’s manager. She recently purchased a t-shirt that declares her the “momager,” which she plans to wear at future gigs. She also serves as the group’s sound technician when venues don’t provide one.

Once settled into a small circle within the corncrib, the members focused on their journey and process. They identified Ivan, a sophomore at Koshkonong Trails School, Cambridge, and the band’s guitar player and lead singer, as the band’s leader.

“But he’s not a dictator,” Hunter, a sophomore at Fort Atkinson High School, and the band’s guitar player and backup singer, said, adding that each member makes contributions to the band through the creative process as they write songs, and makes decisions about other aspects that affect their image and performances.

The band has a communication app, Katie said, which allows them to collaborate and stay connected.

While the band has a list of covers it performs, members are particularly enthusiastic about their original works. They have thus far created three, with a fourth one in the works. Ivan said the band released its third original last summer.

Its first song was “Kick the Bucket,” followed by “Ubiquity,” which was released late last year. Ubiquity was professionally recorded and can be found on Spotify, Ivan said. Kick the Bucket is available through YouTube.

Describing their creative process, the boys said Ivan often writes the basic structure of the song, and provides it to the group. They tweak and add, until they find they’ve arrived at a finished product.

Ben, who lives in Janesville and is a sophomore at Fort Atkinson High School, plays bass. He also writes poetry, the band members said, which helps inspire lyrics.

When writing Ubiquity, they said, Hunter had a “cool riff,” and Ben had some lyrics. The song, the boys agreed, was a complete collaboration.

When selecting covers, Ivan said, he looks for songs that the members all like and he thinks, for the band, are “doable.” A short list includes “Another Brick in the Wall,” “Eye of the Tiger,” “Life is a Highway,” “Crazy Train,” and “Hotel California,” among others. 

Before they were Take Back The Sun, the boys said, they had a band called “Good Impressions.” As they were evolving, they collectively recalled, COVID hit.

Hunter recalled making a tough decision before committing to the band: “In sixth grade, I was going to sign up for football, so I had to choose, the band or football. I chose the band,” he said.

Ivan, too, remembered a COVID-related pause in band activity, saying that by the summer of 2021, when he was an eighth-grader, “I wanted to be back in a band.”

A pathway to music

Each band member found music independently before they formed as a group.

Said Ben: “I always liked music, but I can’t remember a particular moment when I started liking it. I was not always obsessed with music, but I am now.”

He recalled playing the French horn in his fifth-grade band, declaring himself “not very good at it. I couldn’t play until the eighth grade,” he said. He had a bass guitar, he said, which “sat next to my bed.”

When the COVID pandemic arrived, in 2020, he began teaching himself how to play.

Luke, a sophomore at Edgerton High School, and the band’s drummer, and a backup singer, said his interest in music stemmed from his twin brother, who had earlier developed an interest. He began playing the guitar when he was 5 years old. At that time, Ben said, “I was not super interested in music.”

In fifth-grade, his school did not offer a band program, but the middle school did. He joined as a percussionist and took his mom’s suggestion to take some piano and drum lessons at Knapton, he said, but that stopped during COVID.

He was next contacted by the forming band asking him to join.

Ivan said his inspiration for a career in music began with one word: “Tool.” The band formed in the 1990s according to online information, and describes itself as an American rock band.

“From third grade to sixth grade, that was the only thing I would listen to,” Ivan said.

Ivan said his mom noticed his interest and suggested that he might like to take up the guitar. He received his first “low end” guitar while he was in the third or fourth grade, he recalled.

“That’s when I started, but I was awful. I didn’t know how to play until Knapton,” he said. He started taking lessons, and then attended the band camp.

Hunter said he was a fan of classic rock, which was what he listened to “90% of the time.”

In the third grade, he said, “I tried to play the violin because Purdy (Elementary School) had that. I didn’t enjoy that,” he said, citing the instrument as “high maintenance.”

He next tried the trumpet, he said, which he also did not enjoy.

“You had to exert your full lung capacity to make a note for two and a half seconds,” he said.

In fifth grade, he got a guitar. His mom bought a starter guitar for a couple hundred bucks, he said, which he thought was smart on her part, given his musical track record. He began taking lessons at Knapton in fifth grade.

Eli, a sophomore at Fort Atkinson High School, and the band’s keyboardist, said he was in a music class at Luther Elementary School, where he was introduced to a recorder.

“I’ve always been musically inclined,” he said, adding that he quickly learned to read sheet music. In fourth grade, he began taking piano lessons, and he was a percussionist in the fifth-grade band. He has continued with both disciplines ever since. Today he is a percussionist in the Fort Atkinson High School Band.

Ben said he took a guitar class, but mostly taught himself to play over a summer.

He added that he has just started to understand how to read music. “I failed for years,” he said.

Luke said he reads music and plays the xylophone in his school band.

Ivan said he can’t read music. “I learn by listening,” he said.

Hunter, too, said he could not read music, and learns by listening. He thinks perhaps he will learn more next year when he takes a guitar class at school.

Career paths

Ben said he believes music will serve him professionally one day.

“My life will involve music and art in some form,” he said, adding that he likes visual art and filmmaking, along with music.

Also, music is a passion he shares with his father who was an impressive drummer in high school and afterwards, he said. 

Luke said his career path likely will lead him away from music. He plans to attend college after high school and is considering majoring in a science-related field like engineering. He sees music remaining in his life as a hobby.

Ivan said that after he graduates from high school, he plans to devote himself fully to music. He sees a potential career in marketing, he said, but his best dream is to continue with Take Back The Sun.

While he wishes the band could stay together forever, he said he is aware that some of his friends are planning other futures.

He said he might try to “rebrand” the band with a set of new members.

“Worst case scenario, it would be just me,” he said.

If he finds new members, he said, he envisions a short break from performing as the new band “gets up to speed.”

He envisions using that time to focus on writing music, he said, adding: “I like covers, but the downside is they are just for filling time in shows. The songs I like to play the most are our originals. I like seeing what you build and the work you put in.

“In my dream world, we would stay here and write music forever,” he said.

Hunter said music was an important component of his life, but it was not going to be his career.

“I’m joining the Army; my goal is to make a career out of that.”

He said he would listen to Take Back The Sun from wherever he was stationed, and keep tabs on how the band was doing.

Hunter said that while he might not always agree with U.S. politics, he believed America was a “great place to be.”

He added: “I want to keep people protected.”

Eli said that, like Luke, his future plans include college.

Still, he said, he’d be open to joining the band for gigs from time to time. He, too, was leaning toward a career in STEM or engineering, he said.

Ivan said Eli could do anything. The band members agreed that Eli was a “kid genius.”

Why Take Back the Sun?

Group members were hard to pin down when asked about the significance of the band’s name.

They recalled the process of choosing a name, saying Take Back The Sun rose to the top of the list because, Ivan said, “It was the coolest sounding name we came up with.”

“We voted on it,” Eli said.

Ivan said he may have been the first to suggest the name.

Ben recalled that he voted against it, and the band members found it ironic that he was the one who designed the logo.

Ben said the name grew on him over time.

A value in differing skills

While for some of the boys an experience with Knapton offered common ground, they recognize they each bring a different set of strengths and weaknesses to their musical collaborations.

Said Ben: “I feel like our similarities make us strong as friends, but our differences make us strong as a band. Differences are good for song writing and with our development as a group.”

When writing a song, he said, “I might have an image and everyone else has different images.”

Ivan said the group’s ideas represented different colors of a rainbow, which come together like a prism. He said the image in his head as he was describing the collaborative process was the cover of Pink Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon.”

Each musician said the band experience has improved them as people.

Said Ben: “I’m not always the best at communicating, and I don’t like miscommunication. I overthink everything. I like to think the band has helped me with that.”

Luke said the band has helped him improve his confidence.

“Especially playing in a show, I’ve gotten more confident. I’ve learned if I make a mistake, to not be so hard on myself.”

Ivan said the band “has given me a way to get my ideas out, and express my ideas. He noted that he has made music on his own, but, he said, “It’s a different feeling making songs by myself or with other people. I prefer the latter. It makes me a better song writer because I get feedback, and then I make better songs in the future,” he said.

About the band, Hunter said, he enjoyed “the teamwork aspect.”

“It’s because you have so many people with multiple different mindsets.” The collaboration allows the group to take parts from each person’s ideas and, he said, “come up with something good.”

Sometimes the process is “tough,” he said, adding that sometimes collaborators really want something their way, “but, when we have come together and worked with each other, you can make something good out of it.”

Eli agreed, saying: “one of the biggest things is teamwork. He said the band has learned to compromise on ideas and “figure it out together.”

For him, he said, his life is very busy. Working with the band schedule as another aspect of his life has improved his time management skills, he noted.

Additionally, as it relates to time, he said, he has polished his skills, working to keep the group “on task.”

How did Brat Fest happen?

Katie said becoming a part of Brat Fest has been very exciting for the band.

The group decided to send in the application, she said, which included a sample video. She said the application was submitted last October and the band learned it was selected in January.

Katie said the venue notified her by email that the group had a spot. She sent the news out to the members through their band app.

Upon learning of their selection, Ben said his first impression was, “I like having gigs,” and then he thought about the value of the crowd size.

Luke, too, said the venue size made him most excited. “It’s a pretty big gig,” he said.

Ivan said he was excited about the spot. He said when he and his mom talked about the application, he saw it as kind of a whim, and then, he said, “we did it.”

Hunter reenacted his response: “It was like, ‘Whoa! Far out man.’ Brat Fest is like your really huge thing, so, wow!”

Eli was more laid back in his response. He said he thought it was cool that the band had another gig.

Take Back The Sun will perform at Brat Fest Saturday, May 25, between 11:10 and 11:50 a.m. on the venue’s “Island Stage.”

To learn more about Brat Fest, visit its website: https://bratfest.com/. 

To learn more about Take Back The Sun, visit its website: https://www.takebackthesun.com/.