A look into the band, Infinity, with Mr. Alan Hooks
March 22, 2017
What would you say if I told you one of our very own teachers has a hip and rocking band? Obviously, you would think that that’s pretty cool.
Well, the one and only mustang driving, chemistry teaching Mr. Alan Hooks is part of the band, Infinity. This name was an homage to the band Journey. The group decided to call themselves Infinity after a Journey album by the same name.
If you’ve had him as a teacher, then you most likely know about how they have an album on iTunes and Spotify. And, if you’re lucky, he’s even played his guitar or sung for your class.
The band was first formed when Mr. Hooks and a man named Dan Coyle met at a high school graduation party.
“Dan started playing Pink Floyd songs and I happened to know the solos to those songs,” said Mr. Hooks. “After we played, we were talking and we found out that both of us were going to be students at Clarion. The rest is history.”
So who makes up this band?
First there’s Dan Coyle, he plays lead and rhythm guitar. Next is Scott Kaminski, lead and background vocals. Frank Maier plays guitars and solos. Chris Procopio replaced Jeff Walsh as drums and percussion. Walsh was preoccupied during the recording process because of work and the arrival of his first child. Brian Slavinsky is the keyboardist and does the orchestral works. And Mr. Alan Hooks plays the bass and sings background vocals, but when Kaminski was away, Hooks replaced him as lead singer.
“I didn’t want to,” Mr. Hooks said. “But everyone told me I had to.”
Now you might be wondering, “Were any songs written about girls that the Infinity members fancied?” Well, the answer is YES!!!!!!!
Mr. Hooks said, “‘Princess,’ ‘Penny For My Thoughts,’ ‘Share My Life With You,’ ‘Losing You,’ and ‘In Tune With You’ were all written about specific girls.”
You also may be wondering, “Did Mr. Hooks ever sing or play any songs for his wife, Dr. Becky Morrow?” The answer to that would also be a big resounding YES!!!!!!!
“He wrote an instrumental song on his classical guitar for me,” said Dr. Morrow. “He also put my name in the song ‘Radar Love’ once when he sang it onstage. He surprised me and sang Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ to me at our wedding.”
His own wedding wasn’t the only place Mr. Hooks sang. He sang at a wedding with his wife and they performed Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli’s “The Prayer” and “All I Ask Of You” from Phantom of the Opera.
But, where did Infinity play concerts?
“Oh god, we played so many, we played a lot of small bars and clubs,” said Mr. Hooks. “But, we played in four Battle of the Band competitions at Clarion, winning two of them. That’s even beating some of the music majors.”
Dr. Morrow was present at many of the Infinity concerts they played in the Pittsburgh and Clarion regions.
She said, “I went to most of the live events he played, even the bars (my mom went too since I was underage)!”
I was always amazed at how good the band sounded when they had little time to practice. All the members were multi-talented. They would switch off singing lead, playing lead guitar, and bass guitar between sets. They pulled off difficult, complex songs, with intricate guitar solos and multiple vocal harmonies. All the guys had great stage presence and put on a great show.
— Dr. Becky Morrow
What’s the best part of being in a band according to Mr. Hooks?
“I liked playing cover songs, like learning new songs and playing them out. Not necessarily playing my own but I took it as a challenge to take someone else’s songs and play it like they were playing it,” said Mr. Hooks. “We prided ourselves on reproducing the sound of other bands before we wrote our own stuff.”
Sounds fun, right? But, it was also difficult sometimes.
Mr. Hooks said, “Playing bass and singing at the same time was challenging. It was easier to play guitar. I played guitar in the original band, but playing bass lines and singing at the same time, you could be playing something completely different than what you were singing.”
The album, Seems Like Forever, is very diverse. There’s many different kinds of songs that appeal to the varieties of people’s musical tastes. Don’t believe me? Hear what Mr. Hooks has to say:
“There’s pretty much a song for everyone on this album, there’s ballads, love songs, there’s one that sounds like southern rock, some that sound like pop rock, one that even sounds like metal and just to give a shout out to the keyboard player, one that he used to propose to his wife with and it’s called ‘Share My Life With You.’ So pretty much if you listen to it there should be at least one song you like in there”
“I think my favorite Infinity song, other than his original instrumentals for classical guitar, is ‘Princess,’” said Dr. Morrow. “It has great harmonies and an awesome bass line (that my husband wrote).”
Mr. Hooks said, “I like ‘Tonight,’ the first song, because we all put it together at a band practice, so it was written by specific band members.”
So, go ahead and listen to what could turn out to be your favorite album.
