By Christian Cavallo
Staff Writer
Long term substitute teacher Ryan Zachos is an educator by day and a rockstar by night. Zachos spends his days subbing for Denise Weber’s math class and spends his nights rocking with his band Day One.
Day One is made up multiple teams of four members per group. The teams are formed based on skill level, according to Zachos. Zachos is on the second team. The band typically performs at corporate events and usually performs cover versions of popular songs, but they also have original songs.
“We have a couple of original songs that are fun to play because we can express our creativity,” Zachos said. “However, we mainly stick to covers because they are more popular with the crowds.”
The band Day One has been together for 25 years, however, has gone through several different members and teams. Zachos has been traveling with the band for only two and a half years and is currently on the second team.
“Even though I am on the second team it’s always really great spending time with everyone and doing what we all love,” Zachos said. “I really enjoy working with such a great group of people.”
In addition to being a part of Day One and being a long term substitute teacher, Zachos spends his time singing and songwriting as a solo artist. Zachos says that most of his inspiration comes from his own life experiences and his six year old son.
“My inspiration for my songs usually comes from my day to day life,” Zachos said. “I usually write songs about a tough or meaningful relationship, exciting things that have happened in my life and about my son.”
Zachos is an important part of the group. Zachos is the lead singer of the second team and usually performs with one other singer, however they occasionally play with a whole band if the event pays for it. He typically takes the role of hyping up the crowd at events through both his energetic attitude and the band’s choice of energetic pop songs.
“My job is not only to be a singer, but it’s to get the crowd pumped up and energized and involved during our performance,” Zachos said.
The band typically tours on the weekends and most of their gigs are out of state. The band usually plays about 2 gigs at each location they travel to. The tours are spaced out throughout the year and do not occur often. January, April, July and October the band’s busiest months of the year.
“During our touring months we are very busy with practicing, making our set list, figuring out our choreography and making sure we sound perfect,” Zachos said.
The band has a tour in Minneapolis the weekend of April 23-24. After this tour they will be heading to Oregon, Oklahoma and Santa Clara in the upcoming months. The band’s biggest gigs of the year are expected to be in Ontario, California and Spokane, Washington.
“I always look forward to doing these gigs because they are held in big arenas,” Zachos said. “One year it got up to 12,000 fans in the crowd which was a really g
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