Young musicians from School of Rock Bella Vista have performed alongside internationally renowned drummer Frank Zummo at a special School of Rock Sydney event combining live music, career insights and an open student Q&A.
Held at the Australian Institute of Music (AIM) campus in The Rocks on 9 September 2026, the event brought together House Band students from School of Rock Bella Vista and School of Rock Macarthur. Zummo—known for his decade with Sum 41 and his work with German electronic metal band Electric Callboy—spoke candidly before joining students onstage.
The evening gave emerging musicians more than a close-up view of an international touring artist. Students rehearsed and performed in a professional venue, heard first-hand how Zummo built his career, and asked questions about preparation, collaboration, wellbeing and life on tour.
A School of Rock event built around participation
Zummo said the opportunity to work directly with students was central to the night.
This is my first time doing a School of Rock event in Australia, which is so special. I've been working with School of Rock doing these for many, many years… Crazy stuff that I'm getting to do with the kids to just inspire them.
He described the young performers as “upcoming, amazing musicians” and said the conversational side of a School of Rock workshop offered something a normal concert could not.
What these events are about is I get to perform with these upcoming, amazing musicians… We get to have this conversation that, when you come to my shows, we don't get to do.
That combination of instruction, conversation and live performance reflects School of Rock's performance-based music education model. Students build instrumental skills in individual lessons, then apply them in group rehearsals and real shows—learning how to listen, communicate and perform as part of a band.
From Sum 41's final show to Electric Callboy
Zummo also shared the remarkable sequence of events that took him from the end of Sum 41 to Electric Callboy.
After Sum 41's cancelled Australian dates, Zummo was asked to step into an unfamiliar live situation with Electric Callboy. The opportunity required him to learn quickly and perform under pressure.
Then the Electric Callboy thing happened, and it was like, ‘You've got to step up here.’ I came here to work. This is why I am a musician: to be able to say, ‘Yes, I can do this,’ as scary as it is.
He later completed Sum 41's farewell run, culminating in the band's Canadian Music Hall of Fame induction and final performance at the Juno Awards. By the following morning, another message from Electric Callboy had opened the next chapter of his career.
Zummo told the Sydney audience he had since returned to Australia with the band and performed before 9,000 people in Melbourne—a full-circle moment after the earlier tour cancellation.
Frank Zummo's advice for young musicians
When a student asked what advice he would give an emerging musician, Zummo emphasised persistence—but also backed it with practical experience. He recalled studying drums in New York, accepting a wide range of gigs and deliberately becoming a more versatile working musician.
Just do it. If that's what you want to do, it's tunnel vision. It's like, ‘I'm not going to stop. There's no Plan B.’ Honestly, from five years old to this moment currently, that's been just like, ‘I'm not going to stop until it happens,’ and stay on that path.
His most direct message to the students connected that ambition to the experience they were already gaining through School of Rock.
“Obviously you're in the right place because you're going to School of Rock to hone your skills and to do the shows and get the experience and learn all these styles of music and stuff. So you're on the right path right there.”
Zummo also challenged the idea that technical ability alone makes a successful touring musician. Playing the notes matters, he said, but so do connection, professionalism, adaptability and the ability to live and work respectfully with others.
I could have showed up to Electric Callboy and played every part perfectly, but if we didn't get along… the talent doesn't win there. It's got to be all of the things.
Music education, wellbeing and a pathway through AIM
The Q&A moved beyond drumming to mental health and sustainable careers in music. Zummo discussed breathwork, physical recovery and therapy, encouraging students to be open and seek support when they need it.
"Rock and roll now is about being a good human, being professional, being healthy. The whole narrative has changed for the better, because we are athletes.”
The Australian Institute of Music provided a fitting setting for the event. AIM students performed with Zummo before the School of Rock House Bands took the stage, highlighting a potential pathway from youth performance programs into tertiary music study and the wider Australian music industry.
For School of Rock Bella Vista students, the evening connected weekly lessons and rehearsals with the realities of professional performance. It showed how preparation in the rehearsal room can lead to opportunities on a major Sydney stage—and how musical growth includes confidence, teamwork and resilience as well as technique.
Performance-based music lessons in Bella Vista
School of Rock Bella Vista provides guitar, bass, drum, keyboard and singing lessons through a performance-based program for children, teenagers and adults. Students from Bella Vista, Norwest, Kellyville, Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills and across the Hills District can learn individually while also rehearsing and performing with a band.
The Frank Zummo event brought that School of Rock Australia approach to life on an exceptional scale: young local musicians did not simply watch an international artist. They asked questions, learned from his experience and performed beside him.
For the Bella Vista students who took part, it was a practical lesson in where commitment, collaboration and live music education can lead.
