Sor cle Alumni Spotlight: mairin fitzpatrick

Meet Mairin, a vocalist and drummer who’s also picked up keys and bass along the way. She’s a School of Rock Cleveland West alum whose passion for music has only grown since her first show in 2018. In her 5 years at SoR, she honed her skills through rehearsals, shows, and touring with the School of Rock Cleveland House Band before graduating in 2023. Now a student at Ohio University, Mairin has carried the experience and drive she built at School of Rock into every new chapter, including launching her own band.

We caught up with her to talk about her journey, standout memories, and where music is taking her next. Read more below.

Q&A with Mairin

Q: How did you first hear about School of Rock?

"I was looking to take music lessons, in piano at the time, and my mom said she had heard of SoR and that she’d sign me up for it!"

Q: What instruments did you learn at SoR? Do you still play them? Did you pick up any new ones?

"Technically I started out on keys at SOR. I went in for a trial lesson and keys just did not click for me, mostly since it felt like more of a right handed instrument, and I’m a lefty. I ended up in drum lessons, and then picked up voice lessons around a year later. Now I have to learn piano for my college curriculum, and have also picked up bass recently!"

Q: Favorite show you ever played at SOR?

"I don’t know if I could pick just one! I really enjoyed a lot of my Thursday night rehearsals; Zappa, Paul Simon, and Beach Boys are definitely some of my favorites. And getting to wrap it all up in the Frank Zappa show with a medley of songs from previous shows was awesome.

Q: Favorite memory from your SOR days?

"Going on tour with Headliners was definitely a favorite of mine. I had so much fun on that tour, I still have memories from it that I talk about to this day."

Q: First song you ever learned? Do you still remember how to play it?

"The first ever song I learned was 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes! I think if you gave me like five minutes I could remember the structure and play it."

Life After SoR

Q: What are you up to now? (Bands, projects, life stuff)

"Right now I’m at Ohio University where I double major in Music Production and Recording Industry (MPRI) and Contemporary Music and Digital Instruments (CMDI). My friend likes to say I major in acronyms. Through CMDI I met a bunch of super cool people and we started a band together called Zappers, usually playing around the Athens scene. I also work at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the gift shop, but just got accepted for an Audio Production internship! I’ll be working on sound and video at the Rock Hall, setting up the stage and running sound. I [had] a second internship as well this summer, where I’ll be recording audio at Nelsonville Music Festival."

Q: What is your band, where are they based out of, and what kind of music do they play?

"My band is called Zappers, and we’re out of Athens. Half of us are from Cleveland and half of us are from Cincinnati, so it’s worked nicely to book shows between the two cities during breaks. We started out playing covers, leaning more classic rock-ish but as time has gone on and we’ve started writing originals, we’ve definitely gotten more technical and leaned into heavier music. It’s been super fun trying to carve out our niche and figure out what kind of music is 'Zappers.'"

Q: What's your writing process like when you're making new music?

"For Zappers, our process is usually someone coming up with a riff, and then the rest of us building off of that and deciding whether or not we like it enough to keep working on it. For me, lyrics come last just because I need to know what the song is going to feel like so I can write something that matches it." 

Q: What's your favorite song to perform?

"I’ve been running through a lot of songs lately for vocal classes at OU, and one of my favorites to do in those sessions is 'It’s Late' by Queen. It’s a challenging but rewarding song that definitely leaves me vocally tired by the end. With Zappers I love performing our original HMF. Usually in the chorus I just get to riff since I never got around to writing actual lyrics or melody, but it really doesn’t need it. It’s just space to sing in." 

Q: Best venue you've performed at so far, either at SoR or solo/with your band?

"I think that one of the best venues I’ve performed at remains Mahalls (Lakewood, OH). I’ve played there both with School of Rock and with Zappers and it’s always so much fun and it feels so rewarding to play at a place that I had been going to for years."

beyond the stage

Q: Best music advice you’ve ever been given?

"Tim (music director) would always yell at me for closing in on myself when I perform and I think that constant checking of myself has helped my stage presence in so many ways. Getting small things pointed out to me, like always holding the mic cable or looking up when I sing helped me realize I even do those things in the first place, and kept me conscious of them all the time."

Q: Where do you hope to be music-wise in 5–10 years?

"I’d just love to be in the industry. I haven’t fully decided yet, the dream would be producing or leading a band, but I think reasonably in 5 years I’d hope to be working for a label in some way."

Q: Do you do any other art besides music? (Drawing, painting, photography, etc.)

"I really enjoy concert photography. Usually in Athens I take pictures for bands that my friends are in, not for money but just because I love doing it"

Scene Report: Athens, OH

"The Athens DIY scene is awesome. Every weekend there’s a show—at The Union, someone’s house, or a show put on by the campus radio network. Shoutout to all of my friends down there. 9 times out of 10 if you need someone to fill in for a member of your band, or a session musician, you can find at least five incredible musicians who are willing to play. One of my friends made a Spotify playlist that has a bunch of local artists on it." Listen to the playlist here