About Me
The Roots of Raptor School:--1995: In the suburbs of Denver, Colorado, 13-year-old Jeff Kollnot picks up guitar for the first time after listening to U2. 19-year-old heavy metal dork Jon Kollnot does nothing but listen to metal CONSTANTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--1996: Jeff gets together with a childhood friend and forms the "band" Wired. They record the hit single "Spanish Gunfight" on the crappy mono tape deck with a radio. At the first band practice with a drummer, the bass player starts crying because of Jeff's Glory Hog problem. Despite this horrible adversity, the band succeeds in having a second band practice!--1997: Jeff forms his first "real" band 1934 with eighth-grade classmates. They first play Jeff's original instrumental, "Explosion," in the middle school gymnasium to a crowd of 300 screaming eighth graders. One girl even yells, "You guys rock!"
Af the beginning of their freshman year, 1934 opens their legendary concert for middle schoolers--again--at the Broomfield Recreation Center. Jeff opens the concert with this classic speech, "We're 1934 from Horizon High School. Before we start we just want to set the record straight. Some of you might have seen a flyer that said we are satan worshipers. That crap is not true. DO NOT BELIEVE THAT!" Later in the show, Jeff launches into a series of mid-song angry tirades at the audience after kids leave the room following the band's cover version of Bush's "Glycerine." Let's hear it for the road crew!--1998: 1934 experiences a few lineup changes and changes its name to Hanger 18. At this point, the band mostly plays Metallica covers mixed with some of Jeff's originals. The drummer also uses this killer drooped pancake cymbal. Hanger 18 plays the high school cafeteria for the first time, and some kid jumps onto the stage to prop up the cymbal after the crappy stand falls over.
The band plays a second "illegal date" at the cafeteria, which was unauthorized by Jeff's parents after he was caught throwing a trash can into a classroom. He decides to play it anyway. Jeff's parents show up, and on the song, "Am I Evil?" Jeff changes the chorus to, "Am I busted? Yes I am!" After that, Jeff is not allowed to hang out with the band anymore, so that takes care of that.--1998: Jon tries to play drums for the first time at a Hangar 18 band practice.-1999: Jeff and Jon form a cheesy, Castle Pipe power metal band called "StormRider." The band plays one show at the Broomfield Recreation Center Battle of the Bands, of course. A riot ensues long after StormRider was gone for the night, as teenagers fought to the bitter end in the glorious battle between punk and nu-metal people.--2000: We ain't found s***!The Kollnots move back to their home state of Michigan--2001: The brothers form the very first incarnation of what would be Raptor School. with Jon on bass, a lead singer and no drummer. This nameless new group practices for about three months in a garage in the middle of nowhere next to a chicken coup. The chickens actually smell better than the band sounds.--2002: On the move again, the Kollnots form a band called Vacation Farm in Ionia, MI. The band writes 40+ songs over the course of two years and plays at several Grand Rapids, MI clubs with bands such as Diggy Johnson, Six to 12, The Grady Clan, Space Farmer, XIT 18, Dsyfer and Necrophilicons. Of course, the best gig occurs at the Ionia Armory Recreation Center, the third date on their Ionia Rec. Center Tour. At this particular extravaganza, five people show up, and three of them leave halfway through.
Perhaps an even grander moment occurs while headlining The Hog Roast in August 2003. At this event, the band performs at 12 a.m. in the best possible time slot. Several young newfound fans watch the band perform its first three songs, but they are soon kicked out for being minors. Naturally, however, the drummer's bass-drum head breaks and he heads home to replace it. At this time, a huge brawl among family members breaks out right next to the stage. The show is over, but a bunch of people still sit around a campfire all night.--2004: The Kollnots "retire" the band and move back home to Grand Rapids to focus on going back to school and getting some sort of college degrees that may actually help them earn money.
Jeff spends hours ROTTING in front of the X Box.--2005: Jeff's still rotting!--2006: Jeff and Jon decide to reform the band and record several of their classic and newer songs for distribution on the internet. The Kollnots audition a few drummers but don't attain a permanent lineup.--2007: Jeff records more songs (mostly dirge-like ballads) for this Myspace page. In September, the Kollnot Bros. team up with ex-New Decree drummer Ryan Rasikas and the revamped, official VF lineup is finally complete! The band performs their first show on November 24th at The Five One in Grand Rapids. Just a few months later, The Five One closes down because they were too stodgy to sell booze.--2008: The VF play a handful of shows around West Michigan, including the Labor Day Battle of the Bands festival in Stanton, where they finish in the top-10 after a killer show with a positive crowd response. Jeff places second in the guitar solo competition, but the night doesn't end without the obligatory outdoor-VF-show-drunken fistfight.In September, VF makes their debut album, "Redefine" available for download. The 11-track album sells an impressive grand total of two copies upon release. They hope to build upon this number by perhaps 5-10 copies in the coming year. As of the end of the year, the boys were saving money to release the album properly on CD in 2009 and plan on promoting the album worldwide ASAP. Until then, they vow to perform in front of as many enthusiastic supporters and ambivalent drunks as they can.
On March 13th, 2009 Vacation Farm was transformed into Raptor School. Their First album "Redefine" will soon be released on cd in the next few months.
