Eureka Teacher Serves USA through Band, Video Goes Viral on YouTube

A band director found himself a part of an unexpected YouTube sensation when the Air National Guard band that he plays in hit the Internet about a month ago and resonated with thousands of people besides just the military troops for which they were performing overseas.

John Arata said the band members did not even post the YouTube piece themselves; in fact, they headed into parts of the Middle East that didn't even have Internet access. Arata and his fellow National Guard band members in the group called "Sidewinder" did 45 events in 45 days to support more than 7,800 troops.

"Someone in the audience one day apparently posted a video clip of us performing in a remote area, even without all our instruments in an acoustic way, much like MTV's Unplugged segments," he said. "We have 3 to 4 hours worth of music, and were playing only a handful of songs that day."

But it was Sidewinder's rendition of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep" that caught music lovers' attention and continues to be popular. As of the time of publishing this article, the segment had garnered 1,720,119 views. Click here to view the video.

Arata can be seen coming in and out on the lefthand side of the video with his beautiful blue violin.

Arata said the Air National Guard Bands of the Central States program started in 1947. The program is headquartered at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. It's official title is the 571st Air Force Band, 131st Bomb Wing, Air National Guard. The unit deployed in 2006 on a similar mission, but Arata didn't go on that tour. "Our leader prompted us to modernize our offerings, encouraging a lot of popular music," he said.

"We play a ton of contemporary music, including pop, classic rock, hip-hop, country, and I guess that one song hit people at the right time."

Arata said he and the Sidewinder members had no idea the song was catching on via YouTube until they finally got to an outpost tent a few days later, and one of them got to a computer from which they could access email. That's when they discovered the segment received 135,000 hits in two days.

The Air National Guard musicians are well-trained professionals, uniquely capable of high quality performance at a moment's notice, maintains Arata. "Just like the mechanics, doctors and pilots who are rock stars at what they do for the National Guard, we just represent the military in a very visible way," he said.

Their YouTube popularity led to hundreds of requests to now play all over the United States, said Arata. "But when you only work one weekend out of a month, there's only a handful of performances we can accept," he said.

Arata said music is a strong morale booster. "In war fighting, music can spark the troop's spirit, and lead to more effective fighting. That's why it was so important for us to modernize our song set to what people currently like. Music fires people up."

Effect on Band Members

Arata said the band members were ready strategically for what happened because they are professional musicians, but "not emotionally."

The amount of interest in them was a bit staggering.

They performed on popular daytime television, the Ellen Degeneres Show on Sept. 13. Arata said he didn't know much about the show because he teaches during the day. He said he did enjoy it, though, because the environment of the show is a high energy, vibrant atmosphere throughout the producers and entire team.

They had a same-day rehearsal for the show and "then just did it."

Click here to view a "bonus segment" from the rehearsal with Sidewinder performing "Forget You."

For viewing how Sidewinder performed "Rolling In The Deep" on Ellen's show that day, click here.

He said Sidewinder band members are a very cohesive group, reflective of their different personalities. "Our performances go as planned because our song set list is well thought out. We have something for everybody."

Getting Back to Eureka High School

To do the tour, Arata missed Eureka's summer music program, training and camp, as well as the first few weeks of school. As reported on Eureka-Wildwood Patch,

"When I got home, it was immediately time for the band to be in the Eureka Days Parade and to get back to focusing on the students," said Arata.

Students and parents alike were quick to thank him for his service to the U.S. military, he said.

"I'm really grateful for the support from parents and other staff for helping to fill in with the summer program while I was away. I think the band students' summer experience and performance was very rich," he said.

The Highlight of Arata's Experience

Out of the many interesting developments in the past few months, Arata said the best highlight of the whirlwind experience was one moment at the first concert Sidewinder performed on this tour when a soldier came up to him and shared how much he needed a mental break from the military intensity and how their music had done that.

"I could tell this person really needed something to uplift him. I don't know what his job was, or what was going on with him, but it was intense. That's when I was reminded of the true reason we are deployed. We make a difference in our troop's lives."

Arata said there were many other special moments, like this one, throughout the tour, but that he won't forget the look in the man's face when he thanked the band for what they did for him personally.

"I was really surprised about how often troops came forward to shake our hands and find out about our band," he said.

Is a music recording in the future for Sidewinder? Arata said although a project such as that would have been considered military recruitment material in the past, they haven't ruled it out.

"Time is at a premium," he said. "Although I have the best job in the military. I'm thrilled to do it."