Members of the Canby High School band will once again showcase their talents on the small screen, in a forthcoming episode of a new comedy that recently debuted on TBS.
The new show, Chad, tells the story of a 14-year-old Persian boy (played by 39-year-old actress and comedian Nasim Pedrad) navigating his first year of high school on a mission to become popular.
Pedrad — known for her work on Saturday Night Live, New Girl, Mulaney and the live-action remake of Aladdin — is also creator, writer, executive producer and showrunner.
Here’s the series’ trailer:
Initially greenlit in 2019, production on Chad was, evidently and not surprisingly, set back by Covid-19 last year.
Karrie Garrett, a 2020 graduate of Canby High School and former band member, was among those who participated in filming for the project, which took place on Feb. 21, 2020 — one week before the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in Oregon.
“I don’t remember much; it was so long ago,” she said with a laugh. “The best part was being able to dance proudly in our uniforms. We may have been sweating like crazy and dying of thirst, but all in all, it was quite fun to be able to participate in a show with a high school setting.”
Filming took place at the North Clackamas Christian High School in Oregon City, with approximately 25 to 30 band members, along with director Nick Luchterhand, participating. The show’s setting, Westpark High School, boasts the same blue and gold color scheme as Canby — though, fortunately, we don’t share a mascot (WPHS’s is, hilariously, the “Fighting Fish”).
The first episode of Chad came out on TBS Tuesday, but you’ll have to wait a little longer to see the Canby High School band’s exploits. Their scenes do not appear until the show’s eighth episode and season finale.
The band is not only seen but also heard — their stylings provide background music for the crucial sequence leading up to the show’s first season cliffhanger. In an earlier part of the final episode, the band plays a tune Canby students and alumni are likely to recognize.
Unlike the CHS band’s role in the Netflix film All Together Now, in which several members (including Garrett) had the opportunity to interact with the likes of Fred Armisen and Auli’i Cravalho, local students did not get the chance to meet the stars this time around.
“But we did get to see them in action,” Garrett recalled. “It’s always exciting to see what they get to do on the daily.”
As for All Together Now, the energetic and musical tearjerker debuted in August to widespread critical acclaim — especially here in Canby.
“I’ve heard nothing but positive feedback,” Garrett said. “The day the movie was released, the movie hit the top 10 charts of Netflix movies, and it was all the hype for a few weeks.
“The Canby community definitely loved having our local high school band be a part of this movie,” she continued, laughing as she recounted several who — apparently not understanding how Netflix works — asked where they can buy the film on DVD. “Overall, I think that the movie was a great success!”
