Rising musical artist Bryce Fox stopped by Gowanda High School to work with students from the Modern Band Project last week.

A singer/songwriter and producer, Fox has toured internationally, been featured on major festival stages over the past decade, and written for and recorded with mega-stars including Rhianna, Earth Wind & Fire, and Robin Thicke. He is currently on a national tour with AWOLNATION. He’s also a personal friend of School Resource Officer Ben Shields, who invited Fox to campus for a bit of a side quest when he was in Buffalo for a performance.

“We are incredibly grateful for his generosity of time and spirit,” says music teacher and Modern Band Project adviser Jacob Swanson, noting the district’s gratitude to SRO Shields for organizing and facilitating Fox’s visit. “He left our students star-struck and inspired.”

Student musicians in the Modern Band Project, an extracurricular at GHS, performed for Fox and asked questions about his life as a professional pop musician.

Bryce Fox

Shields has known Fox for a few years via a shared hobby of virtual reality gaming. After playing together for a while, eventually Shields realized Fox is the lead singer of a band of which he was already a listener and fan. Fox enthusiastically agreed to come check out the Modern Band Project, which he and Shields previously discussed.

“He couldn’t have been more kind, humble and genuinely appreciative of being asked. He was super impressed with the confidence the kids possessed playing the way they did,” says Shields. “He said it’s rare to see a group of kids put themselves out there like that.”

Fox was genuinely humbled to be invited, Shields notes, and had zero reservations and accepted the invite with a simple “Absolutely! That sounds awesome!” Despite a hectic tour schedule and near zero downtime between shows, he still made some time to encourage some students to love music.

“I can’t believe the confidence those kids had up there playing!” says Fox, who describes the experience as “amazing” and extended a thank-you to the district for the invitation. “I wish we had a program like this when I was in school.”

Principal Rebekah Moraites commended high school staff for its support of students when it comes to these “once in a lifetime” opportunities. And if you haven’t ever seen a Modern Band performance, she highly recommends making a point to attend one.

Gowanda School Resource Officer Ben Shields takes a picture of Bryce Fox with a Gowanda student.

“You will see students you would never think of on stage singing and playing a guitar they just learned how to play that year, working and collaborating with other students, and being courageous,” says Moraites.

Shields says the student musicians asked Fox lots of questions and he offered up lots of valuable advice.

“He’s never forgotten his roots and it was really nice to see, despite fighting exhaustion, he just give a little bit of encouragement to a handful of kids in a small town he’d never heard of … that’s rare today — true selflessness!” says Shields.

Follow Bryce Fox on all social media platforms at @brycefoxed.

Modern Band Project is pictured performing in Gowanda.

Adviser Jacob Swanson is pictured with Modern Band Project.