Williamsport welcomed the world, and Air Force rock band Full Spectrum to the stage Friday night.

Full Spectrum is part of the United States Air Force Heritage of America, based out of Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

“The Air Force, and the military in general has always had musicians,” said Technical Sergeant Quincy Brown, “back into the Civil War days they had drummers, and now, that’s evolved.”

“We honor, inspire and connect. Those are our three missions. We honor the veterans who have come before us, we connect with the general public, and we inspire the youth to do great things for the country,” Brown said.

“As musicians, we serve as a handshake to the general public,” Brown explained, “because they don’t typically get to meet other airmen, or pilots, or the ammunition folks, or any mechanics. So as musicians, in public affairs, we go out to the community and shake their hands and thank them for their support of the Air Force.”

Members audition for the military bands broadly, and are placed where their strengths are greatest. And as with getting into the military, the audition is no easy feat.

“For example, if you’re a vocalist in regional bands, which is what most of us are, you’re just auditioning as a singer,” said Staff Sergeant Julie Keough. “So, you have to sing a country song, usually a rock song, and a jazz piece. And something that’s a little more concert friendly, like maybe musical theater. To show that you can front a concert band on a bigger stage with a big band or a little stage, rocking out, because a concert band needs that kind of multitasker.”

“We audition for our instrument, and then based on your skill set, or the needs of the Air Force, you’ll be put into a different band,” Brown explained, “I didn’t audition for the rock band. I’m classically trained. That’s where my degrees are, in classical percussion. But, obviously, I have enough skill to play the drum set and I’ve been playing with the Air Force for most of my career, so we’re well rounded enough to do a little bit of everything.”

Though the needs of the Air Force and other military bands can have an impact on the size of the band, generally, the musicians play together.

“Usually we deploy as a team,” said Keough. “It’s actually more about what other groups have tours. We have a jazz band, so one of our singers is there. We have a brass ensemble, so our other vocalist is with them. Because the two of us aren’t in those groups, we were both able to be in the rock band. They actually pick teams specifically to go together, which they did for us.”

Though Full Spectrum is labeled as a “rock band,” their name lives up to the diversity of music they play.

“I said in the beginning we’re the handshake for the American public, right? So, with that handshake, our goal is to play something for everyone,” Brown said. “So, if you’re not into pop music, we’re going to play a little country. If you’re not into country, we’ll play a little soul. If you’re not into soul, we’re going to play a little bit of hip hop or rock. We’re going to try and do a little bit of everything, from all of the most recent decades. We tend not to go too far, but we try and play enough that you know something that we play.”

“We have tailored shows for the high schools, because those are so specific for recruiting. So, we find the newest Taylor Swift or anything that we’re allowed to play in those venues,” Keough explained. “Sometimes we’ll change the words, or just do the radio versions.”

For a lot of the students that we play for, it’s their first concert. So we try and bring to them the best concert that we can,” Brown added, “we have lights, we have theatrics, we have fog, we bring them on stage.”

For the band, recruiting is an important part of their community outreach.

“Nowadays, young folks don’t necessarily consider the military as an option,” Brown said, “and I think a big part of that is because, for a regular person or layperson, the military is kind of something that’s off in the distance that you don’t quite think about as a career. It’s something that someone else does, but what we as musicians try to do is normalize the military, and show them ‘hey, no, we were people just like you. Before we put the uniform on, we have civilian clothes on, we listen to the same music, eat the same food. It’s essentially a nine to five, with a special mission. You can be in the military for whatever you’re interested in. We have over 200 careers in the Air Force.”

Keough stressed that the benefits are one of the most often overlooked aspects of the military.

“Even if you serve four years, you have veteran status for life, the GI Bill, you get money for college. You have health care, you have veteran services, job services for your spouse, all of those benefits. I really didn’t understand the scope of that until I got in honestly, Keough stressed.

“We’re also here to tell everyone that our strength is in how different we are. We have people from Ecuador, Michigan, Maryland, and Arizona. We have members that are Christian, Muslim, atheists, Jewish, you know; Democrat, Republican. The reason the military is so strong is because of all these backgrounds, because we have the best of the best to get countries to find these best solutions to world problems. So, you know, we think it’s important to get that message out there,” Keough continued.

Prior to their show at Williamsport Welcomes the World, the band was treated to lunch at the Williamsport Country Club, courtesy of Ainsworth.

Country Club Vice-President and Ainsworth Branch Manager, Jerry Mahonsky said, “when Master Sergeant Leo Knight-Inglesby said that he was looking for a location where he could take the band for lunch, being the Vice-President and House Chair of the Williamsport Country Club, I thought, “this was the obvious spot.”

For Mahonsky, its all about giving back. “The Country Club hosted the venue, and Ainsworth’s picked up the tab for the lunch. And that was basically it, to give back to the military. They do their thing to keep us safe. It’s our honor to have them here.”

“My father was in the Battle of the Bulge, Mahonsky said, adding a very personal reason for why the lunch was important to him, “so I got to take him to his disabled veteran meetings, and see what these guys went through, and we’ll do anything we can do to help the military.”

Though nothing is set in stone, Mahonsky hopes to bring the band back to the Williamsport Country Club to play for area high school students out on the green.

For more information on Full Spectrum, visit their Instagram page at @fullspectrumrocks.