Westerly ― When most of us think of our teenage years, we recall the turbulence, the changes and uncertainty of not knowing what would come next in our lives.

Tom Foley, music director of the R.I. Phil Music School at the United Theatre in Westerly, remembered all those feelings. Recalling his teen years, Foley explained the importance of school’s band room among he and his friends.

“It was an escape from the chaos of teenage life,” Foley said.

Years later, in 2018, out his stored fondness for the band room, Foley formed the band PoP as an “experiment in a rock ensemble,” and it has since offered a select group of R.I. Phil students the chance to grow, both musically and personally, as they practice and perform their own form of chaos - rock and roll music.

The name “PoP” started out as an acronym for “Plenty of Pinecones,” which it was dubbed by a former member.

The band is composed of vocalist Stonington High School seniors Katie “KD” Danaher, vocalist; Evan “Ev” Anderson, vocalist; Josh “Joshie” Pearson, lead guitar; Chariho High School sophomore Ally “Aldo” Reinhart, rhythm guitar; and Stonington High School sophomore Josh “New Josh” Olson, drummer.

“You’re in a rock band,” Anderson, a senior at Stonington High, said reflecting on her role as one of the band’s two vocalists. “That’s so cool.”

Anderson, who’s been in PoP for about three and a half years and also sings for her school choir, said that the two roles were vastly different.

“It’s so much more freedom onstage,” Anderson said, referring to performing with PoP. “I would say that the friendship and dynamics backstage are similar. But onstage it’s more fun. You have to have more energy and dance around onstage.”

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Anderson’s band has undergone several lineup changes since 2018, but has not lost its spirit, building structure out of teenage chaos. If one were to look at Foley’s “experiment” in the eyes of the scientific method, his results have been flawless.

That success was evident Sunday as PoP effortlessly performed to hundreds of people as they walked the sidewalks along High Street at the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce “Sunday Funday” event. The street was blocked off to vehicle traffic on either end, and tables were set out by local businesses.

Starting at noon, PoP played an hourlong set, filled with the recognizable alternative and classic rock songs the band’s members have chosen themselves.

“It’s like, Thursday afternoon type of songs,” Danaher, senior at Stonington High School and the band’s other vocalist, said regarding the band’s current rotation of songs, which includes hits from The Cranberries, Blondie, Alanis Morrissette and several songs from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“You know, like Saturday morning cartoons. For me, Thursday afternoons are the times when I break out my ’90s set,” she said.

Danaher said PoP’s members try to keep the cover songs as close as possible to their original arrangements while also adding their own subtle embellishments. Pearson, her bandmate, echoed her.

“We cover a diverse range of rock music and we all put in our own separate styles into (it),” Pearson said.

“It’s energetic music,” Reinhart said. “Normally at the gigs people will dance too.”

Reinhart and the other members said they enjoyed the freedom of playing that kind of “energetic music.”

Olson, who is the newest PoP member at two months, doubles as a drummer for his school’s jazz band. He said he enjoys the freedom that PoP’s song selection offers.

“I think there’s a lot more freedom in PoP,” he said. “This band all the songs we play are like songs that we chose and we play live a lot more than the jazz band does.”

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PoP members have an age limit. Once they graduate high school, they can no longer stay in the band, and have to find another music school student to tutor and take their role. PoP’s former drummer, Hayden Sullivan, was in the crowd to watch his replacement perform.

“He’s doing great, I love Josh,” Sullivan said after PoP’s performance. “I thought he was right for the role and he’s killing it.”

Sullivan’s comments echoed exactly the type of supportive atmosphere PoP has created among its past and current members.

“There’s always someone there to support you,” Danaher said. “You can’t really be in a band with someone and not know their favorite color, or their third fishes’ name.”

“I think that it’s a life lesson more than anything else,” Foley said. “It’s not just about being a member of a rock band. It’s about being a member of a team.”

“I think the kids will take that with them the rest of their life,” he added.

d.drainville@theday.com