Charlie Smith
Charlie is a multi-instrumentalist who has been playing guitar, drums and piano since his primary years. He plays drums for local rock outfit Pot Plant House Party who over the last few years have toured extensively in WA and nationally with headline shows, Festivals such as Nannup and Moomba and supported the likes of Sly Withers, Beddy Rays, Gyroscope, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets to name a few. They released their debut album ‘Worms’ in 2022 to rave reviews, Triple J airplay and received two WAM Song of the Year nominations.
Charlie is a former Rock Scholars band program student himself from his teenage days and loves the full circle of sharing his experiences and educating the next generation of young musicians emerging into our local music scene.
Charlie’s easy-going personality as well as his passion for music make him a fun, welcoming mentor and tutor.
Instruments: drums, guitar, bass guitar, keyboard
Christian Passalacqua
Christian has been playing drums for nearly 10 years, is currently in his second year of a Bachelor of Contemporary Music degree at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). Christian’s two main music projects are Redcliffe and Rubyhoo . A former Scholars' band program student himself, Christian loves teaching drums because seeing his student’s progress, having fun and getting better means he has hopefully had a positive impact on their lives. Christian joined the Rock Scholars team in September 2022.
Instruments: drums
Tom Caughey
Tom is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of local band Koi Pond. He grew up in the country and moved to the city a few years ago to pursue his music. Tom is a multi-instrumentalist who has been playing in bands since his early high school days. He has played in many bands in our local music scene since arriving in Perth. Prior to joining the Rock Scholars team mid-2023, Tom previously mentored young bands at a local high school. Tom loves working with young musicians in continuing to develop their craft and musicianship working in a band setting.
Instruments: guitar, bass guitar, drums
Alison (Ali) Williams
Ali joined the team in 2019 to help look after all things front of house and day to day, and very quickly became an integral part of the Rock Scholars team to both staff and students alike. Ali has forever been an avid music lover, live gig goer and is Kylie Minogue’s number one fan.
Instrument: tambourine
Josh Wright
As a former Rock Scholars student, Josh has a passion for everything we do and loves sharing his considerable knowledge and technical expertise with a new generation of young musicians.
Josh draws influence from drummers such as Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, Dennis Chambers and Art Blakey, all of whose work he studies as a part of his bachelors degree in Contemporary Music at WAAPA.
Josh currently plays in numerous Perth bands including Supathick and has recently been supporting emerging WA singer-songwriter Julia Wallace.
Instruments: drums, bass guitar, guitar