Members of faculty rock band ‘The Profs’ talk music and their origin as band

By Alena Blakley, Chief Photographer

One band, one name, six professors.

In 2007, six professors on Oklahoma Baptist University’s campus got together and formed a rock band called The Profs.

Every other year, the band hosts a concert in the lower Geiger Center where they play a variety of cover songs.

While none of them get paid for their work, they continue to perform because of the students on campus.

“Dr. Crane and I were playing in the stage band for OBU’s 2007 Theatrical production of ‘Godspell’ and afterwards we decided to create a faculty rock band,” professor of Biology Dr. Bradley Jett said.

While the students get to see a different side of the professors when they preform, the professors also get to see a different side of the students.

“My favorite concert was probably in 2011,” Jett said.  “The crowd was really into it.  We played a Profs rendition of Miley Cyrus’s ‘Party in the U.S.A.’,” he said.

“The OBU students actually picked up another OBU student and started ‘crowd surfing’ him above their heads and passed him all around the G.C.,” he said.

The band members have said they enjoy performing, and say they would change one thing if they could.

“If I could change one thing I would change us playing together more,” professor of music Dr. Jim Vernon said.

While Vernon said he wanted to change the amount of time spent together, assistant professor of history Dr. D.H. Dilbeck said he might address the matter of compensation.

“I haven’t made a dime off this gig, and I would really like to get paid soon,” Dilbeck said.

All jokes aside, the professors say they look up to each other for inspiration.

“For me personally, I am way influenced by the outstanding talent of the guys in the band,” Vernon said. “They are great musicians, and I am proud they have let me in the group,” he said.

Not only do they look up to each other, they also look up to those musicians who came before them.

“As the immortal Dewey Finn says in the movie ‘School of Rock,’ ‘One great rock show can change the world’ That’s my goal–for the world to never be the same,” Dilbeck said.

While being influenced is an important part of playing music, so is learning from those with whom you are playing.

“My favorite part is being able to play the songs I love with people who are way more talented than I am,” Jett said. “I learn a lot from these talented individuals.”

While The Profs have no plans of going on tour, they do recognize how they are different from other rock-and-roll bands.

“We are different because of our early bed times and [benign] lifestyles,” Dilbeck said.

But that is not the only thing that sets The Profs apart from other cover bands.

“We don’t do it for money, glory or our own ambition,” Jett said. “We do it for the students.  For us, as OBU Professors, it’s all about the students.”