teen rocker Skyler, with his 2010 EP in hand, has a string of upcoming gigs

By the time he graduated from York High School in 2009, Skyler Clark-Hamel had already recorded five CDs and played upwards of 200 gigs. But his EP “Long Gone,” released in May, brought Skyler’s music to a new echelon.
“It’s definitely the most polished piece of work that I’ve done. The songwriters that I work with now are just miles above what I did in high school,” Skyler said, referring to brothers Adam and Michael Scharff. “When the three of us get in a room together, it takes my music to a completely different level.”
Skyler first introduced “Long Gone” with a CD release show at the Dover Brick House in May. He’ll return to the Brick House for an upcoming show on Monday, Dec. 27, following gigs at Rochester Middle School on Wednesday, Dec. 22, and Dover High School on Thursday, Dec. 23.
He also has shows lined up after the New Year, including gigs at Higher Ground in Burlington, Vt., on Sunday, Jan. 9; the Cooperative Middle School in Stratham on Friday, Jan. 21; and Exeter High School on Saturday, Feb. 19.
Now 19, Skyler has grown accustomed to playing in front of large crowds. Also an actor who has performed in 20 professional and repertory theater productions, he has long relished the spotlight.
“I’ve always really liked performing,” Skyler said. “Now it’s very natural, but it took a couple years of being in front of an audience all the time to sort of come into my own.”
The York native was in third grade when he wrote his first song, a bubblegum pop tune inspired by ’N Sync and the Backstreet Boys. From then on, music would consume much of his life. He learned to play several instruments, including guitar, bass, drums and piano, and transformed his bedroom into a recording studio.
Skyler’s first musical performance in front of a live audience occurred when he was in sixth grade. He’d only been playing guitar for a couple of months and hastily threw together a band for a talent show at York Middle School. They performed a cover of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”
Skyler recorded his first full-length CD of original songs during his freshman year of high school and went on to record four others before graduating. He also acted in and wrote scores for several theater productions. His artistic pursuits left little time for schoolwork, which was just fine with him.
“It was either, ‘Do your homework or write the score to a play,’ and I was like, ‘I think I’ll write the score to a play,’” he said.
After graduating, Skyler spent a year at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The experience helped him grow as a musician, but not in the ways you might expect. When he started searching for band mates to back him at live shows, he found that most of them either showed up late or flaked out completely.
“It taught me how rare reliable musicians are,” he said. “It also really helped me with my work ethic. You really just have to constantly be working at whatever you’re doing, whether it’s the performance aspect or the writing aspect or the recording aspect.”
When it came time to form a professional band, Skyler turned to musicians he knew he could trust. He had taken music lessons from accomplished local musician Adam Scharff since he was 11 years old and had sat in with The Scharff Brothers on several occasions, mostly playing drums. Occasionally, Skyler would front the band as a lead vocalist with Adam taking over the drum kit.
To round out his own band, Skyler recruited fellow Berklee student John Mullett, a multi-instrumentalist who plays fiddle, keyboards and more.
“He was the first guy I met (at Berklee),” Skyler said. “We bonded over the fact that we were the only two guys at Berklee that really liked Taylor Swift.” 
The new quartet, with Adam Scharff on lead guitar and Michael Scharff on bass, adopted Skyler’s name. They provide the core of the music on “Long Gone,” along with guests Matt Sokol on drums and Karl Anderson on Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes. The group has since added permanent drummer Mark Davenport.
The music is solid pop-rock fizzing with teen romance. Skyler’s voice is smooth and confident, rising in pitch when appropriate but mostly sticking to a steady cool. Mullett and the Scharff brothers add impeccable musicianship, resulting in a CD that makes Skyler sound like he’s been at it for decades.
All five songs on the EP revolve around the lyrical themes of girls, love and relationships, from the youthful innocence of “Hold My Hand” to the brash whimsicality of “Stephanie.” “And I don’t care what your boyfriend would say, or what my girlfriend thinks,” he sings in the latter (Skyler does, by the way, have a gal).
Although he’s recently developed a taste for country acts like Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, Skyler said his biggest influences are classics like The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and Tom Petty. Those influences come through on “Long Gone,” as you can easily imagine Petty singing lead vocals on “It’s Just the Night.”
Skyler now lives back home in York and still devotes most of his time to music. He sits down for writing sessions with the Scharff brothers three times a week, exchanging ideas and working on new songs.
“All three of us write all the songs together,” he said. “Some songs, I will come to them with an idea or chorus or verse and they’ll help me finish it up ... or they’ll come with a musical idea or lyrical idea and I will help them flesh it out.”
He’s not sure when his next recording will take shape, but he’s always coming up with new stuff. “The material just keeps on getting better, and I just keep getting more excited about it,” he said. 
Most of Skyler’s fans are even younger than him, and he plays many of his gigs at middle and high schools. Certain lyrical cues remind us that Skyler is the product of a new generation. On “Hold My Hand,” for instance, he sings, “Can’t wait to read your words as they reach my phone.” It’s the same old love-sick sentiment, but this time by text message instead of phone call. 
Though he’s a budding local sensation, Skyler came of age at a time when major record deals are harder than ever to come by. That’s OK with him, though, as long as he keeps getting opportunities to play his music in front of crowds.
“I just want to play for as many people as I possibly can and bring as much joy to people through my music as I can, and that’s really all I can do,” he said.

Skyler’s all-ages show at the Dover Brick House begins at 4 p.m. on Dec. 27 and will also feature The Life I Lead and The Sophomore Beat. The Brick House is at 2 Orchard St., Dover, 603-749-3838.