Rock 'n' roll and the daily corporate grind make strange bedfellows, but a few hip pencil pushers manage to reconcile them.
Artie Whiting, 29, a senior analyst in treasury administration for Salt River Project, managed to reconcile the two quite nicely. Whiting, a 2002 ASU alumnus, will be taking his band of six white-collar rockers, collectively called "Second Shift," to compete at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland this October.
"We started an all-employee band a few years ago and recently entered a national competition put on by Fortune magazine called the 'Fifth Annual Battle of the Corporate Bands,'" Whiting said. "We were selected from 40 other bands to compete in [Los Angeles] for a regional qualifier. We won that competition and are now headed to Cleveland to perform for the competition's final round."
Whiting explains the band's success as a sort of happy accident, something that was never really planned.
"I was approached by a coworker about five years ago," Whiting said. "He heard I played in a local band, doing shows around Tempe, and our chief financial officer wanted to put together a band for a one-time show for a company picnic. We got together as a fun thing at first, and then other departments in SRP wanted us to play their events. SRP is involved in a lot of charity work, so we started playing some of their charity events, too."
The band plays a collection of classic rock, salsa, and Latin rock. Whiting received his degree in Spanish, which he says helps him sing Latin songs more convincingly.
"I get a great reaction when people see that I'm not of Hispanic origin but I'm speaking Spanish," Whiting said. "It sort of shows that I'm cultured, I guess."
After the performance in Los Angeles, Whiting is optimistic about Second Shift's chances in Cleveland.
"In my opinion, we blew the competition away in [Los Angeles]," Whiting said. "I don't underestimate any of the bands that will play in Cleveland. There were some really talented bands in [Los Angeles], and I assume there will be some stiff competition in Cleveland, so we'll definitely have to turn it up a notch."
Fortune magazine's Fifth Annual Battle of the Corporate Bands will be held in Cleveland Oct. 7-8.
Reach the reporter at jason.ludwig@asu.edu.
