OAKLAND — Lake County rock band SK2 members Jay Johnson, Kirk Lyons and John Golden delivered a performance of the “Star Spangled Banner” Jan. 31 before a crowd of 20,000 at Oracle Arena in Oakland prior to a Golden State Warriors basketball game.
“I”ve been a sports fan all my life and being able to follow my passion of singing and sports is a blessing,” Lyons, who also runs a local tree trimming company called Lyons Vegetation Management, said.
Johnson has been singing and playing professionally for more than 20 years and is currently working at Dreamworks Animation on movies such as “Kung Fu Panda 2,” “Puss in Boots” and the upcoming “Madagascar 3.”
“It”s sad to see so many acts being pushed these days to just make a buck in the music industry,” Johnson said in regard to state of popular modern music. “Technology has made it so even mediocre talent can be presented as professional. When we sing in SK2, we sing live three-part harmony; no high-tech qizmos, no auto tune. At these National Anthem gigs, it”s one microphone, three guys and 20,000 people. It”s very satisfying for us to be able to pull it off.”
Golden, who owns John Golden Acupuncture, in Elk Grove, said, “We”ve been playing in bands together since we were kids and now that we are older, I”m just happy that we have a great country that we can honor with this song.”
Johnson said the Warriors defeated the Sacramento Kings that night. SK2 has performed the National Anthem five times for the Warriors and the San Francisco Giants and each time the home team was victorious, he said.
Other members of SK2 include Mark Johnson and Alex Land, who were unable to attend the recent performance, of which a video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNhsTQUJY3U. For more information on the Lake County band, visit the website at www.sk2online.com.
