The girls who make up the band Good English share more than a love for music; they share the same parents.
Sisters Elizabeth, Leslie and Celia Rasmussen of Oakwood are Good English and they are due to release their first album in late summer.
Elizabeth, 21 and wrapping up her junior year at the University of Dayton, plays lead guitar. Celia, 18 and now a sophomore at Wright State University, plays bass guitar and Leslie, 17 and wrapping up her junior year at Oakwood High School, keeps the group’s beat on the drums.
It was during cheerleading camp after seventh grade that Elizabeth begged her parents for guitar lessons.
“I had taken piano lessons earlier but I knew I wanted to play the guitar,” she said. “I ended up taking lessons at Hauer. I started out learning chords.”
Celia began her musical career on the piano and cello. One Christmas she received a bass guitar from her parents and the next thing she knew, she was playing bass with her sister.
Leslie played percussion for the Oakwood High School band until she put her drum sticks aside to be a cheerleader. It didn’t take her long to figure out the drums were her passion. That same Christmas Leslie received a drum set and Elizabeth received her own acoustical guitar. Prior to that she was playing her father’s old guitar. That Christmas in 2005 was, in essence, the beginning of Good English.
“We started out playing a lot of Green Day songs,” recalls Elizabeth. “We went through a period of frustration. When you rehearse with your sisters and you get mad, you can just storm out.”
The girls signed up for band camp at Hauer where they learned to play with other kids, honed in on techniques and matured a bit.
The name Good English came about one evening when Elizabeth, Celia and their mother, Anne, decided the band needed a name.
“We were talking about my old English teacher and how strict she was about speaking good English,” said Elizabeth. “We stopped and thought, ‘hey, there’s a different name, Good English’ and it stuck.”
Their first gig was at Canal Street Tavern and they’ve performed at a variety of venues including South Park Tavern, Brixx, DVAC, Flanagan’s and most recently at Omega Records for National Record Day. Good English also recently opened their own bank account.
The girls rehearse at their grandparents Oakwood home “because they are usually in Hilton Head so it’s empty and perfect for practicing,” said Elizabeth.
For more information, go to www.GoodEnglish.com.