Williston’s Resident Rockstar
Mr. Crommett’s album, The Coast Road.
Dennis Crommett earns a living by filming and editing videos for Williston’s YouTube page, going to meetings, and “making important spreadsheets.” Well, that and selling his hit songs to television shows including Grey’s Anatomy.
Along with working full-time at Williston, Crommett is in a popular local band called Winterpills. The band has been around for 11 years, and has been reviewed in Rolling Stone, interviewed on NPR, and has had songs on popular television shows.
Members of the band include: Crommett, Philip Price, Flora Reed, Dave Hower, Max Germer, and Brian Akey. The band formed gradually, Crommett remembers, “we started as a group of friends hanging out in my living room playing old songs and morphed into a real band.”
Compared to Simon and Garfunkel, Elliott Smith, and The Byrds by NPR, Winterpills has received high praise from The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe. The band has performed on stage alongside artists such as Vampire Weekend, St. Vincent, Josh Ritter, and Lisa Germano.
Although the band has achieved so much, Crommett thinks its biggest accomplishment is that it has “managed to grow together as a band to the point where we are able to communicate musically.” The guitarist continued, “That’s all we can hope to do as artists—work and work.”
Crommett, the Assistant Director of Communications, started working at Williston in May of 2014 and works on all things digital. He produces videos, photographs important events, and helps update the website. He was initially interested in working at Williston because he, “really enjoyed the campus atmosphere and was inspired by the students.”
The Williston Minute that Crommett produces is on the school’s YouTube channel, and has featured sports teams including the girls soccer team, the boys hockey team, the boys cross country team, and strength and conditioning. It has also covered art events like the Tinydance Project, as well as a Room Full of Teeth performance.
Difficult to balance a full time job while being in a popular band, Crommett makes the sacrifices he needs to. “I carve out time for it, very intentionally. I get up extra early during the week and have time for writing songs and playing guitar. It’s important to make time for the things you love.”
He added, “You don’t need to have a million followers on Instagram to be a great artist, you don’t have to try to be the right kind of cool, you don’t need to look any certain way. Just be you, and work, and make time for it. And above all, it’s got to be fun.”
You can check out the Winterpills (and stream their music for free!), along with Crommett’s other band Spanish for Hitchhiking, as well as his personal website here:
And make sure to check out the band at their next show at Luthier’s Coop on Cottage Street in Easthampton on Saturday, April 22nd at 8:00p.m.!
Ellie Wolfe is a senior from Northampton Massachusetts. In her free time, she enjoys going for runs and hanging out with her friends, and runs The Willistonian...
