Two of the newer bands in town made their debuts on Jan. 15 at Browns Point Pizzeria.

It differed from a typical rock show in several ways. The musicians are all in elementary school and their audience was mostly parents, siblings and other relatives. But they do some of the same things bands of adults do, including practicing on a regular basis and hauling gear around.

Paul Gonzenbach teaches sixth grade at Seabury School, a private school in Browns Point. He plays guitar and piano and sings. The Bay Area native started playing in bands while attending the University of California, where he earned a degree in art.

He played in bands that recorded albums and went on tour. Eventually he tired of the band scene. “I decided touring was not for me,” he said. He moved north and has been teaching at the school for three years.

Seabury is too small to have an orchestra or stage band for students. Gonzenbach was interested in having some sort of extra-curricular activity involving music. He and Sandi Wollum, head of the school, discussed the situation and came up with the idea of a garage band based at Seabury.

Gonzenbach put the word out in October, expecting enough participants for one band. Because 14 students expressed interest he decided to have two, splitting them between fifth and sixth graders.

Seabury has some gear including a public address system, drum kit and keyboards. Participants have supplemented this with gear they own.

Gonzenbach stressed to them this is not about him teaching lessons. “It is about how they play together,” he said.

He sits in on each group’s weekly practice, held after school hours in a classroom at Seabury. He offers advice such as what to do when one messes up in the middle of a song, or basic stage banter for a frontman.

Each band started by learning a cover tune of their choice, then moved on to writing and practicing original material.

“The parents have been very supportive and happy about it,” he remarked.

The band of fifth graders is Suspicious Package. It consists of Tristan McClain, Jackie Yeh and Donovan McKenzie on keyboards, Emmet Ceccanti and Nick Schulaner on guitars, Sabrina Zetts on percussion and backing vocals and Alex Cole on lead vocals. For the time being, Gonzenbach is serving as their drummer.

Their cover is a U2 song. Cole and Zetts wrote the lyrics to their original songs. One is about a boy Cole met at a summer camp who always wore interesting hats.

She came up with the idea of T-shirts for the band, which they wore for their gig. They bought plain black shirts at a store and took them to another store at a mall to have their logo imprinted on them.

The band of sixth graders is Re-use, Recycle and Destroy. It consists of Paul Everett on guitar and vocals, Hadyn Stewart on guitar, Sadler Bono on bass, Lars Wollum on drums, Jordan Fox on keyboards, Elise Kleine on keyboards and percussion and James Taylor on vocals.

Several of them knew the Green Day song “Holiday” and Everett suggested they choose it for their cover tune. They have collaborated on two originals.

All the members have some experience playing music. Wollum and Everett tried to start a band once before, even writing a few songs together. But they kicked one member out and soon the band fizzled out.

“I would give Mr. G the biggest props,” Wollum said of his teacher. “If not for him we could not have done this.”