Damon Norko, a beloved Linganore English teacher, makes the most of his time outside the classroom. Norko is lead singer of a band called “The Submensas.” On October 11, the band performed live at the Eagles Club. The show started at 9 p.m., with an opener and two main bands including “The Submensas” and “Diet Fame.”
At Linganore High School (LHS), Norko is known as an intelligent and fun English teacher. He teaches college-level English classes like AP Composition and English 102, as well as English 10. It is his English 10 classes who are regularly treated to his vocal stylings on “Grammar Wednesdays,” which features its own theme song.
However, as soon as school hours are over, he dedicates time for his band and is very serious about getting his band recognition in the greater community.
One may wonder how an English teacher ends up in the music industry and what inspires them to be involved in such a thing. Norko and his band have been together for a long time.
“The band is an original band that formed–I want to say probably 1983,” said Norko. “I had met these guys in college, and one thing led to another, and [we] thought we’d give it a try. The drummer and I started in ’83, and the others had been in bands throughout their whole lives.”
The Eagles Club is also a members club and hard to get into, especially when it comes to the opportunity for bands to play live. Norko had been asking to perform for a year and a half and had been waiting to see if his request was approved.
“You just gotta know the right people and just kind of wait for them to have an opening,” Norko said. “One of the band members is an Eagles Club member, so they let us play. Hopefully, that’ll lead to more gigs around there.”
Norkos’ passion for his band is recognized by students and staff who hear about his hard work and dedication. He posted a flyer outside of his classroom to let people know they were welcome to attend the show at the Eagle’s Club.
“So I showed Norko a video of my band playing and he kind of said a joke about playing for them, and then the next day he emailed us asking if we wanted to open for his band and we threw some songs together and it worked out.”
A handful of his previous students showed up to support him and have a good time. Junior Alex Thomas had Norko for English during his sophomore year and was one of the students who went to see him play.
“I think the best part of seeing him sing and not in a classroom setting is really kind of seeing him express himself fully,” said Thomas “I think that was an interesting experience to kind of see teachers outside the classroom and see them as real people rather than teachers themselves,”
One of Thomas’ friends, junior Hannah Moore, attended the performance with him. She shared that students do not typically get to see their teachers’ personal hobbies when sitting in a classroom setting, but Norko’s performance provided that opportunity.
“It was really crazy to see him like that outside of school, but [it was a] really cool to see because he’s such a chill teacher,” said Moore. “And to then see him go so crazy, it really was just a cool experience, and I’m glad I got to go.”
Another Linganore connection was the opening highschool band. Lia Milke, a sophomore at Linganore is the drummer for a band called “The Gnomes” and was more than thrilled to get the privilege to perform at the Eagles club being a part of Norko’s special night.
