On his 25th birthday, Orlando Greenhill wanted to try out a game he’d invented. He’d been sitting on the concept for a while, unsure of how it would be received, but he had a good feeling about it.

At his birthday party that year, surrounded by friends, family and fellow musicians, the young performer saw the birth of his improv game that—for the last 20 years—he’s been using as a musical educational tool for youth in and around the city.

The name needed a little bit of work, though.

“The game was originally called Uptown-Water-Beetle-Is-a-Cockroach,” the Long Beach native explained. His friend and former bandmate, Chris Schlarb, from local jazz group, Create (!), was responsible for that mouthful. “I thought it was funny, but too complex. I just wanted to keep it simple, so I called it Instant Band.”

Hundreds of people have shared a moment on the Homeland stage. Photo by Cheantay Jensen

The game is elementary. You pick an instrument to play, then choose your band members. Think up a name for your band and your song (PG, of course), then, for five minutes, you shred. It doesn’t matter how old you are, your skill level or if you’ve ever touched a musical instrument; really. Anyone can play.

The result? A music experience as unique and varied as the people who participate.

“I’ve seen people [come in] that have suits and ties, and people that you basically might consider homeless,” he said. “Babies, senior citizens, all walks of life.”

The Instant Band jam session is a free, weekly music program sponsored by the Homeland Cultural Center in MacArthur Park. The center, as a long-standing fixture in the Cambodia Town community, has been providing young people with year-round programs that expose them to the arts. Greenhill’s Instant Band program—one of the longest-running at the center—has been spilling sound out onto east Anaheim St. for the last 15 years.

In that span, the long-time musician, music historian and (mostly) self-taught music instructor, has shared his knowledge and passion for music with generations of kids in the city. He’s watched many grow up in front of his eyes, with some, years later, bringing in munchkins of their own. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of kids, teenagers and adults have stood on the raised wooden stage at Homeland, many coming for years at a time to learn drums and guitar from Greenhill.

On Nov. 1—his birthday—Greenhill will be celebrating 20 years of playing Instant Band throughout Long Beach. The following day, Nov. 2, he’ll be hosting an Instant Band session at Homeland, of course, with an added, celebratory, birthday potluck.

Orlando Greenhill, musician, music historian and instructor. Photo by Cheantay Jensen

In the last two decades that Greenhill has been sharing his game—at first in afterschool and library programs, though the bulk has been at Homeland—he’s amassed a dedicated group of friends. They call themselves Sound Army, a music collective who have all, in some capacity, learned or been inspired by their “general,” Greenhill.

Although the mainframe of the program remains—it’s still run by Greenhill, and the game is played pretty much in the same fashion—a lot has changed in the 15 years Instant Band has been at Homeland.

“When I first started, almost half the room was filled with people coming in,” Joseph Stowers recalls. “Unfortunately, it’s not as packed as it was before, but we still have members who are coming in and out, people participating”

Stowers started coming to the Instant Band sessions as a freshman in high school.

“My first impression was, this is insane,” the now 22-year-old said. “They are just playing music, just making noise right there, and by the end of the session, I was kind of hooked on it. When I came back, I was bringing my guitar.”

These days, Stowers volunteers at Instant Band helping set up and tear down the drum kit, amps and other equipment, his way of giving back to a program that he says, in many ways, changed his life. It was something he could look forward to every week, especially when times were tough at home. Playing the sessions gave him confidence, energized his drive to improve on the guitar and, later, take up the drums. It also encouraged him to start writing music. If the sleeves of his shirt are short enough, you can spot a rose tattoo on his left forearm, it reads: “Sound Army.”

“Kids need to be off the street and come to programs like this because I’d rather them be at this facility with staff here, than have them hanging outside a liquor store with their friends throwing rocks at people,” Stowers said. “I want them to want to play music or put themselves in some sort of activity that’s going to give them some sort of passion or hobby.”

Anyone can play Instant Band. Anyone. Photo courtesy Orlando Greenhill/Facebook.

For some, Instant Band is therapy. A moment to pound out all of the week’s stress into the hi-hat (it never complains). For others, an opportunity to meet some new people, maybe make a friend or two, a chance to break out of their shell or be vulnerable to a group of strangers. It’s a reprieve from an otherwise uneventful Saturday, a second to feel like you’re part of something. It’s also a lot of fun.

Asad Rasheed started coming to Instant Band a couple months ago. He popped his head in one afternoon when he could hear what sounded like a band playing in the distance from where he was hanging out across the street, at the Mark Twain Library. At the moment, the 23-year-old doesn’t have a stable place to call home, but he likes to stop by for a chance to pick up an electric guitar again.

“I get to be free,” Rasheed said. “I can embody what I want to be.”

For many, Instant Band has been their introduction to playing music, their first memory strumming a guitar or holding a microphone. And it’s been the catalyst for some kids to keep learning, many creating or joining bands as they got older. This is true for 22-year-old Solar Ubey who has been coming to the sessions since he was 16. Currently, he plays the guitar and drums in local garage punk band, The Deadends.

“This place is kind of like my church,” Ubey said. “I’ve met a lot of my close friends here and Orlando helped encourage me to play live shows.”

Although he would never want to admit it, especially to his students, it hasn’t always been the smoothest of sailing for Greenhill to run these programs.

“At one point, I was working a bunch of jobs with no car. I would have to take the bus to Carson or Dominguez and work graveyard with all the instruments,” he said. “It was kind of trying, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it.”

But he believes in them, recognizes the positivity music can bring to a person’s life. So long as there are people who want to learn or just make some racket—even if it’s just one person—Greenhill will be at Homeland every Saturday.

“I want people to see that they matter in society,” he said. “You can touch that guitar and make a sound. Even if you’re not a musician, you can do anything that you want creatively, because you have creativity.”

Instant Band shreds at the Homeland Cultural Center at 1321 E Anaheim St. The program is from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Saturday. The event is totally free and open to all.