William Dominick Schommer Jr. doesn’t know if he is ever going to make it big but ever since he joined his friends four piece band he has had to follow a set of six rules so close his complete image changed. William, who prefers to be called Billy, recalls the first moment that John, otherwise known as Johnny or Johnny K, asked Billy “do you think we should start a band?” Billy looked straight at him and asked where are we going to get a drummer and lead guitarist since I really can’t play?” He is right also he knows how to play but he isn’t really confident in playing guitar. He gets this talent and ambition from his father William Schommer Sr.
Billy said that he gets a lot of his “life plans” from his father only because he sees what his father has done and thinks that he has lived a great life so far and he wants to be able to follow in his footsteps. Although he says that he wants to be like his father he doesn’t want to be exactly like him. For instance his father got married and started to have kids at a very young age. His father is 38 and has five children. Billy and his twin sister Brianna are the first of those five. His mother had them a month after her 18th Birthday. Billy said he wants to get married but not until after he has enjoyed being single for a few years and when he has established a good career to be able to support his family. His plan for now though is to just balance his band life and his friends, although his friends are the same friends that he had when he started the band.
Starting the band was easier said then done for Billy and Johnny because they had complications with their drummer and guitarist. After about four weeks of being in the band they decided to quit. That is when Jesse and Nic joined the band. That is also when they reinstated the “Six D’s.” According to John, Billy had to completely change his life around at this point. “Living in Kaukauna doesn’t help your reputation but when you are also considered a ‘bad popular guy’ it really doesn’t help you if you want to start a band. The rules that were put in place were our past experiences laid right out in front of us to the point of acceptance and realization that we didn’t want to go back there. Billy made sure to follow these rules so that he didn’t get into anymore trouble. Besides he wanted to turn his life around but didn’t know.” Billy told me that the band was his way out but “I still had that image.” The only way to get rid of that is to go and “apologize to all the people I wronged.”
Addicts often have to go back and right all of their wrongs and Billy did that by apologizing and gaining new friends from “better schools.” When asked what this meant Billy only said “Kimberly and Appleton.” Billy eventually lost the image even at school and with his family. He is still in the band and plans on being in 1st Degree until he can’t sing anymore. Tom the manager of the band said that he thought that “no matter how long this band goes for, as long as it is changing lives. In fact music saves lives just as much as it could destroy lives. This is just one example of how it turns lives around!” William Dominick Schommer Jr. used to be a force to be reckoned with but with brothers his age to help him through life he is a peaceful person.