Cover band Jonagold will be performing at this year's Summer Jam on July 18 at Sunnycrest Farm in Londonderry. Courtesy photo/Jonagold

LONDONDERRY – Dylan Swiderski, frontman of cover band Jonagold, will once again take the stage at Sunnycrest Farm for this year’s Summer Jam on July 18.

He will be joined by lead guitarist Taylor Mellen, drummer and Sunnycrest co-owner Daniel Hicks IV and bassist Peter Mackinnon, who will be filling in for Michael Johnson.

Swiderski said he, Mellen and Hicks have been playing together for the past nine years.

“We started jamming after I met Taylor in college,” he said. “He suggested I come jam with him and his childhood friend who’s a drummer.”

In 2021, the group performed at its first Summer Jam as Jonagold, named after a variety of apple.

“We still didn’t even have our own bassist, we just had a friend play with us for the night,” said Swiderski, adding that 100 people attended the first Summer Jam. “We really wanted to get out and do something.”

The following year, Johnson came on board to play bass and Jonagold was complete.

Since then, the Summer Jam crowd has continued to grow each year with 300 people in attendance last year.

“We’re really just a bunch of guys that have learned to play at some point, no formal schooling or anything,” said Swiderski. “It’s just fun, we really love playing music.”

He said the band’s setlist covers a myriad of genres inspired by music legends such as the Allman Brothers, Johnny Cash, the Grateful Dead, Blink 182 and Franz Ferdinand.

“We’re pretty diverse centering on classic rock, alternative 90s and pop,” he said.

Later in the summer, Jonagold will perform at Londonderry Old Home Day at 5 p.m. on Aug.14.