When a noise complaint is called in, usually the police quiet the fun, they don’t join in on it.

But that’s exactly what happened on Saturday night, when police were called to a birthday party in Mississauga to investigate a band playing too loudly. The teenage members of Vinyl Ambush expected to get shut down, but to their surprise, one of the officers sat down at the drums and proved he had some musical chops of his own.

When the officers arrived just before 9 p.m., they asked the band to turn down the volume, but also told them they could keep playing for a little bit, much to the band’s surprise.

Const. Joel Clark, one of the officers who responded to the call, said he visited the complainant and realized the music was still quite loud. He returned to the party just as the band was about to play their final number, an original called “Curiosity.”

In good humour, Clark asked the band, “How am I going to play along with you guys if I don’t know the song?”

But he managed just fine.

Bassist Corwin Bjelic, 15, said he “couldn’t believe it” when the officer sat down at the drum kit and played through the full song. He said the second officer was laughing and recording on his phone when Clark gave in to the call of music.

“He had to take his boots off when he tried to play,” Bjelic said.

In an interview with the Star, Clark said he used to be a drummer, though he hadn’t played in years. He got his first drum kit while in high school and wanted to pursue a career in entertainment.

“I didn’t really have anybody giving me positive encouragement,” Clark said of his rock star dreams, so he wanted to give the band the encouragement and advice he didn’t get.

Vinyl Ambush had been playing together for about six months when drummer Jack Laing’s mom asked them to play at his father’s 50th birthday. Laing passed around a letter to neighbours letting them know about the concert.

Laing didn’t seem surprised by the noise complaint: “All the houses are pretty close together.”

A video of Clark giving the band a post-jam pep-talk shows him telling the group “it’s tough work” and they should “be willing to be broke for a bit.”

“He said his biggest regret was stopping, which was kind of sad, so it just made me want to continue and hopefully do it as a job one day,” Bjelic said. “I think everybody else got that from it as well. Just never stop.”

Clark said he pursued policing after his last band broke up, adding the party “was a treat because it allowed me to do a job that I love while also doing something that I love.

“It was incredible,” Clark said of the parents’ and partygoers’ response. “I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Before they left, the officers told the group they could play a couple more songs before packing it in. Clark said the band wrapped up well before noise bylaws require, and he thought the majority of the neighbourhood enjoyed the event.

The band was formed when Bjelic and singer Belle Mathews, 17, decided to put together a group to compete for a chance to open for Bon Jovi at the Rogers Centre. They were joined by Laing and two guitarists, Anthony Caetano, 18, and Pedro Alvarado, 19. Although they didn’t win the competition, they found they “had a lot of fun playing together, so (they) just stuck together,” Bjelic said. They’re now trying to put together an album.

When asked by the Star if Laing was worried he would lose his drumming spot to Clark, the band began to laugh. “You should be,” Bjelic quipped. “Yeah, he was pretty good.”

A Peel Regional Police spokesperson had high praise for the impromptu jam session.

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Const. Bancroft Wright said it “shows that just because (officers) attend a call for a noise complaint, it doesn’t mean (they’re) going to go in there heavy-handed.”

“It’s refreshing to have a story put out where it’s a positive interaction,” Clark said. “I’m very blessed to be a part of it.”

“Talk about community outreach,” the band wrote on YouTube, where the video of the session was posted. “Many thanks to Peel Regional Police for making it such a fun and memorable night for the band and everyone there.”