I too was in a bit of a high school band back in the day or two or three. When you are in a high school band you’ve just got to find people that have the same musical interests. Just start off playing what you feel comfortable with and eventually you find out who in the band wants to take it seriously. Some times you get lucky and you can stay with the same people as long as it takes, other times you probably have eighteen thousand different musician swaps. The thing is if you’re in a high school band and you’ve got the passion and stick to it and if I can do it then you guys can do it. Seriously.

If one of the problems is you can find a musician to play in your band, for example if you’re looking for a guitarist what I would do is first of all go to the local music shop talk to the people there, get to know the people there later on in life they can end up being great friends and great assets because they have all the equipment and apart from that they would know every single musician in your area. So talk to them, maybe put up a sign there, maybe put up a sign at school. Basically just say what kind of band you’re in, what kind of music you’re into and what you want to play and eventually someone is going to answer your ad.

When it comes to naming the band this is a massive issue I think. Because the first thing is all the members of the band have to agree with it I reckon that’s the hardest bit. The best thing is for everybody in the band to write down their ideas of what the name should be then write them all up on a board and then somebody say them out loud and soon as the majority of the people go ‘woah that’s good’ then you are getting somewhere. Otherwise it’s just going to end up in a bit of a brawl or more signs to get drummer and things like that.

I was in a couple of bands at school, they were some great named bands. Like vertical Smile which says it all. I don’t know how we named the band though, I don’t know how I even accepted that. I was also in a band called Cypher, I think we named it because it was a Bad Religion lyric. And also I was in a band called Melac we named that because it was a Millencolin song. So it’s just a matter of everyone agreeing with each other and just find something that’s catchy and fun.

The band I was in, we broke up I don’t remember why, but I just remember going to a party and they were playing and I wasn’t in it. But I think it turned out for the best because I’m in my favourite band and the band I was in is also actually a pretty renowned Australian band now as well so we both went on to do great things but we went our separate ways and that’s just what happens in highschool.

OK you've got your graduation day, Year 12, yay we’ve finished school! Now we go from being a high school band to a band. That’s probably the hardest transition I think. Once you leave high school money becomes an issue where some people go off to find jobs, apprenticeships, or go to university or do things like that and people tend to lose the passion. It is all about passion, if you want it bad enough and you’re with people that also want it bad enough then you’re going to form a bond and it’s really going to work. The band I’m in now, we probably started about four years ago, but if I wasn’t n a highs chool band I wouldn’t have had the experience of how not to name your band Vertical Smile.

So you’re in high school, you love music, like I did and like I do, you can’t just forget about studying and forget about your school work and everything like that, that’s important as well especially when it comes to lyrics, but if you’re passionate about it and you’ve got the drive and you want it bad enough by all means do it there is nothing stopping you.