A local high school rock band has begun the long and arduous journey on the path to stardom – well, maybe not stardom yet, but at least to Clutch Cargos where they performed in a Battle of the Bands on Nov. 23 in front of more than 600 people.
False Start – featuring Phillip Popp, 15, lead vocals; John Seinar, 15, drums; Ken Lalone, 14, lead guitar; and Alex Grapentin, 15, bass – competed against 54 other groups at Clutch Cargos. Although the group didn’t get either of the top two spots, they were told by organizers that they placed high.
“It was great,” said Popp, “I wasn’t nervous, I was more agitated before we went on.”
“We performed at 6:30 p.m. and I stayed until 9:30 p.m. and it was great to have these people I didn’t know come up to me and tell me ‘You were awesome.’ It was kind of weird too because they weren’t like our friends or anything.”
“The crowd was definitely the best part of the evening,” said Lalone.
False Start began with members Phillip Popp and John Seinar. Popp had already been playing with another band when Seinar filled-in as drummer. The two found they had a lot in common musically and began playing and writing together a lot over the summer. They even performed on their own in the Seymour Lake Talent Show as “Five Star Flash.”
Not long after, Ken Lalone joined the group. He laughs when he thinks of how he met Popp.
“I met Phil by walking up to him and saying ‘I like your shoes,’” said Lalone with a smile. “He must have thought I was crazy.”
With two guitars and a drummer, the threesome knew they were missing one thing – a bass player. The three high schoolers had met Alex Grapentin in the seventh grade, but didn’t approach him about the spot at first because of his playing style.
“We thought all he was big into was AC/DC,” explained Popp, “but he turned out to fit in really great.”
Popp and Seinar write most of the music, but the group often comes together as a whole for everyone to “fill-in” their part. The foursome began perfecting their set over two months ago; and two weeks before the Battle of the Bands False Start was born.
“We rehearse every weekend for like the whole weekend,” said Popp. “We’ve been practicing everyday here lately.”
The group describes their sound as alternative punk.
“We don’t want to follow bands, we want to be unique,” said Popp.
“We’re not trying to sound like anybody,” added Lalone. “We just write what comes out.”
At Clutch Cargos the group played five original songs: “No Where to Go,” by Seinar; “Guaranteed Miss,” by Popp; “Sorrow’s Anthem,” by Popp; “Unknown,” by Popp; and “Broken Dreams,” by Popp and Seinar.
Popp said the band’s next big gig will hopefully be the Flint Metro League Battle of the Bands competition, hosted this year at Oxford High School on Dec. 13.
“We don’t know yet though, we have to audition,” he explained.
Anyone interested in hearing the band play can call Popp at 248-628-8841 or Lalone at 248-628-9213.