High school band Untitled has come a long way since debuting at Battle of the Bands at a time when its members were eighth-graders at Mill Creek.
After becoming regulars at the events, which are organized by Deborah Marsh's Student Produced Artistic Collaborative Events (SPACE) program, the Dexter High School freshmen have reached the top.
SPACE organizes band battles at the Copeland cafeteria building two or three times a year, converting the normally sedate eating space into a convincing and lively concert hall.
Besides Untitled, five other acts performed at the January concert, including 7 Ate 9, Vintage (last fall's winners), and solo acts "Highs and Lows," featuring Graham Low, and other soloists Luke Longoria and John Germaine.
Low, along with Ian Boyd, Sean Pollard and Jeremy Horner, have become more than just another band competing for attention and just wanting to be something bigger than themselves - they have also become meaningful figures in the Dexter band scene.
"There are just not as many bands left," said Low, who has become something of a talent scout and developer.
He is also a member of Vintage, with his sister Chelsea, in addition to his solo title.
"The senior class last year had a lot of great bands and they're just gone now," he said. "We're hoping that we can get more musical people involved."
Low tries to downplay his role, saying it is an unofficial thing.
"I'm just trying to tell people so they're aware of it. I'm hoping that when the eighth-graders come up we'll have some more musical talent. We're actively looking for people that can play. "
The field was much more competitive when they debuted with their first official gig more than a year ago.
"That was not just for kids our age, it was for much older kids," Low recalled. "We kind of branched out from there, and next thing we know, we win."
Marsh said there is a lack of participation in the organizational end of SPACE, and that she needs students, and some parents, to step up to the plate.
"This really is a great organization," she said. "It allows kids on the fringe of school activities to have a place to call their own in school.
"It gives kids whose talents don't align with traditional school activities a place to shine."
According to Marsh, the program's self-sustainability has been an important goal that has not yet been reached.
"It seems right now that the students involved are a little less motivated to make it work," she said. "Maybe I need some other adult to help."
Marsh said that something needs to be done to "shoot some energy" into the program. She also said that several requests for grants have been turned down to bring some of the things she thinks the program needs, like furniture and accouterments to create a coffee shop-style environment.
The long-term vision would give Dexter students a place to read poetry, participate in film festivals, engage in "open mic" nights and even more band battles.
"If only I could clone myself," Marsh said.
Aside from the details of SPACE as a means of galvanizing musical and other student talent, Marsh said she was proud of how far Untitled has come. "I think that they were definitely the ones who practice the most and looked the cleanest."
She commended them on their stage presence, while recalling their start
"They were just little eighth graders when they started out, it was funny because they were so nervous, but they did very well and are definitely starting to look like they belong on that stage," Marsh said.
Untitled does what it can on the music front to help bolster SPACE and foster talent. Band guitarist, Boyd, is optimistic about the future of the Dexter music scene and future band battles.
"I believe that having a shortage of youth musicians in Dexter will never be a long lasting problem," he said. "Dexter is known for their great musical atmosphere and will always put out good performers."
Boyd said that winning the battle was a lot of fun and a great experience, encouraging others to step up to the plate and continue his vision of a never-ending musical scene of competition and camaraderie.
"As for our future as a band, look for a CD coming soon ... very soon," he said.
The next SPACE Battle of the Bands is scheduled for April 10.
Untitled performed its original hit "KLS" and "Don't Worry," and debuted a new single.
"Anyways" is a change of pace for the band, whose songs are typically written by guitarist Ian Boyd.
"I did a little something different with this one," Boyd said. "I decided to sit down and study how the 'greats' structured their songs."
Boyd focused on bands that built strong solos into their music in order to recapture something from the classics.
"What we needed was a song that brings back the anticipation feeling we all get when we know a solo is coming up," he said.
"I looked at how the solo moved along with the song and how they composed a solo that just flowed along, such as 'Free Bird.'"
Boyd and the band want crowds to "go nuts" when the solo happens, which it did at last month's battle, when it came to that point in "Anyways."
Leader singer Graham Low takes a much more philosophical view on the new single.
"The lyrics are kind of about going through a path of music," he said. "It's about how music can take you places - not places in the world, but places in your soul.
"The song talks about heaven and hell."
"Anyways"
I roll down this path of melody
with clouds in my mind which is all that I see
I turn around the corner onto an empty street
Chorus
The Devil lives inside all of us
Nothing can save you, not even a cross
The Devil lives inside all of us
Nothing can save you, not even a cross
I fly across this empty space
Why can't I just get out of this place
I'll never again see your face
Chorus
Bridge
Slowdown
That look in your eyes took my breath away
From the minute I saw you I knew I had lost you right away
You're fading in and out of consciousness
When I met you what was the point
Trying to have something that was yours
That you couldn't have ... Anyways
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