Thursday, March 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Music: Guiding light

Local band September Star's pop punk shines

By Brock Radke

As if it's not hard enough for an 19-and-under rock band to find places to play in Las Vegas, the guys in September Star had to go and piss off the brass at the Huntridge, unquestionably the top all-ages venue in town.

After playing in the Huntridge's Bike Rack Battle a few months back, singer Seth Trotter and guitarist Tom Oakes got a little creative with their leftover access wristbands, much to the dismay of a Huntridge honcho.

"The next night the Used was playing, and they're like our favorite band of all time," says Oakes, 17. "Me and Seth kept our wristbands and used them to get backstage, and [the Huntridge employee] saw us and was pissed. It was a stupid mistake, but I just wanted to meet the guitar player [Quinn Allman] and tell them their record changed my life. We were like some crazed fans."

If things continue to move as surprisingly speedily as they already have for Oakes and company, there might soon be some crazed 17-year-olds trying to meet him.

September Star has been a band for a little more than a year and has already played the Huntridge, gigged out of town, been selected as lvlocalmusicscene.com's band of the month and as a participant on the website's annual compilation CD, which will be available at a release kickoff show Friday at the House of Blues. Of course, SS will play the show, too, adding another notable item to its list of accomplishments. "Things just keep popping up for us," says Oakes. "I don't know why."

The answer is simple: SS songs follow the tried-and-true formula for pop-punk success. Kids love to see other kids rocking, as evidenced by the "TRL"-dominating glut of bands like Sum 41, New Found Glory, Simple Plan and Good Charlotte. And the SS kids, all former Centennial High School students, rock loud and well, complete with catchy guitar riffs and high-pitched vocals detailing the struggles of growing up and sorting things out.

Oakes, who joined the band last June when things started getting serious, says he doesn't much care for comparisons. "A lot of people have said we just rip off New Found Glory, but I think that's just because we have singer with a high voice who can actually sing," he says. "It's just rock, though. Our new EP has a lot of different sounds on it."

Following in the footsteps of many other young punkish bands such as Finch and New Found Glory, SS has even managed to attract the attention of indie Drive-Thru, performing one showcase and planning to send the label its newest product, a recently finished six-song sampler.

"We want to be with Drive-Thru but so do thousands of other bands," Oakes says. "Hopefully they'll like what we give them. We like it. I'm in love with it."

Everything seems to be falling into place for the guys, which leaves only one change to be made. With a name like September Star, one would guess there'd be a tear-jerking, lyric-generating, girl-who-moved-away-and-broke-my-young-little-emopunk-heart kind of story. But there isn't.

"It does sound like a cliché," admits Oakes. "I don't know. There's no official answer. I know there should be something stupid to say, but I don't know. Just put something stupid, like, we all got girlfriends in September."

Come on, you can do better than that. Those fans are going to want something more.