Reston resident Caleb L’Etoile knows teen angst. For one, he’s a teenager, whose face looks like it’s never seen the edge of a razor. But it’s most apparent in the music lyrics he writes:
I want to be the filter
Dangling loosely from your mouth
Keeping clean your lungs
As the world slowly burns out
His four demo songs available on the Internet have had 5,000-plus downloads since April.
With the five-member band he formed nine months ago, Makeshift Airwaves, L’Etoile, 17, has not only created a sometimes melancholy and always heartfelt sound, but also an outlet for teenage ruminations.
He’s not the only one.
IN FRONT OF about 50 teenagers and parents last Friday night, two bands and one solo singer competed in the Battle of the Bands sponsored by the Reston Community Center, the Reston Association and the Reston Teen Center.
Much like the movie, "School of Rock," the teenage competitors played a set of mostly original material for the chance to win the approval of the audience and also a $150 gift certificate to Guitar Center. The winner was determined by the audience’s response.
For James Millican, 17, singer and guitar player for Catalyst, the other band in the competition, it was an opportunity “to gain from the experience.”
“We’re not looking to win anything, just play in front of the crowd and hopefully get the crowd riled up,” the Fairfax Station resident said.
Millican, who will be a senior at W.T. Woodson this fall, writes the lyrics and music for the band, which he helped form five years ago. The other two members, both 17, — Colin Veit, the bass player who attends Thomas Jefferson High School, and Matt Houston, the drummer who attends Fairfax High School — have been friends since they were 3 and grew up across the street from each other. When Millican met Veit in middle school, they decided to form the band.
“They’ve been jamming in our basement for five years,” said Sharell Houston, Matt’s mother, adding that when she bought Matt his first drum set she thought it would be a “big dust collector.” The band has since given out hundreds of demo compact discs.
The event’s youngest contender was Cienna Rose, a 13-year-old who will be in the eighth grade at Langston Hughes Middle School this fall.
Rose, an American Idol contestant waiting to happen, goes by Cienna Jade, her “stage name.”
The Reston native wrote two rhythm and blues songs for the event. “One’s called ‘My Audience’ and the other is called ‘If,’” she said. Her favorite chorus from her songs comes from her latest creation, called “Below Me.” It goes:
How could you choose her over me
She’s so below me, she’s so below me
How could you hold her and not hold me
Anyone can see that she’s so below me
Rose said that she has always wanted to be a performer, interested in singing, dancing and acting. “It’s always been my comfort zone,” she said. “It’s what makes me happy.” Rose hopes to make singing her career.
WITH FOUR CLACKS of Houston’s drumsticks, Catalyst kicked off the event Friday night with a set of seven original songs. The music generally sounded like a softer Metallica, using power chord progressions and many creative guitar arpeggios.
The crowd favorite was “Surrender,” which sounds like a classic rock radio favorite. The song began:
I remember long grass up to our knees
It stings but we didn’t care then
You just lay there waiting for me to say please
Please tell me to surrender
They mixed up their set with a fun rendition of the 1979 hip-hop hit, “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugar Hill Gang. A good contrast with their original music, the song surprised and refreshed the crowd before the band played its last three songs.
Wearing a personalized gold necklace with the name Vanessa in honor of her mother, Rose was next to take the stage.
Before starting her set, Rose warmed up her voice by belting out few swooping scales, which caused the crowd’s hooting to reach new heights. When she began her songs, she high-stepped the stage, arms waving to the beats.
In her second song, “My Audience,” Rose spoke to the crowd like in the beginning of a Supreme’s song. Carrying a tune like today’s pop stars, Rose seemed to be a crowd favorite.
Unfortunately, Rose’s performance was barred from the competition. “She was disqualified for saying 'hell' in her song, even though the Reston Community Center had over a month to listen to her demo,” said Vanessa Rose, Cienna’s mother. Just before the event started, organizers told the competitors that inappropriate language was means for disqualification, but since Rose never heard from organizers, she thought her songs were acceptable.
BY THE TIME Makeshift Airwaves made it to the stage, the competition was a two-horse race. The band — which includes Cezar Gomez on guitar, Ashlee Liedtke on keyboard, Mike Yttaro on bass guitar, and Steve Pelkey on drums — played seven songs. The self-described indie-pop group got its loudest response after “So Sweet My Queen.” The song is best remembered by its catchy keyboard transitions played by Liedtke, who had the band’s playlist written in pen on the inside of her forearm.
The song is about breaking down barriers in a relationship, said L’Etoile, who thinks his songs speak most loudly to “hopeless romantics.” He wrote them all for Liedtke, his girlfriend for the last year and nine months — which is also the life span of the band.
In the end, the competition nearly went to split decision. The judges, comprised of staff at the Teen Center, said the applause for Catalyst and Makeshift Airwaves was too close to call, so they used feet stomping as the tie-breaker.
After deliberation, the judges declared Makeshift Airwaves the winner by an extra few feet-stomping decibels. Magnanimous about the win, L’Etoile said they couldn’t have done it without the crowd’s support.
The band’s drummer, Pelkey, made the only suggestion for celebrations: “Let’s go get slurpees.”