30 under 30: Local Teen Band Ranks Sixth in Nation in Battle of the Bands Contest

After four months together, Drop Avenue has won a regional battle of the bands competition.

The band is made up of 16-year-olds Mike Boschert and Cameron Nichols and 17-year-olds Logan Rohlf and Andrew Williams. They play alternative punk music similar to All Time Low, Blink-182 and Yellowcard.

Drop Avenue competed in the St. Louis regional portion of a national battle of the bands, Battle for America Thursday. A panel of established musicians placed Drop Avenue ahead of five other bands, putting the band in sixth place in the nation.

The bands were scored out of 210 points. The band in first place was from Houston, where the competition started, and received 190 points. Drop Avenue received 172 points.

Boschert, Rohlf and Williams will start senior year at in the fall. Nichols will be a junior at . All four participate in marching band at school and are active in extracurricular activities. Boschert is student council president and Nichols is class president.

St. Charles Patch: Who started Drop Avenue?

Mike Boschert: I guess it was me and Andrew. We've been together in bands since our freshman year of high school.

St. Charles Patch: How often do you play shows?

Mike Boschert: Actually, we just started getting shows recently. The battle of the bands was actually our first show outside of school. We played our talent show last month.

Cameron Nichols: Yeah, we lost to a dancer.

St. Charles Patch: How many shows have you played?

Mike Boschert: If you count the talent show and a fundraiser we did for our school, I think just it's three. One big one, though, which was the Jefferson Warehouse battle of the bands. We won that.

We also have a show Monday night at Fubar. On August 27, we're playing Race for the Rivers down on Main Street. We're going to play on the pavilion down there.

St. Charles Patch: Where do you practice?

Mike Boschert: Logan's basement.

Logan Rohlf: My parents put up with us. I don't know how.

St. Charles Patch: How did you band compare to some of the other bands at the battle of the bands?

Logan Rohlf: There was one other younger group that kind of had the same style as us. It made me a little nervous when they were playing. But as their part of the show went on, they seemed to talk a little bit more and went a little bit too far with some jokes. I feel like, as a band, maybe they hadn't practiced as much.

St. Charles Patch: What did you get for winning regional?

Mike Boschert: Every band there gets a free professional photo shoot, so we got that. From winning, we got our $45 entry fee back, so that was nice.

Cameron Nichols: Once we get some good recordings up, they're going to send them to two record companies that they work with and three of our choice.

Logan Rohlf: There's a website called Reverb Nation that's pretty popular, and we're going to be on the cover of that.

Mike Boschert: There's a graphic design company that's going to design our logo and our first CD cover. And we get a CD release party. It's really crazy.

Logan Rohlf: We're really excited, especially because it was our first show. It was the first time people outside of our school were hearing us.

St. Charles Patch: Has being a younger band ever been an issue when playing shows?

Cameron Nichols: I think being younger has actually helped us. It seems like we haven't been playing that long, but we've already made it this far.

St. Charles Patch: Do you have plans for college yet?

Mike Boschert: As of now, I'm looking at (University) for radio broadcasting. That's what I've got in mind.

Logan Rohlf: I recently went and checked out Flo Valley (Florissant Valley Community College) for their graphic art department. I was thinking about looking into that or just an art institute, depending on how expensive it is.

St. Charles Patch: Are you going to pursue the band during college?

Logan Rohlf: Yes. It would take a lot for our parents to let us take a break from school to just do the band or go on tour.

Mike Boschert: We're all going to live close enough so that we could still practice during college. Next year, Cameron will still be a senior at West, so we'll all be in the area for another year at least.

Logan Rohlf: School is a priority, for sure.

St. Charles Patch: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Mike Boschert: Touring the world!

Logan Rohlf: That would be so awesome to be able to travel the country playing music. That would be the best career ever, I think.

Mike Boschert: Because it's what we all love to do. We've all been involved in music for years. Playing for people just makes it so much more fun. It feels right to be up there. It's what we like doing, so we don't have a reason to be nervous or afraid.

Cameron Nichols: Some people don't want to go on stage, but with us, we don't want to get off.