New Kids on the Rock
Alternative band justincase bids for pop stardom
Justin, Nick, and Hannah Tosco of Charlotte are everything parents dream their teens will be, and a few things they usually don't.
They are charming, disciplined and well-rounded. They do well in class, play school sports and don't torture each other that often.
But nights and weekends, they gel up their hair and blow away preconceptions with the gut-pounding music they creat as justincase, the alternative rock/pop band that is their alter ego.
"People probably wouldn't know we played basketball or soccer or got good grades," drummer Nick, 14, said cheerfully of the group, which has pricked interest locally in the last two years. "I man, we dress really alternative, we play loud...we don't really look academic."
Starting today, they get their first shot at the dream of every air-guitar star- national discovery.
Teen People magazine's September issue, at newsstands today, named justincase a finalist in its teen music "stars of tomorrow" contest. Five teen acts nationwide got the nod, from more than 1,500 who entered earlier this year.
This has already been a pinch-yourself year for the Toscos. In April, justincase was featured in "So, You Wanna Be a Rockstar?", a book published by Beyond Words Publishing in Oregon. In July, Blockbuster Pavilion event director Matt Rogers tapped the group to play on a side stage at the Journey/Foreigner concert; they did so well, he asked them back for a Sept. 1 concert featuring the Goo Goo Dolls with Fastball, Everlast and Sugar Ray.
Now comes the real test: playing to the masses. The magazine article invites readers to call a special number and listen to a snippet of one original song from each finalist. The caller then can vote for a favorite.
The winner gets the fairy-tale ending- a New York audition for Warner Bros. Records and a slot for its song on an upcoming Teen People compact disc.
"Sometimes we can't believe what's going on," 16-year-old Justin said. "We're just amazed we got this far."
At the Toscos' east Charlotte home, a sure sign that things are looking up is the great room decor: vintage Stratocaster. They usually practice in the garage. But when they have a gig, they move inside. With so much happening lately, the family has been living cheek-to-amplifier with sound equipment, microphones, guitars, basses, keyboards, and drums.
Justin, a junior at Vance High School, sings, plays lead guitar and writes virtually all the group's material, including "The Key," the song about a search for freedom chosen by Teen People.
Hannah, 12, who handles keyboards and bass guitar, is an eighth-grader at Countryside Montessori School.
Vance freshman Nick, who started as the band's 8-year-old "light guy" (he held the flashlights), plays the drums.
Parents John and Holly Tosco are musicians. Jam sessions with friends have been part of family life since Justin was in a baby seat, cotton balls stuffed into his ears.
John, 41, teachers guitar through the Community School of the Arts; Holly, 39, teaches at Countryside Montessori School and plays guitar. These days, John Tosco is more of a Pied Piper for the local music scene. The living-room music gatherings of 15 years ago have evolved into quarterly public open houses for local musicians. The Tosco Music Parties- not held at the Great Aunt Stella Center uptown and attracting more than 400- are full-bore music smorgasboards. Anyone- good or bad, professional or undiscovered- can sign up to play, sing, chant, or stomp any kind of music.
The parties became Justin, Nick, and Hannah's laboratory. Each spent years helping set up equipment, listening and joining in at practice sessions for the parties. Two years ago, they debuted justincase there, and have played each gathering since.
"I think that a lot of people infer that because we are musicians and teachers that we are stage parents driving them to do this," Holly Tosco said. "But what we do is dictated by the kids. If they say stop, we will."
There is no denying that music and performing are easily nurtured in this house. All three younger Toscos can play several instruments, picking up the saxophone, flute, or piano as easily as the guitar.
"We have regular family meetings," John Tosco said. "I'll tell them that a show is coming up and ask them if they want me to book them, because it means they have to commit to rehearsal. It's the same thing with sports for them, too. They know that they have a responsibility to do the work."
Their musical heros mirror the influence of baby boomer, music loving parents to MTV- from the Beatles to Dan Fogelberg, from the Goo Goo Dolls to up-and-coming regional favorites like Marvelous 3, Dovetail Joint, and Shades Apart.
"A lot of the bands we listen to are local or at least bands we can see around here," Justin said. "It's not that we don't listen to big-name national bands, but they seem intangible to us."
With the aplomb of youth, the younger Toscos all say music is only one of their interests.
Justin plays soccer in the fall and point guard for Vance High's varsity basketball team in the winter. "Then I usually like to play in the spring," he said. Nick, a ninth-grader at Vance this year, played several sports at Countryside Montessori and is thinking about going out for football at Vance. Hannah plays soccer and basketball.
"These are all things we are doing while we can, really, until the band gets bigger- we hope," Nick said. "I mean, I know if I had more free time I'd just sit around and watch TV anyway."