Topics Magazine

Just in case you want to hear about them now
It won't be long before everyone knows all about justincase

Anxious and inexperienced, I took my first step into the Tosco residence, home of the three members of the band, justincase. Immediately, as I walked in the door, I knew that I was in for a treat. With great hospitality the band members' parents, John and Holly, invited me into their open living room adorned with its famliy pictures and its wide array of instruments, including a piano which I'm sure was used a lot as their children grew up.
Being aspiring rock stars comes with its downsides- rehearsing at all hours of the night, working to get it "just right" in the recording studio and keeping up with all prior commitments. This is a scenario justincase knows all too well. Looking around the living room, I noticed hundreds of CDs, stacks of sheet music, and a couple of athletic bags piled behind a chair.
Hannah, the youngest at 12, plays the bass and keyboards. Her brothers, Justin and Nick, refer to her as the "peacemaker". When creative conflicts arise between the two boys, Hannah is the one that brings them back together. She seems to be the shoulder for them all to lean on. (Is it also because she's shorter than the two of them?)
The one who keeps the spirit of the band going is Nick, a 14-year-old freshman at Vance High School in Charlotte, NC. He is known as the family comedian. Coincidentally, he is also the untamed drummer who keeps the rhythmic flow moving from one measure to the next.
Lastly, there is the leader of the group, Justin, a 16-year-old junior at Vance. "We all wait to see what he created for the band," remarked their mother, Holly. "He is the style setter." Justin plays lead guitar and is the band's singer/song writer.
"I write songs about past relationships and experiences," said Justin. "I mainly write the melody, music and line. Nick writes the drum part, and Hannah works with me on the bass. It's all a collaboration."
Before the kids created justincase, they preformed old Beatles songs for guests. It was only three and half years ago after a successful school talent show that they decided to form Simon Pure. (That name didn't last long because people wanted to know who Simon was.) Eventually they changed their name to justincase, which was a suggestion from a friend. Since then, they have dedicated themselves to the band.
"We try to practice at least an hour everyday," Justin told me.
"A band is like sports: although we really don't like to practice, we're glad when those games come," Nick added.
Sacrifice is a term the Toscos know well. Justin explained, "we're right at the point where we can play gigs all weekend and do sports and school all week. If it got to where we couldn't manage it all, it would just be school and the band. It's getting close to that point now with all this new publicity."
Recently, they competed in the Honey Nut Cheerios Music Challenge and were awards first place. They also won the Grand Prize in a national music-writing contest sponsored by Beyond Words Publishing, Inc.
Plus, they were featured in the book So You Want to Be a Rock Star? published in April 1999. This involved book-signings, various television appearances, radio interviews, concert dates and a recording on a CD. How could they possibly top that?
Well, they did.
Selected by Teen People Magazine and Warner Brothers Records, the group was one of five finalists chosen in the "Five Live Search"- a national songwriting contest. Voting will determine the lucky winner who will get a New York audition with the Warner Brothers and a song on the Teen People CD. They appear in the September 1999 issues on newsstands today.
When I asked what they wanted from the band and what their highest aspiration was, Nick answered, "to tour and meet Katie Holmes. No really, I just want to perform."
Plus, according to Hannah, "it's just so much fun getting paid to mess around with my brothers. It's what I love."
Justin leaned back in his stool, "I want to be a musician- whatever it takes to be one. If that doesn't work out, I'd be a firefighter or basketball coach."
Driven, motivated and focused are all adjectives that describe the tight family unit that the Toscos created. "We put a lot of time in the band. We do it because we believe in them, and want to support them," John pointed out.
Holly agreed. "This is the one thing in which they have shown the discipline," she said. "There are a lot of things they do that we are proud of, but the main thing is that they are teenagers, and that they are so directed. And that makes us even closer."
If you like ballads of alternative bands, the beat of popular music and the timeless sounds of classic rock, check out justincase. Or you can vote for them toll free 1-877-808-3423 and hear a sampling of the music that is moving them towards stardom.

by- Chaydha Pleasant
Senior, Butler HS
Matthews, NC