By Jena McCoy
Reporter There is something exhilarating about being part of a large crowd, dancing in no particular style to fresh, new music and just enjoying the moment at hand. Sometimes it’s just fine not to know the lyrics and to listen to whatever comes to your ears.
Nicholls students Patrick Trahan, business administration sophomore from Thibodaux, and Gerard Lombardo, biology sophomore from Mullica Hills, NJ, are members of the band Painting the Seconds.
Four members total, two attending other schools, make up this local band which describes its style as modern rock mixed with melodic metal.
Like many bands in the past, Painting the Seconds found its humble beginnings in a garage (Trahan’s mother’s garage to be specific) and initially included only Lombardo and Trahan. Trahan provided lead vocals and guitar, while Lombardo played additional guitar. Realizing they needed more than a duo, a drummer was soon added. The final member offered his services as a bassist, and the band was complete, together and playing now for about four months.
The band finds time to practice whenever they are not occupied by schoolwork or jobs, considering that each member has one. They manage to find time for one or two practice days during the school week, where they run their usual set list and try to create new music as well.
“We practice whenever we have the time, usually on the weekends,” Trahan said. “We play music because we love to play.”
Lombardo shared his thought process on forming the band’s music and its style.
“There’s sort of an experimental aspect to it,” Lombardo said. “I just think about what I want the song to be about and try to set it to that mood.”
The band’s most recent show was at Rock Summit, a national talent search on Feb. 15. It was held in Baton Rouge’s “The Darkroom,” where 14 bands total performed.
Some of the most popular bands were moved on to Rock Summit’s regional level. From there, they will compete for the national spot, which is complete with distributing, marketing and licensing of the band on a national level.
The band as a whole felt Rock Summit was one of their best performances, but they were slightly disappointed when their performance time wasmoved ahead one hour. This caused some supporters to miss their show and did not give the band the audience participation they would have gotten at the original time. Audience participation was part of the voting process that enabled bands to move on in the competition.
However, the band was not too discouraged and managed to come out with quite a few good memories.
“It was a good experience.” Trahan said, “We got to hear from a lot of different styles of bands.”
Lombardo shared his thoughts on the Rock Summit show as well.
“Overall, any time we play a show, it’s fun,” Lombardo stated.
Regarding the band’s future, both Trahan and Lombardo would like to see the band succeed, but they are content just enjoying making music, since their time spent together is never boring.
“We all like to joke around and have a good time,” Trahan said about the band.
Lombardo even shared a humorous, though not entirely “good,” story about the band getting turned around while driving to one of their shows. The drummer leading the way seemed very confident in his guidance, often saying things like, “It’s this way, I’m sure. Just follow me!” Perhaps he was too confident because the band ended up lost with a funny story for the future.
“I would like to see the band get big,” Lombardo said, “but as long as we’re playing music, I’ll be enjoying it.