Local musicians take part in disBAND

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Quinn Danielis is finding his 15 minutes of fame a little weird.

Danielis is the lead singer of the band formed by his friends Damien Stillwell (guitar), Chris Thaung (bass), and Nathan Wallace (drums) and his cousin Dale Doiron (lead guitar). The band make its television debut Thursday evening on the new show disBAND.

The 19-year-olds began jamming together while attending Cardinal Newman Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough (except for Doiron who hails from Grimsby).

Danielis applied to be on the show two years ago and by the time the show was slated to tape in May the band had a different lineup, but they pulled it together and Danielis said they found their groove as a band during the taping. The show gave them the opportunity to work with a music "guru" and play their best song before a panel of industry judges for a chance to impress or be told they should disband.

The first issue guru Greig Nori tackled was the quintet's name: Garden State. Fearing copyright infringements from the Zach Braff movie of the same name, he challenged them to think of a new one before appearing before the panel in the Much Music environment.

Nori is the former lead singer of Treble Charger and the man who helped bring Sum 41 to the masses. The band was somewhat awestruck to be able to work with him.

"When Greig first walked in the room we all dropped our jaws," Danielis said.

They were psyched to work with the man who produced such great music for so many bands.

The next issue Nori dealt with was their best song. After surprising the band in its rehearsal space, he had them play what they considered to be their best piece. His reaction was lukewarm: he'd heard better and he'd heard worse.

His second mission for the young musicians was to compose a new piece within 24 hours that could be perfected before their make-or-break performance. They came through with Funeralistic.

Next came the professional photo shoot. Danielis found the taste of rock stardom tiring.

"We just did it for one week and...we were just exhausted," he said.

Their final challenge before the ultimate test was an interview with Much News. It was during the interview that the band learned one of the names they'd be toying with, The Homecoming, would become their new name.

After a week of guidance by their guru and putting themselves to the test as a band, the boys of The Homecoming laid it all out there for the judges. A catchy chorus pumped up the crowd, but it was the judges who had the final say on whether they had the stuff rock stars are made of or whether they should disband.

All will be revealed Thursday, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m. when disBAND premieres on MuchMusic.