College Sound: ACC student band The Steps sits down with the Accent

They perform in England and Japan. They shared the stage with Bob Dylan, The Killers and N.E.R.D. at various music festivals such as Austin City Limits (ACL) and New American Music Union. This is an impressive track record for Austin band, The Steps. What makes it more impressive is that the garage rock band members, three of which attend Austin Community College, are currently 20-22 years old.

"It helps having a management," said drummer Alexander "Z" Lynch. "We met in high school and played. We met Kevin (Wommack) who wanted to manage us. Then we started to get more serious about things. We got ACL 2007 and then in 2008."

The Steps formed when drummer Lynch and lead guitarist Sam Thompson were 15 year old high school students. Lynch met vocalist Will Thompson, who is also Sam Thompson's cousin, through his band members at the time.

"I met Will and Sam through (another) band and eventually I stopped playing with that band," said Lynch.

Bassist Stephen Ross was added to the roster after he met Will Thompson through their respective girlfriends. Sam Thompson remembers that Ross was 16 years old when he joined because he had his driver's license.

"I remember he drove," said Sam Thompson. "He drove to the practice and we were ‘oh, he can drive. That's cool.'"

While The Steps were in search of a bassist, Will Thompson decided to ask Ross if he was interested in joining the band. But there was one problem. Ross didn't know how to play bass. Ross showed up to the practice anyway after being invited to jam with the band and see how he fit. However, with no experience in playing the bass, Ross decided to improvise.

"I made it up," said Ross. "I'm still making it up."

While their classmates were worrying about prom and finals, The Steps were going to Europe and getting their names printed in something other than the high school newspaper.

"It was a popular thing to talk about it for a little while, but I feel like I didn't get more popular because of it," said Sam Thompson.

Now five years later, The Steps is currently competing with nine other bands in the Mead Five Star Music Insider program. They were hand-picked for the competition and now have a chance to win the prize of $25,000. However, in order to win, they have to gain the most votes from the Five Star Music Insider website. Voters also get a chance to win $25,000.

Voters can also purchase selected Five Star products that include codes for free content such as mp3s and video blogs from the bands. The competition has brought The Steps more attention on a national level. 

"People are looking at it and at least looking at the bands on the website," said Sam Thompson. "We got good odds. Somebody is going to look at us and like us hopefully."

Editor's Note: College Sound is a reoccurring feature. If you are an ACC student and a musician, please contact Life & Arts Editor Sarah Vasquez at editor2@austincc.edu.

Updated to include the Editor's note. 9/22/10