Local band desribes experiences of being involved in a band on, off stage while balancing studies

Is it birth control, Viagra or a reference to the "blue pill" in "The Matrix?" What does the band's name mean? With a sly smile senior Caleb Vesey, drummer for My Blue Pill, said, "It is what you want it to be. It's your blue pill. It's the embodiment of what you're looking for."

My Blue Pill is composed of senior Chris Castiglione who plays guitar and sings lead vocals, senior Nick Lombardi plays bass and guitar, senior Caleb Vesey plays drums, senior Dave Strong does hand percussion and junior Behvin McDonnell plays the cello and keyboard. Each individual brings an inspired piece of his or her creation to flesh out My Blue Pill's original sound.

According to the band's Web site, www.mybluepill.net, its innovative sound incorporates electronic beats, ambient color, creamy guitar and infectious melodies.

Over the past three years that the five have been a band, members have managed to fuse together their eclectic tastes in music into their own original sound. Ranging from musical artists Bjork to Radiohead, the band finds limitless amounts of inspiration.

It is their symphonic blend that recently has earned them the title of Mainstreet Bar and Grill's Band of the Year. Lombardi said, "We want to go where no one else has been … to stay away from mainstream rock and the over-influential media and begin to reconstruct music to reach beyond the barriers placed by our society."

My Blue Pill competed against 27 other bands for the title. Any band could register to play and compete in the competition. There was a small entrance fee to enter. The judges conducted their decisions on several different criteria. Crowd size added points to the overall score if there were over 50 in attendance to see a specific band.

My Blue Pill was picked by the panel of judges for its quality of musicianship, crowd interaction and response and stage presence. "Winning Battle of the Bands has validated everything we've been working toward," Castiglione said. "The hard work is paying off and the title has given us the confidence to go further with our music."

For its triumph, the band received $2,000 cash and one year free admissions to all concerts and events at Mainstreet Bar and Grill.

My Blue Pill has chosen to use the prize money toward recording, production and promotion expenses. My Blue Pill has recorded with Risus Productions of New York City and produced two CDs, "My Edge" and "Locus," and currently is working on a third. Promotional expenses include CDs, T-shirts and logo stickers that over 150 loyal My Blue Pill fans wore across their chests, thighs and back pockets in support at the deciding Battle of the Bands show last Aug. 28.

When collaborating material to write songs, the process tends to be a group effort. Castiglione writes the lyrics and the rest of the band coordinates with the tone of the piece and writes their own music to go along with the words. Since McDonnell is classically trained in music, "her ear picks out wrong notes with articulate precision so the music can be more fluid," Castiglione said. "We can all pick out notes that don't sound right, it's just that Behvin (McDonnell) is a perfectionist. She does a good job of keeping the music together."

My Blue Pill's main concern is playing as many shows as possible to expand its audience size. "We've played everywhere from "eating houses" at Princeton [University], to the Lion's Den in New York City, to a laundry room at a JMU house party," Vesey said. "It's about being heard, and having fun in the process."

Performing shows may bring a rush of adrenaline, but it also can be rather strenuous. My Blue Pill recalled an experience on April 20 that amounted to a full days work. "We played three shows in one day starting with Lombardi Gras and then playing two house parties. It was an exhausting but incredible experience," Strong said.

The strangest thing that's ever happened to My Blue Pill was at a show in Princeton. According to the band, a Rutgers student got up on stage and cursed out the "eating club" where they were playing. My Blue Pill didn't want the fraternity, who was hosting the concert, to think that the they were associated with the Rutgers' student so they made up for the incident by collaborating with the fraternity brother on a cover song.

When they are not performing or attending classes, the group spends roughly 70 percent of its time promoting the band. It is a collaborative effort to make press kits, book shows and promote the band through flyers.

"We spend more time in office supply stores then almost anywhere else," Castiglione said. When calling to book shows he added, "Basically we tell them our playing makes it easy to get the crowd rowdy and ready to have a good time. It usually works and we don't lack for shows."

My Blue Pill also does it's own promotional work on its Web site, which contains news about upcoming shows, lyrics, links to articles about the band, local bands, local Web sites and radio stations.

Outside of the band these five JMU students have many other responsibilities. Lombardi and Vesey work for Spanky's downtown, Strong is a chef for the Joshua Wilton House, McDonnell teaches jazz and tap at Dance and Company and Castiglione runs 22 local Web sites. However they all share in the opinion that, "The band is more important to all of us then anything else. What we do in our spare time is nothing compared to the time we concentrate on the music," Lombardi said.

One example of their music is a new song, "Because." This song is about,"America's need to get things compact, affordable and quick — at the expense of others. Everything is for sale. We are living in a fast food, imperialistic and careless nation," Castiglione said.

This song is a "cynical look at society's status symbols that corrupt Americans into believing that attaining more and more will eventually lead to happiness and complacency," Castiglione said.

My Blue Pill plans to tour the East Coast this year. Already having established exposure in Virginia, New Jersey and New York, they would like to broaden their horizons. My Blue Pill would like to continue playing together after graduation and further the success of the band. Their next performance will be held Friday, Oct. 11 at 9 p.m. in PC Ballroom. For more information,see it's Web site www.mybluepill.net.