Local band, Led Astray, has been living by the tune of an AC/DC song, “It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll,” and they have done it without regrets or complaints. The band will be ringing in the New Year performing at Scooter’s bar tonight from 9 o’clock to 1 a.m.
“You have (the ones who get by) then you have the ones who bust their humps, we bust our humps,” band member Mike Genoble said.
Led Astray is made up of Genoble, vocals, Josh Powell, base, Ben Reeder, lead guitarist, Chris Belknap, drums, and Brian Silcox, sound guy.
“We started about two, two and a half years ago,” Genoble said. “A bunch of buddies who shared the love of music.”
The young band got its first break playing on a friend’s patio in Gas in 2010 to a receptive crowd. Since then they have found success. They won Farm City Days’ Battle of the Bands twice, have played local gigs, in addition to a recent performance in Emporia. They are broadcasted on Social Network Radio, they are on ReverNation, they have played the Elk’s Lake Fest as well as for countless benefits.
“We have played a lot of benefits, such as Relay for Life,” Belknap said. “We like to (play benefits) to help out the community.”
With the exception of Belknap, all the band members have been in Iola for the majority of their lives.
Belknap moved to Iola from New Jersey about 16 years ago to be with family. The rest of the band members have been “best friends since grade school,” Genoble said.
With the exception of Genoble, who is self-employed, the band members work at Gates Manufacturing, and as they describe on their Facebook page, they “work full-time jobs during the day and rock at night.”
What they rock is a diverse range of music, predominately ’90s rock to modern music.
“We play some older songs, but they are all remade,” Belknap said. “We’ll play a country song and turn it into rock. Our style of rock is diverse.”
“It also depends on our mood at the time, and the crowd,” Reeder added. “We could be playing our best song and if the crowd isn’t into it (it doesn’t matter).”
The band members don’t take life too seriously, a possible key to a successful medium between work, passion and family.
“We are all full-time daddies,” Genoble said. “Our kids can sing all of our original recorded songs.”
“We are very family oriented,” Belknap said.
Led Astray stays current by keeping social networking sites, like Facebook, current, and can be found on most networks.
Band members feel their prospects are high. They have more scheduled performances coming into 2013 and are talking about releasing a live-recorded album.
“We have gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who have listened to our music. We have been told several times ‘if you guys don’t make it, it will be your own fault,’” Genoble said.
Whether the band makes it big, they are dedicated to playing for as long as they can, Genoble said.
Rocking in the new year
