J-14 is scouting out the hottest music around... and this week's pick is A+ Dropouts!
Here are five things you need to know about the A+ Dropouts, whose EP No Time for Goodbyes is out soon!
1. Originally from Washington D.C., pop-punk band A+ Dropouts consists of 14-year-old lead singer and guitarist Cheska Zaide, 15-year-old guitarist Lucas, 14-year-old bassist Evan, and 14-year-old drummer Liam. Their band name fits the group perfectly -- describing where they're at both in their career and as teenagers. "All of us are good in school and we liked the idea of the added word dropouts as a connotation to the fact that we are 'students by day and rockers by night'," Cheska tells J-14. How do they balance? "We have practice generally on Fridays and Sundays during the school year with gigs on weekends and squeezed into our vacation time," she explains. "It's always a bit hard, but we always make it work in the end."
2. Some of Cheska's musical inspirations consists of fellow rockers No Doubt's Gwen Stefani and Paramore's Hayley Williams along with newcomer Tonight Alive. "Also recently I've been inspired by Tonight Alive to write more complicated guitar parts that sound awesome!" she says. "I would totally love to work with these bands in the future!"