For those who are unaware, the newest musical act in town is Top Ten For Terrence, a ska-punk band compiled of eight Chardon high school seniors. The official line-up is Will Porter on bass, Ian Taylor on drums, Connor Ingram and Kevin Miller on guitar, Rachel Teuscher on keyboard, Ryan Gillespie and Jake Hamblen as the horn section, and Billy Weaver as the lead vocalist.

            It all started with Porter, a former member of The Tom Katlees. Ever since this band went its separate ways, Porter had been on a quest for music. With close friend Taylor, Porter assembled a top-notch line-up of Chardon’s most promising musicians. For months, Weaver had been speaking of starting a ska band but to no avail. Lucky for him, Taylor and Porter asked Weaver to be their lead singer. Without a single hesitation, Weaver joined the nameless, ragtag group.

The trio began scrounging the band hallway for a horn section. Before anyone knew it, they had recruited Ingram, Gillespie and Hamblen. Teuscher quickly became involved, but not as a horn; instead, she is the band’s pianist. The final ingredient was Miller on an additional guitar.

With accordance to Weaver’s ambitions, the band has established itself as a ska-punk brigade of musicians with deep-rooted reggae influences. For the last few weeks, the band has been working out their kinks and fine tuning their joint endeavor as a musical act. Their practices usually run two hours, but can sometimes flow to three.

            They acquired their name during a weekend movie night at the notorious Marthe household. Some of the band members were attending the event when the Marthe Netflix page was brought up. One of the rows was headed “Top Ten for Terrence” for Terry Marthe, father of Austin and Trevor. Weaver said, “It was the perfect name for us. It made sense in so many ways.” Those who witnessed the historical event can attest that fate had done its work that night.

            So far, Top Ten For Terrence has written two hit songs: “Red Haired Girl” and “Diesel.” The Top Ten For Terrence writing credit is stressed as the writing seems to be a true collaboration. Taylor said, “[Writing the songs] is a collective effort between all of us.”

            Top Ten For Terrence plans to play “Take On Me” written by the Norwegian synthpop group, A-ha. More notably, this particular song was covered by Reel Big Fish, one of Top Ten For Terrence’s biggest inspirations. Other cornerstones of the Top Ten For Terrence’s set list include Blink-182’s “Dammit” and The Mighty Mighty Bosstone’s “The Impression that I Get.”

            Top Ten For Terrence is rumored to release a music video by the end of the school year.