TOWAMENCIN- “From humble beginnings come great things”—the perfect proverb to describe the world of music. At age 14, U2’s Larry Mullen posted an advertisement seeking musicians for a new band on the bulletin board at his high school in Ireland. 20 years later, U2 joined the Beatles and Rolling Stones as front cover features of the world renowned Time Magazine. More locally, however, North Penn senior Mark Brennan and 2010 graduate Ryan Focht met at a retirement home where they bonded over the crazy things that happen while serving meals to senior citizens. Soon enough, this humble beginning fostered their very own rock band called The Beats Between.

The Beats Between is composed of Brennan (drums), Focht (guitar and vocals), and 2011 graduate Forrest Setzer (bass). Since its commencement in 2010, the band has had numerous members come and go.

“At first it was just a small work band,” explained Focht. “Bassists were the hardest for us to find.  But we never did anything serious. We were just playing in my garage.”

Just a few months into the band’s short life, Brennan had a spontaneous stroke, which landed him in the hospital for a month, and two more months away from school and strenuous activity. Needless to say, the Beats Between went on a hiatus.

“When Mark got better, he definitely came back for vengeance” Focht joked. “This was when we got Forrest, our ‘cool bass player,’ so I consider that the band’s actual beginning.”

The Beats Between plays both original and cover music. They seemed to be in agreement that their favorite songs to cover are Wagon Wheel by Bob Dylan and Little Black Submarines by the Black Keys. As for their original compositions, Brennan explained that his favorites are ‘Paradise is a Smile,’ which was actually one of the possibilities for the band name as well as “Runaway” because “the bass and drum parts go together well” are his favorites, while Focht chose ‘Don’t Say’ because “it’s a song that [they] really get into, and it’s just overall pretty rockin.”

Both Brennan and Focht said that Setzer, who wasn’t able to attend the interview, would also agree that Wagon Wheel is the best to play.  They nicknamed him “the band’s trouble maker.”

“You can definitely tell the trouble’s in the air when he’s around,” joked Brennan.  “He wrote a song called “Getting Caught” which he wrote during the times when he was really getting in trouble, in order to try get over what he did, and his parents basically figured out that it was a song completely about them, and it was pretty funny. So that’s always a fun song to play just because of that reason. It’s another one of our favorites.”

Overall, The Beats Between see The Black Keys, as their biggest influence, as well as Jimi Hendrix, Jack White, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Bob Dylan.

As for performances, The Beats Between has played at multiple graduation parties and at a few gigs Verago’s Café in Lansdale.

“We get the best response when we play at Verago’s” said Focht. “We played simple songs that were easy to do like Brown Eyed Girl by James Morrison and Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, and they just loved that kind of thing.”

“The old people there really like us there, probably because they’re free spirited” laughed Brennan. “Most of our best times are actually when we play in front of people. Even when we mess up at gigs, like I remember one time Ryan’s guitar had no sound, and I just took the mic and was messing around, having a good banter with the crowd. It’s embarrassing at first, but it shows the crowd that we really are live music, and I feel like it lets them relate to us more.”

Focht and Setzer are currently studying recording and music technology at the collegiate, and Brennan plans to follow a similar path after graduation. In the future, they anticipate staying together for a while, because as Focht explained, if nothing else,“it’s just great experience hang out while playing and creatinh music. Even when they’re not playing gigs, they always have fun simply practicing. And who knows…maybe The Beats Between will be the next band featured on the cover of Time Magazine.