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$1Aviators

Left to right: Carmello, Rocco, Zach

Ready go, do it.

Coming to name the band, $1Aviators, has been a long and painful process. If you were to look back on the musical past of the three band members, you would find one common theme: they love to play music, but try to name them and it becomes difficult. They have such a hard time settling down on a name since they love music more than anything, and a name merely ties you to a thought or an idea. But let's not worry about the name, and stick to what matters: The Music.

Music has always been a big part of all of our lives. Rocco and Carmello, being brothers, can relate to the "nighttime" music their mom used to play at bed time, or the attempts at buying various instruments, like cheap 10 keyed keyboards. On the other side of the band, Zach Hummer took piano lessons for years. Even now he is asked to play his "recital", one of the gems of his ebony & ivory past.

Rocco began drumming as far back as in the womb. Mother Chiara always said that he was the largest of the three kids, and she named him Rocco, so it is no surprise that he likes to beat on things. He used to play on the top of the washing machine and dryer. Then he upgraded to a single snare drum given to him by his uncle. Slowly Rocco acquired skills through his pre-double digit years, until finally getting a whole Gretsch drum set. He's been blasting ever since.

Once the Gretsch was in the house, it piqued the interest of his brother Carmello and their long time friend Zach. Zach picked up the bass, Carmello picked up the guitar. That was four years ago. Zach and Carmello both started with Premier instruments, a name that is cherished by few, the beginners. Zach's Premier bass ended up being left in his sophomore English class, and Carmello's Premier electric guitar now sits in the instrument junk heap down in the Chiara basement with two rusted strings, coated in hideous stickers. Zach quickly bought a Hartke kickback bass amp, and Rocco got the most sugary sweet deal ever when he bought a beautiful olive green Ludwig drum set from the same uncle who gave him the Gretsch. Meanwhile, Carmello plucked away on the Beast (a name fitting for the bulky and hazardous Premier electric guitar). He did buy a Johnson acoustic guitar, which has served him nicely. He has since then upgraded to a Fender 212 amp and a Fender Texas Highway 1 Telecaster. It took him only four years. Four years of torturous agony as he played a Fender Squire Bullet (Rocco's Christmas gift) off of a small Gorilla 50watt amp given to him by a fellow guitar shreading friend. It has been commented by Zach that the combining sound of the two musical devices sounds like, "A dying cat."

The band has always been together, at least in some form. Ever since 2000 they have been playing in some form or another. Whether it was learning songs like "First Date" or "What's My Age Again?" by Blink 182, or even a few originals (that have since been set to rest, very deep in the ground), or maybe it was the times of learning Pennywise's "Alien" with different guitarists, the core group has been together. In the summer of 2003, Zach, Rocco, and Carmello got together seriously and started learning songs from bands like Boston, Zepplin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rush. Slowly though, the band fell apart as school and work intercepted. Rocco and Carmello played with their friends Joe and James. Honestly, the times with them and songs created during those months without Zach were some of their best. But it was only natural that Carmello and Rocco start to play with Zach again. So in the winter of 2004, the band got back together, and continue to Rock.