ILEN

This is bound to get long...

ILEN: What is it? Who is it? Where did it come from? Why is it here? When did it happen? Well, I'll tell you.

Let's back up and work our way into this. I'll break it into sections and then piece it together.

Part A: The First Half of the Group
Augustus Kye was bound to be a musician. I mean, his father has a PhD in Flute Performance and Music Education after all. Plus, one of his uncles was a professional piano accompanist and founded Kye Music Store. Augustus was already well ahead of the game by picking up the trumpet at the tender age of 7.

Meanwhile, his cousin, who lived five houses down the street, and who was just 3 months older, and who was really more like a half brother because their dads were identical twins, and whose mom was a piano teacher, and who was Augustus' best friend, had taken up piano at the age of 3 and because he was attached to Augustus at the hip began the trumpet at the age of 8. His name was Harper Kye.

Since their uncle owned Kye Music Store, Augustus and Harper spent a lot of time there, playing around with the pianos and random instruments that were on display. It was from this fun that Augustus chose the trumpet... and also his possibly even more prominent instrument: the drums. That story is important to ILEN so I'll share it now. One day Augustus was hanging out at the music store when he saw a new drumkit (or drumset... whatev...) and after being handed a pair of sticks sat down and picked it up very fast. He fell in love with it and on that fateful Christmas 2002 he woke up to find that Santa had left him a brand spanking new, shiny, green drumkit, complete with olive branch printing on the bass drum. (Get it? Augustus = Roman... Leaf-crowns = Roman??) Augustus was so excited about this and so was Harper, because they had been thinking about starting a band. They had decided on being 4-person and would be comprised of drums, piano, guitar, and bass. They just needed some strings and got extremely lucky, but that's for Part C.

Part B: The Second Half of the Group
Lesko Diamond had a very rough childhood and was finally starting to feel a lot better. He had spent more time in the nurse's office, doctor's office, emergency room, and hospital than he cared to remember or wish upon anyone else. It only made him a better person, and he plowed through it. He had moved from Tarra to Kennywood in the summer of 2001 and lived behind Ken Bridges Middle School. It was a good time to start over and get rid of the sick kid stereotype he had gained. During the process of unpacking everything, Lesko came across his dad's old electric bass that he had in high school. He really wanted to learn how to play it for fun. Lucky for him, it was a left-handed bass, so he was already set to go. He took some lessons from a neighbor and learned to read actual notes as well as tabs. As this was going on he was also playing the trumpet.

One day, during one of the first weeks in his new house, he went to the field to throw a baseball around with his brothers. The Diamond kids all played baseball and basketball. Anyway, there were two kids already there throwing a baseball. They looked to be Lesko's age and after being quiet and shy for so many years decided to boldly go up to them and talk to them. The taller one was named Neil and he was going to start the 7th grade. The short one was named Eric and he was starting the 6th grade and planned on playing trumpet in band. Well! Talk about fast friends! These two began going to each other's house and soon were best friends. Lesko knew when he told Eric about his medical stuff and he responded with "What's it like?"

Meanwhile Eric had received an electric guitar from his older brother. He got it at a yard sale for cheap and tried to play it but decided that photography was much more interesting. He eagerly passed it onto Eric who soaked it up like a sponge. Lesko and Eric ended up taking lessons together from Lesko's neighbor and soon were writing songs and playing them for fun.

Part C: The Merging of the Two Groups
The Ken Bridges Middle School 7th grade band was very large, and for the most part, was full of band geeks. Tons of band kids ate lunch in the bandroom every day and the room was always lively with laughter or geek chat. It was the day after Winter Break and the air was full of talk of what everyone got for Christmas. Augustus and Harper took their usual spot with Mustafa, Harrison, and a whole bunch of trumpet and flute players. Lesko and Eric were in that group too. Everyone was friends and they wasted no time in sharing all they did.

Suddenly, Augustus mentioned that he wanted to start a band. It was just casual but as soon as the words "Harper and I are thinking of starting a band. Does anyone play guitar or bass?" left his mouth Lesko and Eric quickly looked up and exclaimed "We do!!" From there they exchanged addresses and a very short while later they were experimenting with different sounds and beats. It was all just simple at first, nothing very hard, but it quickly became apparent that the four had great chemistry and this group had a lot of potential. They decided to keep it going and played a few times throughout the rest of the 7th grade.

Part D: The Birth of a Band
In early June 2003, just after school got out, the magical day hapened. Harper hauled a wagon with his keyboard and an amp in it up to Augustus' house. Meanwhile a white station wagon with wooden panels (ugh! totally Oja's car... lol) pulled up and Lesko got out with his white electric bass and Eric got out with his red electric guitar. They all followed Augustus into his basement where they played through a few things. They were sounding pretty good by now. They had unanimously decided to be a band for laughs. They weren't big into the screamer idea and decided to write about the most random things. By chance, all four happened to be trumpet-players so they would definitely include that in their compositions. They would never use foul language or sing about girlfriends. That base has carried them all they way to where they are now.

It was now time to come up with a name. After a long round of Write and Dispel one of them came up with the idea to have it be a one-word, catchy, 4-letter name. That way, each member could wear a shirt with a different letter on it. How they went about choosing the name was very clever and became the basis for their first song. They went out into the backyard and dug up 26 small rocks. Then they hosed off all the dirt and dried them off with a towel. Danielle was nice enough to loan them some nail polish and they painted all 26 letters of the alphabet on them. After they were dry they went back into the basement with a metal bucket. They set it in the middle of the room and sat on the couch, taking turns throwing the rocks at the bucket. Only about 8 rocks actually made it in and after they were done they each reached in and grabbed a rock. They ended up with the letters E, I, L, and N. Now it was time to try and make it into a catchy word.

They all laughed because it spelled NEIL. That was out of the question, because Neil was Eric's brother. They tried NILE but it just didn't have the ring they were looking for (plus it's a river in the real world). LINE was lame and ENIL was just plain weird. They weren't coming up with anything and they were about ready to give up when the real magic happened. Harper spelled NILE again and picked up the N. It slipped out of his fingers and fell at the end of the word. The name ILEN stared back at them. They looked at it. They said it to themselves. They looked at each other and began to cheer. A name was born!

Part E: Keep on Truckin!
Now that they had a name and a genre, they needed a theme. It was kind of a no-brainer. They went with a toga theme. The band colors were green and white and they had togas and leaf crowns for their opening concert which was in Augustus' basement one October evening. It was so crowded down there. The place was packed with tons of kids and parents. Neil became the official photographer and Spiker Kye (Harper's dad, a big name in film) recorded it and did the sound and lighting. It was a huge success. Their first album came out later that month and was a huge hit. Almost overnight ILEN became popular and amazing.

Today, ILEN is still going. A one-hour train ride isn't stopping them from sticking together. Augustus and Harper are going to college in Kaytue while Lesko and Eric are in Kennywood. They are recognized all over the country and many people stop them on the streets asking for pictures and autographs. They have given more concerts than they can even remember and have several albums out. Thanks to the band these four have been together for good times and bad. They have become best friends and literally do everything together. Neil has always been a huge part of it and in recent years Oja has joined the cast helping with lighting, sound, photos, and that stuff. Their music is so uniquely theirs and can be distinguished very easily. There is nothing quite like ILEN.

Fun ILEN Facts:
1. Lesko Diamond dyed his hair green for that first concert to promote their band and it became his trademark. "Lesko Diamond Green" came from the color of his hair which was his favorite color before but even more so when the band was formed.
2. All four of their names are on every album cover and are always announced in the same order. This order directly reflects the letter that they drew. If you're wondering, it's Augustus, Lesko, Harper, and Eric.
3. Lesko's dad, Elko, owns the big embroidery and custom T-shirt shop in town. He made all the shirts, jackets, and more for the band.
4. All four have several different outfits that they wear for concerts. Each one has a green ringer tee with their letter on the front and their name on the back. They also have the outfits that they wore in the "famous picture" that they wear to some of their concerts. Based on the "famous picture" (which is to the left) all 4 have two colors unique to them. They therefore also have ringer tees in their special colors.
5. Their special colors are as follows: Augustus= red and black; Lesko= "green and lighter green"; Harper= dark and light blue; Eric= yellow and purple.
6. Lesko writes the lyrics to 98% of the songs. Very few of their lyrics are written entirely by one of the other members. They all have input but usually they like the things Lesko comes up with the way they are.
7. Likewise, Eric writes most of the songs. Augustus writes his own drum parts and Harper usually composes the harmony.
8. Everyone has a chance to sing, but most of the songs are sung by Lesko. His voice fits a lot of their songs but there are many out there sung by the others.
9. Many times during their songs they will break out into trumpet solos or full trumpet quartet.
10. The most famous and requested song is "Life Sucks Right Now... But it Will Get Better" which was recorded at their "Feelings" concert. It's a song about how the going gets tough but it makes people stronger in the end because of it. That's closely followed by "Constant Reminder" which is a song about Lesko and how his medical conditions have made him a stronger person. It refers to the scars he has and how he got them, and how those experiences changed him. It's recorded on the album, "People." The third most requested song is "Smile that it Happened" which takes the phrase "don't cry that it's over, smile that it's happened" and puts it to music. This is on the "Feelings" album as well.
11. Eric got in an accident his senior year and ended up losing his left pinky and part of his left ring finger. He recovered just fine but had to learn how to play left-handed. Lucky for him, he was able to switch on the same guitar and picked up on it fast.
12. Every so often, ILEN will have a "Switch It Up" concert where they trade instruments. Some of the songs are written especially for the switched parts and others are just played on different instruments. The most famous one was "The Band Chosen from a Hat" that had Eric on piano, Lesko on drums, Augustus on guitar and Harper on bass.
13. First song ever performed: "The Band Chosen from a Hat," a song about ILEN's creation, purpose, and intro.
14. All 4 have great voices. Augustus and Harper are high tenors, Lesko is a baritone, and Eric is a very low bass.
15. Their heighs vary greatly. Lesko is the tallest, at 6'2'', Augustus and Harper are both 5'7'', and Eric is 5'3''.
16. Their full names are Jason Augustus Kye, Lesko Tcillah Diamond, Harper Rhys Kye, and Eric Eugene Latham. All 4 have initials that spell words: JAK, LTD, HRK, and EEL.