For the four members of Off by One, the approach to the music industry hasn't been so off. As San Diego's latest punk rock band, the members landed a spot on this summer's Vans Warped tour and found themselves playing in bars. Not bad for a band that's barely legal.
On the road, the four members test the boundaries of what it's like to live a musician's life. At 21, lead singer Marc Gould is the only member that's not a teenager, but when they're together you'd never know.
"Actually they kind of keep me in line more often than not," Gould said.
The youngest member bassist Jordan Brownwood is 17. Drummer Trevor Easter is 18 and guitarist John Bishop is 19.
The quartet draws its power from punk rock turning its direction to songs that shed light on more than just sex and drugs. "On My Way" asks high school counselors why being a "rock star" is not an option on career day.
The band also covers Natalie Imbruglia's hit song "Torn."
Having played music since he was 3, Gould isn't quick to embrace the cockiness of stardom. On stage, all four prove they're anything but off and don't take anything too seriously.
"I think we should just be ourselves," Gould said. "Personally, I don't think that you should change any way that you are just because you're now big. I think that we are who we are, and we do this for fun, and we love doing this, and however people want to take what we do and interpret what we do, they will...but we're just going to keep being ourselves...nothing out of the ordinary."
So what makes them so off? Gould said the band's name started out as a joke, but later stuck.
Gould played guitar with Bishop's older brother. When Bishop and Gould started playing, Easter, a friend of Bishop started playing with the two. They played live four days after they formed.
"We played shows, us three, without a bassist for about six months and I'd just be like 'yeah, we're off by one tonight, we don't have a bassist.' So that's how the name came up and six months later Jordan came in."
According to Gould, Brownwood never actually considered himself a permanent member of the band. Until about six months ago he was "just a replacement."
Now the band approaches life with transparent honesty. Bishop shows up late to the interview and uses profanity three times in one sentence.
"I didn't try as hard as I should have probably, " Bishop said about his days in high school. "I wanted to get smart and be a smart guy, but then I started this band thing and that took."
"And that's why we're here where we are because we all dropped everything to do this," Gould said.
For Off by One, putting music at the top still means partying, but learning to do everything in moderation. Gould said he parties less in attempt to take care of his voice.
"I have to stay disciplined ...when we go home - then we party - but on tour its hard because we have to keep it real. It keeps you well up if you're the ones not doing well and everyone else is," he said. "We have a tour manager that's with us and he's not like a parent at all - he's more like a voice of reason, which is good for what we have because we're young and we like to mess around a lot."
Nonetheless, Gould said sometimes they don't mind not being taken seriously.
"This whole time we've just been doing this for fun," he said. That's why we started because we love just playing around and messing around and having a good time.
"The cool thing was the independent label that signed us saw that and kind of let's us run with that...so that's what we do - just have fun and play music."
After having been hand-picked by musician Jewel, to open up for her Soul City Cafe tour, the guys played over 57 shows across the country. They took a break after the Warped tour ended and are now on the road in support of their debut self-titled album which went on sale August 6.
Tour aside, this four-part dream may just be a little off. Responsible or not, Off by One might just prove life gets better with age.
"We know we've got to be somewhat responsible because you know we can't fall off bridges, and drive off cliffs," Gould said. "Honestly, we're just kids...because I might be 21, but hanging out with 17-,18-,19-year-olds, I'm just now the same as them."
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