Two Ball State alumni met up in Nashville less than a year ago. Steve Banik was chasing his musical dreams while Jason Mowery was living his. Mowery was the fiddle player in Keith Urban's band. Mowery informed McComas' representatives that Banik would be playing in a Nashville R&B club and Banik was offered a spot on the tour after the show.
Banik returned to Ball State for Homecoming weekend, but not for the traditional festivities. Instead, he was a part of CMT's Most Wanted Live Tour featuring Rascal Flatts. He performed for a sold-out crowd at Emens Auditorium.
He has been on the road with McComas for five months.
"The best part is the actual performance when Brian is introducing us," Banik said. "The lights are on the crowd. They're all standing up and cheering and you can hear them. It's incredible."
Sleeping on the buses is difficult, he said. There are usually eight or more people on the tour bus each night.
"(I) don't think I could handle being on the road, but Steve was anxious to get to Nashville and land a national tour and experience life on the road in front of big crowds," Steve Banik's brother, Ben Banik said. "I think he feeds off the energy of a big, lively crowd."
Steve Banik's biggest fans, his parents, were in the audience supporting him. He said his brother would have attended but he couldn't attain an extra ticket.
Steve Banik studied music engineering and worked at Ball State Recording Services. He's been in bands for seven or eight years. He joined his first band at Ball State Second Guess during his sophomore year. They played funk rock at different campus locations. He also toured Europe in 1998 with the Ball State jazz band. In addition to his musical activities he was also a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.
Before making the move to Nashville, he worked in Indianapolis for Vertical Integrated Applications, a computer-consulting firm. He also played keys for local bands The Spin and Soultree. He briefly played with Living Proof in Nashville.
The major differences from the Indianapolis bands to this one are the level of professionalism, traveling on a tour bus and the crowd size, he said. He went from playing in bars with 50 people to crowds of 18,000. This is also his first time on a record label.
He believes making the move to Nashville helped him get his big break. He said you have to be lucky to get discovered in your hometown.
He was recently in his first music video "You're in my Head."
"I have a new appreciation for actors," he said. "We worked for 12 hours non-stop, standing on our feet. I think we did the same song 60 times until we got the right shots. It was very difficult, but I loved it."
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