The Surely Method band members: Clockwise from top: Willy Bracklein, Barrett Hilbern, Jon Malatesta, Sean Holmes and Matt Weiss.

By Carolyn Cole/Staff Writer

Five Mustang-area teens are aiming for fame, but need the community’s help to make their dreams a reality.

The Surely Method, including lead singer Jon Malatesta, guitar players Willy Bracklein and Barrett Hilbern, bass guitar player Matt Weiss and drummer Sean Holmes, has joined the 50-band Fight for Fame contest, and will play Jan. 12 at the Bricktown Ballroom for a chance to perform a Las Vegas concert and win $50,000 in prizes. The winning band is selected based on votes cast by the audience.

“We have until Jan. 12 to build the biggest fan base we can,” Bracklein said. “It’s all about publicity.”

The Surely Method’s roots run deep through a friendship forged between Malatesta, Holmes and Hilbern as the then 12-year-old boys taught themselves to play guitar and drums. They imitated alternative rock bands, including Nirvana and Foo Fighters, trying to find their own musical voices. Six years later, the teens, already veterans of a sort of other garage bands, formed The Surely Method, later adding Bracklein and Weiss.

“Each of us playing as individuals, it all comes together so it’s from so many styles,” Hilbern said.

The teens work to create a unique sound, Malatesta said, which they described as poetic alternative rock. With influences ranging from alternative to more “laid back” rock and rap, The Surely Method’s songs start with a guitar riff or a chord, and together the teens collaborate to create music set to poetry written by either Malatesta or Holmes. Together they write about relationships, love and loss.

“We just feed off each other,” Malatesta said. “It’s not like anybody really writes all of our music.”

The Surely Method has composed 20 original pieces with about six songs the members call completely finished that they plan to perform Jan. 12. For the five teens, the statewide Fight for Fame contest is the largest venue they have performed. Their 25 minutes on stage is a chance to make dreams come true, and band manager Tiffani Martin said she believes in them. Martin called herself a “den mother,” prodding the teens to practice, providing them space and feeding them.

“There is a chemistry there rarely seen,” she said. “There are a million garage bands trying to make it every day, but I do believe in these boys or they wouldn’t be in my garage and me taking my time to make sure they have what they need. I honestly believe in them, and their whole family does. They have a lot of support — I think they have a really good shot.”

The teens have loaded their music onto a web page, www.myspace.com/thesurelymethod, which has garnered more than 9,000 plays with over 1,000 friends linked to the site. With the high traffic, Malatesta said he believes the band has a fighting chance if fans turn out to the Fight for Fame.

However if The Surely Method doesn’t win, he said they plan to create a demo recording and merchandise, save a few thousand dollars and load a van with ramen noodle soup packets — setting out for a summer tour and road trip.

“Music is what I’ve been doing my whole, entire life … It’s what I want to do for the rest of my life,”

Malatesta said. “It’s my ambition, it’s what I’ve lived for.”

ON THE WEB:

• The Surely Method on MySpace
• A Fight for Fame site