Many college students struggle to balance their grades and their music career, as they try to find the time, talent and tools to start their own band.

An online article posted by the BBC News on April 6, 2004, stated that the start of Nirvana has inspired many kids to start their own bands, with the hopes of changing the music scene as Cobain's powerful lyrics did in the early 90's right before his untimely death in April of '94.

Professor Bradley Freeman, an assistant professor of media arts at Marist College agreed with the fact that Nirvana contributed to kids starting bands as well as other groups.

"Anyone who starts a band generally has a story of such and such a band influenced them to play music, etc.," said Freeman. "No doubt nirvana influenced many performers."

However, what many are finding out is that it is a lot harder to start a band and keep it together as well as keeping their grade point average up.

Kevin Cronin, 19 year old Marist College Sophomore and drummer for a band called Nine Pints Later, said that sometimes to balance the two aspects of being a college student and a member of a band is hard.

"At first I tried really hard to manage my time between school and the band, and school kind of prevailed," said Cronin. "But at this point we have all admitted to switching our priorities from school to the band, so I would say it affects my school work in a pretty bad way."

Dave Cook, 19, drummer for a band Seconds to Sundown said that both him and other members, like Alex Rivera, 19, who is the lead singer and guitarist, have difficulty balancing their time between other responsibilities which makes it hard to find time to practice.

"We practice almost every Sunday in my basement," he said. "It's hard to find a lot of time to practice because we are all full-time students and Alex and I work as well. This makes it difficult to get together more than once a week."

Rivera disagreed and said that schoolwork and band practice doesn't conflict with one another.

"Practices are on weekends and shows are generally at night so it's fairly simple," said Rivera.

Before bands can even begin to think about booking shows and making their first record, they must find the right band members that are compatible with their skills, music tastes, and personalities.

Cronin said that sometimes a person meets their members by chance which was how he met John Santiago, 19, Marist college sophomore and guitarist and Will Van Carpels, 19, Marist College sophomore and bassist.

"Last year I was walking through grand central station, and I saw a kid carrying a guitar," said Cronin. "My friend recognized him as a Marist student, so we started talking, took the train back and became fast friends. That was John Santiago. So this year I basically asked him if he had a band, and he said him and this kid Will Van Carpels had been jamming, but they needed a drummer. So John and I got together over Christmas break to have an ''audition'' so to speak, and after the first song we played together he asked if I would bring my drums up to school."

Others like Rivera and Cook were already friends in high school when they came together and they have been in Seconds to Sundown for three years.

"I'm lucky enough to be in a band with my two best friends in the entire world so it's really about just having fun making music with your friends," said Rivera.

After the initial formation of a band it is just as hard to maintain the group as a whole. Marcus Bianco, 19, Marist College sophomore and guitarist for Upon My Grave, said that the previous band he was with, Without a Cause (WAC), ran into problems.

"With WAC it was a lack of dedication," he said. "No one else had the passion I did to continue playing. We had a real tough time making it through the summer. Once summer came around, the other members wanted to work, go on vacation and hang out with their other friends, but not make time for the band."

Rivera said that the list goes on for problems that a band runs into when in the early stages of formation.

"Say a member joins a side project," he said. "That can cause a lot of time management problems. But you'll also have to deal with little tiffs with one another, equipment crapping out on you, having little or no money to fix it, having gigs cancelled as you walk into the venue. Things like that."

Cronin said one of the hardest things is losing members.

"We had some problems with our original singer Erich," he said. "He's very busy and couldn't practice with us that much and we had to sit down and basically kick him out of the band. This has absolutely been the hardest thing we've had to overcome thus far."

Cronin said that he stays motivated to make time for the band because he sees how seriously other members take it.

"John plans on making music his career," he said. "So listening to someone like him, with so much drive, makes the rest of us want to do the same."

Bianco said that the biggest obstacle a new band must overcome is starting a fan base.

"The hardest thing about being in band is getting attention and getting people to listen to your music," he said. "There are so many bands out there right now it is ridiculous. They are all competing for the same people's ear."

Technology helps to make tasks like keeping fans updated as well as attracting new listeners. Angelo Sotira, one of the founders of www.dmusic.com, said that the website provides a valuable service that is free to bands who want to promote their name. Bands can put there music on the site and others can listen to it and then post comments. The website has helped major record labels discover bands.

"We found the Ataris," said Sotira. "They were really on our website eight years ago."

Bianco said that online websites are among the most important tools for bands to advertise their name.

"The internet is one of the most important mediums and tools for a band these days," said Bianco. "We recognize this and have purchased a domain name and server space for our website."

Bianco said it is critical for people to recognize the band's name.

"Name recognition is important," he said. "The more people see your name the more important they are going to think you are and feel more compelled to check you out."

Sotira said that a band's personal website should act as a link to other websites like www.dmusic.com where fans can download music and find out more about the band.

"One of your first roadies should be some nerdy internet kid, he said. "Spend the time to build a moderate web presence. Work to put your music on sites like www.dmusic.com and www.mp3.com. Make your website to where your music is."

Sotira said that the internet is not the only source that bands need to utilize; booking shows are just as important.

"Play as many shows as you possibly can."

Freeman said that bands should also try to play with other bands at venues and get a show together.

"The band should do the best they can to connect with other bands in their league," he said. "Try to get "on the bill" and promise to bring people to the show."

Rivera agreed that shows are the best way to gather experience playing and to promote the band.

"Nothing beats just playing in front of any audience," said Rivera. "It can be for five people and if one person dug you and remembered your name and told a friend or something, it was a success."

While technology helps bands create and maintain a fan base, Rivera said the best way to make music is from trial and error, not from computer programs.

"Definitely no computers," he said. "The songs come from messing around and finding something you like. You take it to practice and everyone molds it around and has fun with it."

Sotira warns that for musicians who value creating their own lyrics then the worst thing to do would be to sign to a label.

"Some artists that get signed say that getting signed was the worst thing'" he said. "You're owned and you're on the shelf. One of the worst things that can happen to a band is getting signed to a label that doesn't want to push them."

As for Cook, there is no rush to sign with a record label.

"I think we're all pretty realistic about the band thing," said Cook. "We take school very seriously, and we all agree that school comes first. We're not about to drop out of school to go on tour; it's just not worth it at this stage."

Bianco said he would entertain the idea of making a career being a musician but only on his terms.

"For me playing in a band has always has always been something I would be willing to pursue as long as it was something I could make enough to live off, but there are certain compromises I will not make to make more money," he said. "There are certain sounds that are popular at the moment that I will not try to mimic in order to be more marketable to labels. If we get signed I want it to be for who we are and not because we were a label's version of a band who already was popular and used to capture that particular pop market."