A new band is rising to prominence in the Tampa Bay Area, and their path is anything but chaotic. Beyond Chaotic, a middle school band of incredibly talented teens, has been gaining success ever since their formation at a one week rock band music camp at the present Tampa Fine Arts music Academy in Wesley Chapel.
“They put on a show after that through the music school at a place called Stage Left that used to be there in Lutz. People were impressed with them, and they wanted to stay together” said Cindy Karafilis, the manager of the band and mother of two of the band members, Max and Alexandra Karafilis, the lead singer and an all around instrumentalist and vocalist respectively.
They have been together for about two and a half years since, and use a guitar, violin, keyboard, bass, drums and their voices to create their sound.
“We do a little bit of new stuff, but a lot of older stuff, kind of just whatever one member brings up and if everyone else is like ‘yeah, I like that song’, we’ll just eventually throw it in a set,” said Max, explaining what style of music (beyond just “rock”) the band plays.
“The Ramones, ACDC… Nirvana to more modern things like Fall Out Boy,” are all on this band’s set-list said Karafilis.
This year alone, they played at the Orpheum twice (where they headlined), at the Crowbar once or twice, at Steinbrenner Field and at the Glacier Children’s Museum, where they opened for Grammy Winning Band during the Tampa Gasparilla Music Festival.
“We kind of went on, and most of the adults were there when we played, cause most of the adults brought their kids up because they knew 23 Skidoo was playing, and the adults, mainly enjoyed us,” said Max, describing their experience opening for the Grammy Winner.
Another proud moment for Beyond Chaotic was helping a friend in need.
“Probably the second time we played Wiregrass, was when we had one of our friends who’s terminal, he has a bucket list and everything, and one of his main things was he wanted to be a rock star, so my mom wrote a documentary on him, and they let us film at Wiregrass, and then at Wiregrass he came out for the ending half of the set he was only supposed to be on for two songs, but we kind of sat there and were like ‘Hey Eric, do you want to do a bit more playing the tambourine, and he just played the whole night,” said Karafilis.
They had two more shows during Thanksgiving break, at Wiregrass and the Crowbar respectively.
“After the holidays, they usually take a break,” said Karafilis.
This two-month period allows them to prep for the upcoming year and all that’s in store for them.
“There’s really no telling what’s next,” said Max.
While what exactly they will continue beyond the holiday season is unknown, there is no doubt the future is bright for this up-and-coming band from Tampa Bay.
Sadie Testa-Secca // Co-News Editor
Photo Courtesy of Brad Kidwell
