No Clue, Deo Vindice in finals

February 7, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

A dream come true is how the members of South Range High School act No Clue are describing their run in this year’s High School Rock Off, which will culminate in the group’s Final Exam performance at 4 p.m. Saturday at the House of Blues in Cleveland.

At the semifinals weeks ago, the quintet — Luke Eusebio (guitar, sax, vocals), Tommy Kuhns (guitar), Trevor Lawless (guitar, vocals), Nick Scheetz (bass) and Adam Witmer (drums) — turned the heads of Rock Off judges with original tracks such as the blink-182-esque “Break From Conversation” and the Foo Fighter-sounding “Lose My Mind,” as well as covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” and Switchfoot’s “Mess With Me.”

“We’re surprised we made it because we’re new to the Rock Off and we never have been to the House of Blues before or played a show quite that big as far as an audience is concerned,” Eusebio said. “But in a sense, we’re not surprised. We practiced hard every single day for the last three weeks. We put a lot into it, and we feel like our work paid off.”

For No Clue’s Final Exam set, Eusebio said the quintet will be bringing back the Switchfoot cover, as well as unveiling its brand-new tune “Astronaut,” which strays into a grunge sound. Considering none of the band members is a senior, which means the group can return in 2013, the outfit is viewing this upcoming show as an experience builder.

“We’d love just to place in the top three,” Eusebio said. “That would be awesome.”

Considering the prize package, that would be quite awesome. Originally 66 bands, the competition is now down to 18 acts vying for a prize package that includes the winning group taking home $1,000 cash and $200 for their respective high school music program. Second place receives $250 cash and $100 for their respective high school music program, while $150 goes to third place. The winning band not only gets the highly coveted opportunity to open up for a Live Nation or House of Blues concert but also will appear on cable television program “Crooked River Groove” and perform a 45-minute concert in front of a studio audience while being professionally videotaped and recorded.

Furthermore, all 18 finalists will record one original track. These songs will be available as free downloads on www.kisscleveland.com/rockoff at the time of The Final Exam on Feb. 11.

For another local Rock Off band, it’s now or never. Deo Vindice — Austintown Fitch High School students Alex Welsh (keyboardist), Kane Yak (vocals, guitar) and Zach Warmouth (guitar), along with Boardman High School’s Danny McMasterm (bass) — made it to the Final Exam last year but failed to place. Now the trio is hoping history doesn’t repeat itself. They will play at the Finals at 7:35 p.m. Saturday.

“Our semifinals set went really well,” Warmouth said. “We came out, played really hard and all had great showmanship on stage. We picked our songs with a lot of thought. We wanted to come out with a faster-paced song, change it up and then end with what we think is our best song. For the Final Exam there’s less time, so we might add in new song ‘The Town.’ It’s kind of like arena rock, a big sound. We’ll probably do ‘Wild Wings’ which we did before.”

Considering it’s the Kings of Leon-inspired band’s last hurrah, the goal is to knock the socks off the judges at the Final Exam.

“This is it,” Warmouth said. “We’re going to end the Rock Off with a bang for us.”

Tickets for the Final Exam are $10 and will be available only from the participating Rock Off bands. For more information about the 16th Annual Tri-C High School Rock Off, go to kisscleveland.com/rockoff.