Local band ‘Road to Bremen’ is on the road to success performing around the valley in hopes of affecting fans around the world with their music.

Darren Massey, lead singer, has been writing and performing music for years.’ Massey and band mate Nick Alley have been writing and performing music since they were in eighth grade.’ While in college, the other three members Johnny Ashkar, Nate Beck and Danny Bell joined the band to complete the Road to Bremen crew.

All of the members of the band are influenced by many styles of music and their sound is a composite of every style that interests them.’

‘We sometimes describe our sound as the soundtrack of the roaring ’20s just as the stock market crashed,’ Massey says. Massey has been influenced by Queen, The Beatles, The Beachboys, Duncan Sheik, Radiohead and more.

RTB avoid comparing themselves to other bands because it ‘aides in generalizing and we personally don’t think that works for describing our music,’ Massey says.

In its current form, the band has been together for roughly a year, but Alley and Massey have been working together for many years.’ The members of the band range from ages 20 to 25.

Massey says that ideally they want their songs and their music to mean something to people.’

‘We want them to evoke emotion,’ Massey says.’ ‘If a song makes you shed a tear of joy, great, but if the song makes you angry or disgusted, we are equally satisfied for having done what we aimed to do,’ Massey says.

For Massey, his dream is to be able to play music to the point where it is his only job.’ ‘ He doesn’t care about the fame or fortune he just wants to play music for as long as he is happy doing it.

RTB has played at almost every major Los Angeles venue.’ Their next move is to expand outside the Los Angeles area and on to other areas of California.’ After that, they would like to expand to other states and perform their music worldwide.’ ‘

RTB is currently part of an international battle of the bands.’ They have made it to semi-finals, which will be at the Roxy in April.’ If they win, they will advance to the regional finals at the Key Club in Hollywood. where the winning bands will play in the international finals in Germany.’ In the Battle of the Bands, the audience has a lot to do with which bands moves on and Massey is very appreciative of those who support them.

They have a debut album set to be released in December called PLUG!’ To promote their album they will be giving out free copies at their shows preceding the release of the album.

RTB performed at CSUN on November 19.’ ‘ Students gathered around to watch the performance in the University Student Union.’

Visit RTB at myspace.com/roadtobremen or their Facebook page for upcoming shows and events.