Music Stars Helping Rock & Roll Make a Comeback: Ethan, Virginia, Luke & Carter of Burn the Jukebox

Our goal is to inspire other kids our age to go out, get an instrument, learn to play it, and love it. We have kids messaging us on social media every single day looking for advice on how to start a band, how to find other musicians, how to put out music, and how to get shows. It’s actually unbelievable how many kids see what we’re doing and dream of doing the same thing but either think it’s impossible or they just don’t know how to get started. This says A LOT about how rock music is making a comeback in a very big way.

Rock & Roll has been extremely popular from the 50’s until the 2000’s. But with the rise of Hip Hop, Pop, and electronic dance music, it has seen mainstream decline. But some observers have cited that Rock & Roll may be on the verge of a comeback. The frustration and turmoil of the past few years align well with the message of angst, protest, and rebellion that rock & roll conveys. In this interview series called “Music Stars Helping Rock & Roll Make A Comeback” we are talking to music artists, music groups, and music producers who are helping Rock & Roll make a comeback.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Ethan, Virginia, Luke & Carter of Burn the Jukebox.

Burn the Jukebox is a rock band of 13 and 14-year-olds currently on a 35 date tour, with members who have been on National Broadway tours, Off-Broadway, and National T.V. They recently released their latest single, “Meltdown” and are currently in the studio recording their newest single, “These Are the Days,” scheduled to be released in November. The band also recently shot a T.V. pilot for PBS in late June.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

We’re from Northeastern, Pennsylvania, and I guess you can say we’re still working on growing up because we’re only 13 or 14 years old. Some of us have been performing professionally since we were very young in theater and on television, and we all still do “normal” kid stuff as much as possible, which includes going to school, playing video games and hanging out with friends.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

Virginia: I wanted to start a rock band for as long as I can remember, and a friend introduced me to Luke in early 2020. He was already an amazing guitar player and after jamming for a few weeks we asked Carter to join the band. I knew Carter from school and also knew that he was an incredible drummer. We started searching for a keyboard player and we literally contacted every piano teacher within an hour and a half of where we lived and that’s how we found Ethan. He came down to audition and everything just clicked right away.

Are you able to share a story with us about what first attracted you to Rock & Roll in particular?

Ethan: I learned about The Beatles from my dad and was immediately hooked on their music. It’s amazing how the band evolved over time and was able to put out hit after hit over the years.

Virginia: My first introduction to rock was Queen. I was literally obsessed with the band and had a huge crush on Brian May.

Luke: When I was really young I started playing Guitar Hero and was really good at it. It wasn’t long after that when I picked up the first real guitar that belonged to my grandpa and discovered that playing just sort of came naturally to me.

Carter: My dad has been a drummer for a very long time and I’ve always looked up to him. We always had rock music in our house and I still love talking to my dad about music.

Our band has a very large range of musical tastes, but Rock & Roll is the one style of music we all connect with. All of our writing is heavily influenced by Rock and we’re just naturally drawn to it during our sessions. We’ve also done some co-writing with rock musicians in our area like Paul Young (Panacea) and continue to collaborate with other rock musicians we admire as we write more music.

Can you tell us the most interesting or most funny story that happened to you since you began your Rock & Roll career?

A few weeks ago we performed on a float in a St. Patrick’s Day Parade during September. As if that isn’t weird enough, a crazy leprechaun appeared out of nowhere and started yelling at us to play music and he posted a hysterical video of it online. We also recently had one of our videos reach over 1.5 Million views and it looks like we have a few others that are on the way to beat that soon. It’s mind-blowing.

What would you advise a young person who wants to emulate your success?

Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t have a successful band just because you’re young. If you work hard and love what you’re doing, you can accomplish anything. Classmates and even “friends” have told us there’s no way we could have a “real” band at our age. That we’d never find the right people, we’d never release our own music, and we’d never play shows but we continue to prove them wrong every day.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

We’ve been lucky enough to have a lot of help, and naming just one person is really hard. Obviously, our families have been very supportive and we’d like to give a shout out to Peggy Iafrate of Strega Entertainment Group for passing along amazing advice that’s really helped us ramp up our social media presence.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

There are no venues for young rock bands in our area, so we’re booking a middle school and high school tour to go straight to where the kids our age are. We’re also in the studio recording our upcoming single, “These Are the Days” which will be released on all major streaming platforms in early November.

Are you able to summarize the message of Rock & Roll in a sentence? Why do you think that message is more relevant now than it’s been in a while?

Rock is telling everyone that you’re going to do what you want to do no matter what anyone else tells you. This idea is especially relevant today because so many people are tired of being controlled and especially tired of being told they need to act or look a certain way. We think rock is more about being true to yourself than it is about fitting any certain mold. It’s not about looking goth or not looking goth. It’s not about playing nu-metal or hardcore punk, unless that’s what you’re into. We’re rock because we are who we are and that’s it.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

1. You can’t please everyone. People love to tell us “you should be more rock and roll” or “you should be less rock” or “you’re too young to be rock.” We had to learn pretty quickly that we should only focus on making music that we love and connecting with the people who also love it. Our music isn’t for everyone … and that’s ok. Our influences are always changing … and that’s ok too.
2. Adults don’t take kids seriously. It’s actually shocking how many adults assume we can’t really play our instruments. Like, they automatically think that we are going to be terrible because of our ages. The best part is seeing everyone’s faces when we start playing and they’re like … oh wow, they’re really playing. And we’re not saying that we’re the most amazing musicians on the planet and that people should be blown away when they see us … it’s just always surprising that people really think we’re gonna get up on stage and be awful just because we’re young.
3. Find great mentors. One of the biggest reasons we’ve gotten this far is because we found people who actually DO take us seriously and believe in us. They don’t see us as just a bunch of kids. They treat us like people who are going to work hard and are willing to put in 110%. They also gave us the advice and guidance we needed to avoid a lot of the mistakes musicians make early on and we’re always thankful to have good people on our side and hope more good people will help us along the way.
4. A band is a business. Anyone who thinks that being in a band is just about playing music couldn’t be more wrong. From rehearsing to writing to money management, to pr, booking, marketing and everything in between, we’ve learned more about being entrepreneurs than we could have ever expected. And as our team grows, we learn about different specialties in the music business, what they do, and why they do it. We still have a lot to learn but we’re definitely on our way.
5. You need to understand your fans. There’s nothing more important to us than our fans, and that includes understanding who they are, what they like, and why they like us in the first place. We want to give our fans what they want and let them know that they are a huge part of who we are as artists. There’s really no better feeling than performing for people who are really into what you’re doing. Understanding our fans helps us to connect with them in a meaningful way and makes the entire experience the best it can possibly be for both them and us.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

Our goal is to inspire other kids our age to go out, get an instrument, learn to play it, and love it. We have kids messaging us on social media every single day looking for advice on how to start a band, how to find other musicians, how to put out music, and how to get shows. It’s actually unbelievable how many kids see what we’re doing and dream of doing the same thing but either think it’s impossible or they just don’t know how to get started. This says A LOT about how rock music is making a comeback in a very big way.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.” — Kurt Cobain

We’ve got four very different people in our band and each of us brings something different to the table. These differences make us and our band unique. We don’t want to waste our time trying to be like, sound like, or look like other people or other bands. We want to make music we love and connect with people who are into it no matter who or where they are.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.

One of our biggest heroes is legendary producer Butch Vig. We’re huge fans and love watching all the interviews and behind the scenes footage, we can find of him working with some of the biggest rock bands in the world including Nirvana, Garbage (obviously), Foo Fighters, Green Day, Muse, The Smashing Pumpkins, Goo Goo Dolls, and many more. There is soooo much we can learn from him and being able to meet him in person would really be a dream come true.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Everyone can follow us on Tik Tok, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook and Snapchat @burnthejukebox or visit our website for updates and tour dates at burnthejukebox.com.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!