Many people can say they have photos of their best friends in high school and college but not all can say they have a CD and a Facebook fan page.

Atombender, who claims to be the second largest band at Iowa State — next to the marching band — and the reason for the local Perkins staying in business, is a group of guys who grew up in Ames and learned to play instruments for the sake of starting a band.

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They were high school sophomores, with one junior, who aimed at becoming a local version of Five Iron Frenzy. A pop-punk band with a keyboarding and horn section excited to play in Ames at Blink’s and in Des Moines at the House of Bricks, then located across the street from Merle Hay Mall.

“We looked up to Stuck With Arthur a lot,” said guitarist Jacob King, sophomore in child, adult and family services, reflecting on the group’s early shows with other bigger local bands like SWA and Slaughterhouse 6.

Members laugh now at that first article published back when they were driven to their own shows by their parents. When they started a band, members said they were really into Relient K, MXPX and the Supertones while it seemed every other local group was a hardcore or metal band.

Atombender was closely connected with another Ames band, Keep & Confess, who it credits for essentially showing them the ropes.

Shortly before Atombender formed, K&C had come together as high school freshmen in 2004. Atombender credited its friends in K&C for helping the band in the early days since they had more experience being a group; however, its friendship with K&C grew as the bands grew.

Alex Arthur, the former lead singer of K&C, said the two bands playing together brought in plenty of kids while being a fun time.

“They always have the most entertaining live show,” Arthur said. “Their fans are very loyal and open to about anything Jon [Rohlf] or [Justin Smiley-Oyen] tells them to do.”

Those who have seen Atombender cannot easily forget the band’s energy on stage. Bodies jumping, swinging guitars, hair flying as heads shake frivolously while a golden trumpet and trombone flying up and down between the horn section’s parts and the group chanting during the songs. Audience members are unsure of whether to join or duck in fear in the case that  the guys are about to dive off the stage.

“I may not be the best musician but I love getting on stage and going crazy,” King said.

The inspiration for the band’s craziness came as teenagers watching another Ames band, Poison Control Center, perform live.

Vocalist and trombonist, Jon Rohlf, senior in graphic design, recalled watching the group and thinking “we need to be that entertaining.”

Atombender put out “Turn It Up” in 2006 but feels their most recent EP, “Poison Gases for the Masses” in 2009, is its proudest accomplishment.

“We had a lot of people say they liked us better live than on CD,” Rohlf said.

While there have been a couple member changes along the way, no one has ever left on bad terms.

“We’ve had band fights,” King said, “but it’s more like brothers fighting.”

The band grew up near each other and five of them attended the First Evangelical Free Church of Ames. They all ended up going to Iowa State not just to stay with the band, but they say the school offered the best programs for what they all wanted to study.

Atombender has seen some changes in shows in central Iowa.

“I think in both Ames and Des Moines there are a lot less people who are willing to go watch local bands,” Rohlf said.

When the group started, The Envy Corps and Poison Control Center still played a majority of shows in Iowa while crowds gathered for other large local acts such as The Lifestyle, Enkido, SWA and Rosefield Rivals.

Atombender’s list of memorable shows include ones where the venue was not aware a show was scheduled at all, one where the kids in attendance decided to turn the stage into a dance floor in the middle of a song and more emotional nights like finding out a close friend had passed a couple hours before playing.

“A guy we were all good friends with, he was like my counselor at camp two years I think … he died pretty suddenly of diabetes complications,” Drummer Ben Wiedenhoeft said. His roommate found him earlier that morning. They all had a hard time taking the stage — King especially did, he said.

“God has plans that go beyond ours,” Wiedenhoeft said. “You think you know what’s going on but all of a sudden you don’t. I hate using this word, but it was really emotional.”

Each of the band member’s families has been thoroughly supportive of the adventure Atombender has been on. Perhaps that’s been fine since they’ve stayed grounded in Ames going to school, with the exception for occasional traveling out-of-town for shows.

“Everyone will have class until five when you have to load-in at the House of Bricks at two or three or something,” drummer Ben Wiedenhoeft said.

Wiedenhoeft lives and works in Ames but is the only member not currently in school. His mother is an agronomy professor at Iowa State.

The group said it has considered leaving college to take music on full-time but did not see an advantage in leaving as things are now.

“I think by the time we actually thought that there might be a possibility of something more happening, Jon was a junior and especially by that time in the graphic design program it’d be stupid to stop,” Wiedenhoeft said.

The close-knit group of friends values the time and money they’ve invested toward the band with no plans to stop. While some members will be pursuing internships this coming summer, possibly putting the band on pause, the group would like to be able to record before the summer. For the band, its riding a high wave after delivering an EP which they felt captured its live energy.

Members:

Jon Rohlf, senior in graphic design – vocals and trombone

Ben Wiedenhoeft – drums

Jacob King, sophomore in child, adult, and family services – guitar

Justin Smiley-Oyen, senior in pre-business – vocals and trumpet

Michael Davis, junior in graphic design – keyboards

Zach Brenner, junior in music – guitar