As the members of Red Letter Casino prepare to head out to their practice space, lugging amplifiers, drums and guitars to their respective vehicles, bassist/vocalist and ISU alumnus Jeremy Hilbert offers his humorous take on how listeners should classify the trio’s sound.

“Nemo is our new genre, because we’re not emo,” Hilbert says. “Or supremo, because we’re better than emo.”

All joking aside, members of Red Letter Casino say they are serious about their music, which has been years in the making. Hilbert met guitarist Paul Ewen, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences-open option, when Ewen moved to Hilbert’s hometown of Hartley at the age of 15.

“As soon as we met, we started cranking out songs,” Ewen says.

The two briefly parted ways when Hilbert left for Iowa State, where he joined a band called Southbound Relics. Although he enjoyed playing, Hilbert says he missed playing with Ewen.

“It was more acoustic, singer-songwriter stuff,” Hilbert says. “It wasn’t really what I wanted to do.”

Eventually, Ewen joined Hilbert in Ames, and the duo recruited drummer Eric Shares, senior in electrical engineering, to complete Red Letter Casino’s lineup.

“We had a handful of songs, it fit perfectly right away,” Hilbert says.

Although the trio started off playing instrumentals, Red Letter Casino now features vocal contributions from both Ewen and Hilbert.

However, the band continues to write and play instrumentals.

“We think our songs are interesting enough instrumentally that it’s not boring,” Hilbert says.

“It’s not a jam — it’s a song written for that purpose.”

Hilbert says Red Letter Casino initially envisioned having a singer before he and Ewen decided to take up vocal duties themselves.

“I’d never sang and played before,” Hilbert says. “I didn’t know I could do it. We looked, but after a few months we decided we could do it ourselves.”

Ewen agrees that instrumental songs will continue to be integral for Red Letter Casino.

“I still feel the guitar is as important, or more important, than the singing a lot of times,” Ewen says.

The band is gearing up to record a new demo in March, and according to Hilbert, it is having no trouble coming up with new material.

“We get an idea and we go for it,” Hilbert says. “As soon as we introduce a line, it turns into a song.”

Ewen says the band spends a lot of time developing each song and continually tinkers with structure until it feels the songs are perfect.

“A lot of times, stuff isn’t finalized,” Ewen says.

“The new songs have been changing every week.”

Hilbert says that, although Red Letter Casino is currently focused on writing and recording, the band also enjoys playing live.

“When you’re on stage, nothing else matters,” Hilbert says.

In addition to fan admiration, Ewen says playing live has other advantages.

“It’s always great when people come up after shows and buy us drinks,” Ewen says.

Red Letter Casino often draws comparisons to modern rock luminaries such as Weezer and Interpol, but members say they are in no hurry to make it big.