Atrophy, summed up in a sentence, is five dudes who like to play rock music together. Plain and simple.

When I walk into the basement of drummer Josh Jacobsen’s duplex, I am not sure what to expect. I know his band is called Atrophy and they are some sort of hard rock band, but that’s all I have to go on.

They motion for me to sit in a bucket seat ripped out of a van and welcome me into their group of friends for a night. A bobble-head Dr. Evil, which the group painted to look like Star Trek’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard, stares me down from atop a bongo drum.

They all like rock music, in slightly different forms. Some of the guys dig the classic stuff; some prefer the new. However, they almost all like Tool.

“[They are] the greatest band ever,” says lead singer Chris Nelson.

Some people say Atrophy sounds like Tool, but Nelson says he thinks being compared to a band as great as Tool is an honor the local band could not begin to deserve.

Atrophy has been together for about a year and a half, and they have been playing shows around Ames and Des Moines.

Jacobsen, junior in industrial technology, says their favorite venue to play is Cedar Falls club The Reverb, because people come there for the sole purpose of listening to live music, regardless of the band playing.

Bassist Kris McBride, analyst for administrative technology services, says Atrophy would like to play Des Moines club Hairy Mary’s or the Maintenance Shop in Ames someday. He jokes they would even “settle” for playing Hilton Coliseum or Stephens Auditorium.

One of the challenges of being a local band in Ames is finding venues. Guitarist Mike Rose says Ames has a lot of bands, but not a lot of places to play.

Ames residents tend to be more into the punk genre, the band says, which increases the difficulty for a hard rock band to establish a solid fan base.

Atrophy doesn’t seem to mind so much. They play wherever they can, whether in the basement at a house party or in front of the campanile, just so long as they can play.

“We are going to play as many shows as we can for as much time as we can,” Rose says.

Guitarist/backup vocalist Nick Saltier says he simply enjoys making music and having a good time.

“We are just living for the moment,” Slater says. “Pretty much, spending time with friends — that is all this band is about.”

As I look around the room, that is what I see. Five friends. They rip on each other all night and laugh loudly at past experiences. They drink some beer, they play some music and dread going to work the next day.

At the end of the night, I ask each of them to describe their band in one word.

Jacobsen and McBride decide Atrophy equals “energetic” and “fun.” Nelson thinks of the band as “therapeutic.”

Nick Slater first decides it is “friendship,” but looks down at his beer and deems “rehabilitation” is more fitting.

Guitarist Mike Rose thinks for a long time on the issue. Finally, after wrestling with the question for several minutes, he turns to me.

“I’m just going to say… rock.”