Age holds no limits. That goes double for bands—bands like Fool’s Journey. This Ames area band has been playing together since the members were in eighth grade, in one incarnation or other. Before you get the wrong idea, nobody in the band can vote.

“[The band] started in the eighth grade at a talent show,” Chris Hoffmann, rhythm guitarist, said. “We covered Guns ‘N Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’

“We rocked the middle school; we actually got people to stand up.”

Fool’s Journey has come a long way since those crazy middle school days. “We thought it was going to be a one-time thing,” Hoffmann said. “It just kept going from there.”

The band, as it was known in eighth grade, had only three members. Hoffmann, Jeff Koch on lead guitar and Steve Cable belting out the vocals. About a year ago, Jon Cocker joined on bass as well as Brian McGeeney on drums to complete the venerable line-up.

Without a high school diploma on their resume, Fool’s Journey has trouble being taken seriously, but they were taken seriously enough to play the Teen Dance at the Ginkgo Festival this Friday.

“We were asked if we could play on the 14th of July, and our calendar was open,” Hoffmann said. “We didn’t have any idea what it would be for. The first time I heard of [the Ginkgo Festival] was on the PA at school when they said we were playing at it.”

Fool’s Journey is sure to rock your roll, or is that roll your rock? Either way, they’ll get you on your feet. “We’ve got three 30-minute sets,” Hoffmann said. “We’re going to blow everybody away.”

Most of the material they will play is original, but they might throw in a couple of covers, Hoffmann said. “When you’re playing to a teen crowd they like to hear something they know.”

Although the band is from Ames High, they’ve ventured onto the Iowa State campus and have garnered a college following. “We’ve kind of developed a college crowd; we’ve played fraternity parties and The Long Shot a couple of times.”

Hoffmann and company opened up for 6240 last January and learned something new about the name Fool’s Journey. “We found out it was a book when we played with 6240,” Hofmann said. “Dan [Lodden, drummer of 6240] asked us if we had read the book. We haven’t read it.”

So if you’re wondering what to do on Friday night when the cash flow is low, have no fear. Head on down to City Hall around 7 p.m. and party with Fool’s Journey. It’s free and the proof will be in the pudding.