Hannah Montana’s double life as a student and a superstar is something that is regarded as a childhood dream or a ridiculous television story.  However, current SJHHS sophomore Sid Piravi and 2015 graduate Griffin Dennan are a step closer to making this a reality by starting their careers in the music industry in high school.

“The biggest thing that you have to do is that you have to put a lot of work in early and work really hard just to get your foot into the door,” said Landon Yaple, director of the SC School of music. “After that, it’s all about making connections and meeting and networking with the right people.”

This past summer, Sid Piravi (10), and his band “The Taco Truck” took this step music industry’s door when they professionally recorded their first EP, South County. Their style can be described as progressive rock and alternative, with Rush’s influence heard in the tribal beats and rhythms on the drums and Led Zeppelin’s sounds in the baseline.

“This particular album that we’re releasing is our first one and it’s about the typical life of a kid from Orange County. So, we have one song about how much we hate school, we have one about LGBT stuff, just typical things that kids go through in Orange County,” said Sid.

Sid wants to pursue a career in music, and hopes that before he graduates he and his band will be able to sign a record deal, and write and perform their original music in big shows. His hope is that if their success continues, and he is able to establish a career before graduating, he won’t need to go to college and can focus just on his music.

“I definitely think that people who have no experience with recording in a professional studio, playing live shows, opening for other, more larger bands, which is stuff that we’ve done, I definitely think that if you go into college without experiencing that then you’re really behind,” said Sid. “Especially in the music industry because it’s so hard to get where you want to, there’s millions of people who want exactly  what you want so starting at young age, playing venues, professional studios, it’s just really helpful. And it makes you more professional.”

The Taco Truck started doing covers at first, but eventually progressed to writing and performing their own original music the summer before the 2014-2015 school year.

“We originally started because we wanted to do the middle school talent show, Ladera Idol… but we took it really seriously. We’re not just some random garage band. Usually when I tell people I’m in a band they’re like ‘Oh that’s cool, whatever’, but we’re really serious. Like, our parents are involved, there’s a lot of money, and we invest a lot in it,” said Sid.

Sid’s fellow bandmates, who he met in middle school at LRMS, are also high school students who are currently attending Tesoro High School. Sid is the keyboardist, guitarist, lead vocalist and songwriter for the group, although they sometimes bring in a guest guitarist for live shows.

“I think [music] is the only role. If I’m not at school, I’m working on music. I do classical piano, and voice lessons. Basically every minute that I’m not at school I’m either doing my homework or playing music,” said Sid.

Current ASU freshman, and former SJHHS Stallion, Griffin Dennan is tackling a different side of the music and entertainment world and proving the benefit of starting his career in high school with his production brand Apexx Productions.

“Basically, Apexx productions is an Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego mobile production service. We take the event to you, whatever that may be, we will set up speakers, lights, audio, video, and we do live performances and have videographers,” said Griffin. “Nowadays we’re doing larger events, corporate events, school dances, trade shows, recently did something up at the LA Fairgrounds.. It’s all over the place.”

Griffin and a couple of his friends started Apexx productions back in 2010, when Griffin was 15 years old. Although he DJed the Apexx events himself in the beginning, now that the company has grown he is able to hire other rising DJs with their own producing styles.

“Right now, my career in the music industry is awesome. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else, especially at my age,”said Griffin. “I always had a great time doing what I did [in high school],and I honestly was very fortunate to be able to have the opportunity to be able to work in the music industry and literally just play music and have people dance for a living.”

Instead of settling for a 9-5 job like other kids his age, Griffin followed his dreams and worked until he could build something out of it that he enjoyed doing, and started his career. However, Griffin is determined to maintain his lead and continue to expand Apexx productions.

“It’s very important to me to not fall behind and let myself slack off simply because I’m in front of everyone else and it’s easy to do. For me, being in front means that I have to stay in front and in my career it will always give me a step up on others,” said Griffin.

Conrad Woodul, one of the co founders of Apexx Productions and the DJ at the SJHHS back to school dance, now has a full time producing job in LA.

“A lot of people lose sight of their true passion, and they tend to go off and get some random degree, but if you stay true to your passions your goals truly do come to you once you reach out to them,” said Conrad. “Being a part of Apexx gave me an opportunity to see what I was capable of.”

The Taco Truck and Apexx Productions are definitely up-and-coming names to look for in the music world.