Two Baker students are hoping to rock all the way to a recording contract in Los Angeles.

And it all started with a band they found on Craig’s List.

Seniors Scott Marks and Nate Deel started working with The Louisiana Street Band, made up of students at The University of Kansas, this semester after Marks saw the band’s ad looking for members on Craig’s List last semester. So, he decided to try out and made the band playing the saxophone.

Marks said the band’s music has a blues and classic rock feel, and the group writes all its own original music.

“I was pretty pleased when I joined the band and found they wrote their own music,” Marks said.

But it turned out the band also needed a drummer, so Marks was asked if he knew of any. He mentioned Deel.

Even though the band had three other drummers lined up to try out after Deel, they chose him without even listening to the others.

“It was pretty cool,” Deel said. “The first time I sat in with them, it was great.”

Even though the two have only been to a few rehearsals, they are already performing with the band, starting with the U Rock! Battle for the Best Contest sponsored by General Mills.

This contest began with regional competitions at university campuses across the nation. The Louisiana Street Band competed against two other bands Sept. 24 on the KU campus.

The only requirements for competing were each band had to have at least one member going to a university participating in the competition and the band must perform original music.

Once each band performed that night, the loudest crowd cheer determined the winner, and The Louisiana Street Band was the one with the loudest cheers. Deel said it was really cool how they received a lot of cheers from the crowd when they were announced, especially after the first two bands received little applause.

Because the band won, it now moves on to the national online voting competition started Oct. 29, and people can listen and vote for their favorite bands until Nov. 25.

The three bands with the most votes will win a trip to Los Angeles, where each band will have the opportunity to perform in front of industry experts, and the winner of those three will win a recording session at a studio.

Deel said it would be awesome if the band could get enough votes to go to Los Angeles.

“We have pretty good odds, but I’m pretty anxious to find out,” he said.

Connie Deel, director of human resources and staff development, and Nate’s mother, said Nate has been involved in some sort of band since grade school and has learned to play several different instruments. So, she thinks winning the contest last month is very cool and is excited her son has an opportunity to be in this competition, especially since she said he would like to drum professionally.

“You always want your kid to do what they love,” Connie Deel said. “And he loves this.”