Commander and the Duke

Who makes up the band?
Seniors Alexander “Alex” Katsaropoulos and Reid Libby. The duo switches off on
instruments such as the drums, guitar and vocals between songs.

Call it fate
According to the pair, creating the band started out with just an orange amp, and everything else just fell into place.

It’s all in the name
“My friends call me Xander (because my name is Alexander), and then they started calling me Commander Xander. Reid is president of GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) and instead of being called the president, he goes by duke. So we just combined the two,” said Katsaropoulos.

Humble beginnings
Katsaropoulos said, “We were in another band that fell apart, and we thought it would be fun for our last year (at this school).”

Equal parts soul and rock ‘n’ roll
Commander and The Duke is a mixture of blues, rock and roll and other alternative music genres.

Musical idols
A few of the band’s favorite musicians include The Black Keys, Metric and Led Zeppelin.

Location, location
The band plays at Pool House Rock, and they play private shows as well. Commander and The Duke also tried out last week for
Houndstock (on May 18 at this school). For private shows, the members said contact the band on its Facebook page. Look it up under “Commander and The Duke.”

Great Expectations
According to the band, people should expect to have a really good time and to do something crazy. There are a lot of theatrics that go into the shows. Katsaropoulos and Libby also try to dress up in costumes for most of their performances. At their last show, Libby dressed up as a prince, while Katsaropoulos wore a fake beard.

Bands just want to have fun
The band said its music is not really meant to be deep, but they hope it makes the audience and their fans feel good, because it is feel-good music.

Originality rules
“We now officially have two (original) songs. I love playing both of them. There’s ‘Green Light’ and ‘The Rave.’ I think we pull it off very well; it’s very well structured and well written, it’s an easy song to play, and Xander and I synchronize quite well on it,” Libby said. “I like ‘Green Light’ because it references classic stories like Gatsby, hence ‘Green Light,’ while still staying pretty light and simple.”

Future plans
“As of now, we don’t really have any future plans for the band because we’re going to two separate colleges. But if there is a way to keep it going, we will most definitely try. I plan on studying music business or music production in college,” said Katsaropoulos.