Senior Mikey Lee came up with the name for his rock band in what he referred to as a "very Stanford way"--from his reading assignment for "Introduction to Perception."

"The cells in the middle of the eye are called midget cells, and they are arranged in a mosaic," said Lee. "The textbook referred to this as a midget cell mosaic. I thought that would be a great band name. We decided to take out the 'cell' and we ended up with our name."

Lee, the lead singer and guitarist for Midget Mosaic, is one of several aspiring rock stars on campus. Lee and his band mates formed Midget Mosaic right before the beginning of their sophomore year.

"Andy Szybalski, the band's keyboard player, and I roomed together during Sophomore College," explained Lee. "We played together at the CoHo a few times, but we wanted to sound more rock-ish."

Lee and Szybalski met fellow band member Kenny McCaffrey, the bassist, after a campus frat party.

"We heard a group of random people drunkenly singing Disney songs, so we decided to join in," Lee said. "We then began to sing the Cake version of 'I Will Survive,' and Kenny sang the bass line. We needed a bassist so we got Kenny on board."

Lee met his fourth band member, Chris Bravman, at Sigma Nu rush. The fifth band member, Alex Van Derbroeke, was someone Szybalski knew from high school.

Half of the band's songs are covers of older songs and half are originals.

"We mostly play at Stanford<\p>--<\p>at campus parties, at Battle of the Bands, at the Art Affair and at other various venues," Lee said. "We have played off campus a few times, mostly at friends' houses, house parties and bars."

According to Lee, one of the hardest things about having a band on campus is finding venues and times that work for everyone.

"Most of the time, all of our weekdays are full so we can't get together until the weekend," Lee said. "But on the weekends, there is usually either an overflow of bands or a shortage of venues."

According to junior David Baron, the lead singer and pianist for The Spin's Band, bands have increased in number and popularity since he came to Stanford.

"When we started, the music scene wasn't really happening on campus," said Baron. "There were just a few bands who completely dominated the scene, but now everything has changed. A lot of great bands, such as Two Mikes From Jersey, Red Line and Dopamine, have sprung up over the past three years."

Lee said that while there are a lot of bands on campus, he finds that there is not a lot of variety in genre.

"You get a lot of John Mayer<\p>/<\p>Jason Mraz types on campus that annoy the hell out of me," he said. "It's nice to have a little sad, emo, crying-in-the-corner music some times, but you also need some metal and rock."

Baron, along with junior Ben Grant, the drummer, and junior Gabe Davis, the bassist, started The Spin's Band in the very beginning of their freshman year.

"Gabe and I first met because we lived in the same freshman dorm," Baron said. "We played a few shows together, but it was a bit odd because it was just piano and bass."

The two met Grant through a jazz combo.

"From the first note of the first show that we all played together, we knew that we had something good," Baron said.

Baron said that he and his bandmates had a lot of difficulty thinking of the band name.

"Our name has changed a lot over the past three years," he said. "We finally decided on The Spins, but that was already taken by a band in Europe. To avoid copyright issues, we added the word 'band' onto the end."

The Spin's Band began by playing in various venues on campus, such as fraternity parties and the CoHo. The band members won the Battle of the Bands in 2003 and 2004.

"It was really exciting to be named the best band on campus in our freshman year," Baron said. "This year they asked us not to compete, so we kind of hosted the event."

The band is now stepping out of the Stanford scene and into other venues.

"We started opening for a lot of different groups, and just this year, we began headlining in various clubs in San Francisco," Baron said. "This summer we plan to live in San Francisco to further enter the music scene."

They have also made the transformation from a band that plays primarily covers to playing mostly their own music.

"We have a little under 15 original songs," Baron said. "I write all of the songs, but Ben and Grant turn it into their own style. The songs are good because of the guys in the band."

The band members, however, say that having a band while in college can be very time consuming.

"We practice four days a week," Baron said. "My whole life is this band."

Baron said that sometimes the band has up to three gigs a week, whereas other times they go for weeks without any gigs.

"Rehearsing is the main obstacle of keeping a band on campus," Grant said. "The two challenges of practicing are negotiating every band member's busy schedule, then finding a place that's available at a time you can all meet. It's really challenging, especially at the busy times of the quarter."

Grant also said that Stanford's bureaucracy can create problems for keeping a band together.

"We've found Stanford both a supportive and a frustrating place to have a rock band," he said. "Our friends have been great and have loyally come to most of our shows, but there's little help from the bureaucracy with the basic logistical needs of a small rock group."

Both Lee and Baron agree that the support of friends and fans has been crucial to their bands' successes. Support from big shots in the music industry, however, doesn't hurt.

"Lee Abrams, the chief programming officer of XM radio, is a big supporter of The Spin's Band," Baron said. "He's a huge industry guy, so it's exciting that he liked the band."

Midget Mosaic has the support of singer/songwriter Ben Kweller, Lee said.

"We did a cover of one of his songs and we had a chance to meet him and play it for him," said Lee. "He loved the band and he referred to us as 'the best band in the land.'"

Both bands plan to stay together after graduation.

"Our years at Stanford have provided us with the time to build our sound, and by the end of next year, when we graduate, we'll feel ready to take it anywhere," Grant said.