Video by Alana Rood and Jordan Logan.

By Kara Hallam

Enterprise Editor

@Kara Hallam

Many teens try to form their own bands in high school in attempts to make it in the music industry.  However, high school band Sad Cops has already got a head start after it made its grand entrance with the release of the extended play (EP) Best Friends in January.

What started out as the single work of Coppell High School junior Grayson Harris  soon turned into a connection that will last after graduation.

Coppell High School senior and bass player Christian Meyer, singer and guitarist junior Grayson Harris and Trinity Christian Academy senior and drummer Taylor Goode formed the band after Harris wrote and recorded the EP with a different drummer and bass player.

“I’m the tech director at Gracepoint Church and I work hand in hand with the youth ministry,” Gracepoint Church tech director Wes Ashworth said. “I told [Harris] for his birthday one year, I would record a song for him so I told him to write a few songs and he ended up writing five songs and I couldn’t pick between them.”

With the help of two professionals, drummer Austin Cope and bass player Carlos Schilinsky, Harris recorded the EP.

To help promote it and continue his music career, Harris formed the band Sad Cops with Meyer and Goode. They practice and perform the songs that are on the EP and plan on building off this platform as a new and permanent group.

“I wrote the EP my sophomore year, and I go to Gracepoint Church in Coppell,” Harris said. “Wes Ashworth, the tech director there, asked me about recording an EP in an actual studio. So we did it in August and finished it in December.”

The EP’s namesake was after one of the songs on the track. The five songs; “Allen Road Park”, “”Best Friends”, “Philly”, “Nouns”  and “Stained in Red”, were released through TuneCore.

“The reaction was good,” Meyer said. “We kind of promoted it to all of our friends and any activities we had and they shared it with their friends. Now we have an article written on Central Track, which is the D Magazine of music.”

All of the feedback they have received from peers has shocked and humbled the three.

“People at my school who don’t even know [Harris and Meyer], were like ‘oh you’re on Sad Cops? That’s so cool,’” Goode said.

One thing was for sure, they didn’t expect so much popularity to come with the release.

“I was really surprised by how the EP did,” Harris said.  “I was expecting myself to buy it and my parents to buy it – to do more than that feels really good.”

The EP maintains a slower alternative vibe and can also be classified as emo pop rock. From the five songs, the band likes to emphasize the diversity of each song. Each title was inspired by personal beliefs and memories of Harris.

“I live on Allen Road and there’s a park me and my friend would always go to and hang out in and It’s actually become a big part of my adolescence,” Harris said. “Then ‘Philly’ is about institutionalized racism and police brutality and ‘Stained in Red’ is anti-war.”

“Best Friends” seems to get the most attention; Harris explains that it is his favorite because he gets the most questions about the lyrics. Even so, each of the five songs is special to him.

“ ‘Nouns’, I like how it’s put together, we have for drums I’m playing the whole kit, so it is all built together and it’s a lot of fun,” Goode said.

However, now that two of the members of the newly formed band are now in their last semester of high school, the band has been figuring out its future.

Meyer plans to major in graphic design at the University of North Texas because there is a larger market for it than music. Meyer, before joining Sad Cops, attempted to start up his own graphic design selling business online.

“Both art and this band are something that I really love to do,” Meyer said.

Goode on the other hopes with the help of his coach he can try out next year and pursue a drum major his sophomore year at UNT.

Harris, a year younger, hopes to join them at UNT in the fall of 2016.

“I’m pretty sure were all going to UNT,” Goode said.”By the time [Harris] goes to UNT, we’ll have a house, and then we’ll all just live together.”

Harris suggested he planned on choosing what he considers a more practical major like Business.

He hopes to continue writing songs and may even create another EP.

“I think he’s got an incredible amount of potential and the passion that he has will take him places,” Ashworth said. “He’s already gotten some good feedback from some music critics who write blogs online so I think from that standpoint it’s done really well. “

However, despite all heading in different directions their music will always unite them.

“All of us are just huge into just listening and just collecting different music styles and we just like playing music, it’s just fun, it doesn’t feel like work at all,” Meyer said.

Harris, fellow band mate looked at Meyer and smiled upon this remark.

“It’s not work because we’re not getting paid,” Harris said. ““It’s just something we love.”

When asked what the next step for Sad Cops would be the three all responded resounding and excitedly at the same moment with “Shows!”