Madison Ford

Staff Writer

Coppell High School has seen many bands in its time, from the CHS marching band to the many garage bands formed among students. While each musical group has its differences, they all share one common bond: success. The Paradigm is no exception.

The Paradigm was established by a group of CHS juniors who wanted to have fun and make music. While they continue to do just that, their band has quickly soared to local success. The band has played multiple live shows around Coppell, and has even gotten the attention of a record label.

 “I was at Stephen Arifin’s house one time and he had his bass out and I saw it and I was like, ‘Hey, I play guitar, so we should play sometime, and just hang out and jam a little bit’,” lead guitarist junior Jackson Webster said. “And from there we just got more people into it.”

Juniors Webster, Arifin, the band’s bassist, and Ben Marshall, lead singer and guitar player, are the founders of The Paradigm. While the band has progressed, it has added drummer Blake Varnell, a fellow junior, and freshman singer Kenzie Hitz, completing the band.

“They wanted to take it more seriously so they asked me to play with them and I actually really liked the sound and my girlfriend sang so we pulled her in and kind of became a band after that,” Varnell said.

The Paradigm has quickly picked up steam in its short career, playing multiple shows around town such as Coffeehouse, where they won the Best Band Award, and Relay for Life. The band already has gigs lined up for the near future.

An end of the year bash at Dad’s Venue in Lewisville will be bringing The Paradigm together with other Coppell garage bands of the past that have found success, such as Amber Open Skies, whose members will be graduating this year, as well as Zootime Politics who graduated with the class of 2010. As these bands continue to move onward from high school, The Paradigm appears to be carrying the torch of a young, fresh sound in Coppell’s pop culture.  

As far as The Paradigm’s music is concerned, the band is attempting to bring back the funk.

“We have mostly funk stuff,” Varnell said. “People say we sound a lot like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and we also have some more chill, laid-back stuff that’s kind of 311-esk, it’s kind of Ska. And we also do some crazy stuff like Rage Against the Machine like heavy rock that’s just fun to rock out to.”

This eclectic sound has caught the attention of record labels. Whether or not the band will pursue this avenue is yet to be seen.

“Labels are kind of a whole different subject because they get really political, and its about making money; labels are about really nothing else,” Varnell said. “But the goal is basically to record in the summer and mostly just have fun. None of us think that we are going to go off and become huge rock stars out of Paradigm. We just want to record and have fun.”

While the success the band has seen thus far is impressive, being a part of The Paradigm holds many perks being tangible success.

“I’ve enjoyed of course, hanging out with friends,” Arifin said. “I get to see them a lot. But [I also enjoy] the ability to create something that’s your personal thing. And just be able to show it to everyone like in a way that’s not weird. Like you’ll be able to show and they will be able to enjoy it. They will be able to dance to it. They will be able to party to it. I think that’s awesome.”

Varnell, who has played in multiple bands throughout his high school career, enjoys playing in The Paradigm as an outlet for his passion.

“Drumming is just my passion,” Varnell said. “And it’s good to just get out and do things that you love.”

The members of the band are not the only ones who benefit from their music, however. Fans of the band are loyal and supportive, due do the friendship between the two.

“They are all individually musically talented, and are all good at what they do,” junior Sam Fillingim said. “Plus, they also play the kind of music that I like. I just think that they play difficult stuff, and they all know what they are doing.”

Since The Paradigm’s creation mere months ago, it has quickly taken steps toward success. While perhaps it may never reach the height of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ stardom, it is certainly on its way.