By Stephanie Alexander
Entertainment Editor
The Merge is the next up and coming local student band. They have been rocking the Dallas-Fort Worth area since December and have a gig at The Door in Deep Ellum on April 18.
The Merge is composed of Coppell High School juniors Brady Knippa on drums and Coleman Loose on lead guitar, Flower Mound High School junior Dax Matlock on guitar and vocals, Flower Mound HS senior Ben Mitchell on bass and Flower Mound Coram Deo Academy junior Taylor Niznik on keys.
“Coleman, Ben and I wanted to make a band, and so we originally had Coleman on drums, but that didn’t work out so well,” Matlock said. “He is fantastic and is the most important member in our band.”
Loose, Matlock and Mitchell played for Irving Bible Church’s middle school worship band which was called Merge AM, ergo The Merge. Niznik knows them from IBC as well and is the newest addition to the band.
“We wanted to play one song but we needed an organ, and we were like none of us can play keys or anything, and then Taylor came to mind,” Loose said. “She’s all classical with her quick fingers, she is number one.”
Niznik went to Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas for her freshman year of high school before transferring back to CDA for classical piano and has been playing for eight years. Being the only girl with a bunch of guys doesn’t phase Niznik one bit.
“At Booker T., I was in a jazz ensemble and in a string quartet with some friends I had to constantly perform and you just learned how to collaborate with other performers,” Niznik said. “I have known Coleman and Dax for a while so it’s not intimidating being with a bunch of guys, plus we all like music so really it is just like I’m hanging out with friends.”
Mitchell being a senior and going to Stephen F. Austin State University will make it hard to have band practice all the way from Nacogdoches. The dynamics of the band will soon have to merge into something new.
“Over the summer we are going to do a bunch of shows with him, but then once he goes to college we are still planning on chilling and writing a bunch. We have been looking for possible candidates to fill his place,” Matlock said. “Right now we are focusing on writing as much as we can and then hope to release an album within the year.”
As of now, the alternative rock band is performing mostly covers at their gigs, but are working to put an EP together soon.
“One time we played ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ and got great feedback from the crowd,” Matlock said. “We did ‘Shake Me Down’ by Cage the Elephant and I got really emotional and into it and almost broke down on stage, it was fantastic.”
The Merge’s next gig is at The Door on April 18 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $10 in advance and $12 the day of the show.
