By Nancy Arcayna
narcayna@starbulletin.com

While other high-schoolers were prepping for college, Alex Gaskarth was working on perfecting his songs. Even then the All Time Low front man’s aspirations to become a rock star were not just frivolous dreams.

“We would play in Maryland on weekends and then do short tours during spring and summer break,” he said. “By our senior year we were faking college visits to go meet with record labels.”

Gaskarth co-founded the pop punk band with guitarist Jack Barakat back in 2003; Rian Dawson became the band’s drummer, and Zack Merrick later joined the group as a bassist. They signed with Hopeless Records just months before graduating from high school in 2006.

“The day we got signed to Hopeless Records, Jack and I had to pretend to go the bathroom to get out of class and take the call,” said Gaskarth.

Even if they hadn’t been signed, he wouldn’t have abandoned his dreams of becoming a musician.

“I would just keep doing this until I could make it work,” he said. “Music isn’t about being on a record label. It’s about finding your own path to success.

“Eventually, everyone finds their way. We just found it at a young age before we really had to battle with not being in college.”