Real jobs are for quitters

Strolling through the Stamp Student Union, the two university alumni of the rock band Detox Retox both experienced the same nostalgic knee-jerk reaction.

"It is so weird to be back here," said Nate Frey, who graduated in 2007 and is the lead guitarist for the band.

"Yeah, one thing they never tell you is how badly the real world sucks," said Michael Parker, who graduated from the university last spring and supplies the lead vocals for Detox Retox.

While the two bandmates know they cannot return to the simple life of a student, they're also not ready to commit 100 percent of their lives to the shirt-and-tie working world. If the success of Detox Retox keeps up, they may never have to.

Detox Retox - a band that has been seen blitzing nightclubs and bars around the Washington area for the last eight months - is looking forward to touring the rest of the East Coast to promote their new EP, Hard to Swallow. The band will finish out the tour tomorrow night at the Wonderland Ballroom in Washington.

"I'm so stoked," Parker repeated endlessly. "I love to do shows, because every time we play, it's such a party atmosphere."

Many a fan has approached Parker and Frey to tell them how their band's sound and onstage energy are reminiscent of Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines and Kasabian, the two said. These comparisons might bother most musicians, but Parker takes no offense.

"I don't mind, because I actually like those bands," Parker said with a laugh. "If it were Creed, I'd be like, 'Hell no!'"

The fact that all three aforementioned groups are British is no coincidence; the other Detox Retox members - Kevin Glass and Kabir Khanna - are friends Parker made in Great Britain.

"I met the other two in London, and they were actually friends with each other, so everything really just came together," Parker said. "It was so natural."

The band has grown a lot since its meager beginnings less than a year ago. When the band first started gigging, Detox Retox would essentially give private shows to the lucky 10 people who showed up at the bar that night. Its fanbase has quickly transformed and multiplied: Now, dozens of screaming fans crowd the stage at every show.

"Our shows get pretty wild," Parker said, sharing a knowing smile with Frey. "I mean, it's not serious music; it's fun music."

Frey, relatively soft-spoken compared to Parker, has been the silent force behind the band's advertising and promotion. Thanks to him, the band's catalogue can be found on iTunes, Last.fm, MySpace, a number of music blogs, and, Frey hopes, eventually Pandora.

"We'll take it as far as it will go," Frey said.

"If the coke doesn't kill us first," Parker added jokingly..

November has taken the band pretty far up and down, from Maryland and beyond. Last week, the band hit up The Sidebar Tavern in Baltimore, the aptly-titled Trash Bar in Brooklyn, N.Y. (Parker attested, "It's a dump"), and a return back to Washington for a homecoming at the Wonderland Ballroom. But there is still one area venue the band is dying to play.

"We'd freaking love to play Santa Fe [Cafe]," Parker said. "We've only done WMUC; I don't care, I'd do Bentley's."

Still, the band isn't a full-time affair, even though Frey and Parker both work full-time jobs in Washington. The former works at an environmental consulting agency, and the latter at a Georgetown law firm, but no job is quite so satisfying as being the life of the party, they said - so both are doing the best they can to keep the dream alive.

"If I could make a teacher's salary and go nuts every day, I'd do it," Parker said. "Nothing else does it for me."

Detox Retox will appear Thursday with The Echo Boom (formerly named Silver Lights) at the Wonderland Ballroom in Washington at 9 p.m. Admission is free.

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