Teen rock stars beat the drum for Vegas metal scene

Octavius Corrales and Tom Beyer consider themselves audience pleasers. So when the long-haired teens took to the Water Street Plaza Amphitheater to perform as their rock group Subsanity, there was a display: head thrashing, jumping and screaming, all customary for a rock-metal group’s performance.

But 16-year-old Corrales thought the show needed just a little bit more. The solution? Swinging the guitar over his head and playing a solo behind it.

“I was just feeling it,” Corrales said. “I was contemplating whether to do it or not, but I like to please the audience and I really thought they would enjoy that.”

Henderson staged its fourth annual Battle of the Bands on Saturday, featuring Subsanity and nine other groups across two competitions, with the opportunity to win cash prizes and hear feedback from industry professionals.

Subsanity competed in the 21-and-under competition with four other bands: Serrated, Liam and Dylan, 2 Dayz and Beyond the Arrow. The performances varied from Subsanity’s hair rock and metal fusion, to Beyond the Arrow’s country twang, to everything in between.

For the Las Vegas trio, what set them aside — and won them the $500 cash prize — is their adaptability in the face of pressure.

“I think definitely one of our greatest strengths too as a band is being able to overcome and to be able to improvise during like situations where we’re having trouble,” 17-year-old Subsanity bassist Tom Beyer said.

That improvisation is the hallmark of the band’s nature. Subsanity has been an official group for less than six months, and its current lineup only practiced together three times before taking the stage Saturday.

“There was a lot of self-isolation practice, practicing at home and getting all the right technique and tightness down,” Corrales said. “But for this show, we’ve only had around three practices.”

The band’s usual drummer is enrolled in college in Canada, splitting the original Subsanity apart.

When the show’s opportunity seemed too good to pass up, Corrales tapped one of his classmates for a last-minute bandmate.

Mike Petrov, the 18-year-old drummer who filled in for the competition, knows all about improvising. During the show, one of Petrov’s drumsticks snapped during the end flourish on the first song. But the show didn’t stop, the drumstick wasn’t replaced and Petrov didn’t mention it, even to his bandmates, until well after they won the competition.

Subsanity is planning on recording an album in April, but the group’s goal is much more grandiose than a five-band showdown in Henderson.

“We are trying to build an empire,” Corrales said. “Empire as in, starting from our own humble beginnings, and making it a business.”

All three highlighted what they feel is a minimal metal presence at local shows in the Las Vegas area and are hoping to build a culture alongside other bands in the region. They pointed at third-place winner Serrated for help, as both bands captured different aspects of the metal genre.

“We’re lacking a metal scene in Las Vegas, and I feel like we can do that,” Corrales said. “And with the help of Serrated, they can help us bring back a scene that’s really dead right now.”

Asked what people should know about the band, the group was quick to respond.

“We’re subsane!” Beyer said.