It’s a Friday evening and fans are trickling into the Avalon, a gothic-themed music venue and nightclub in Hollywood. After an emotionally charged set by the shaggy-haired boys of Sioux Falls’ The Spill Canvas, they shuffle around to snag a good spot for the next band.

Along with other teenage hipsters fiddling with their camera phones, Marvin Barillas of Los Angeles is anxious. Standing with a gal pal, the 17-year-old gushes about Daphne Loves Derby during the lag.

“They’re not afraid to tell it like it is,” says Barillas of the upcoming performers, who’ve gained their fame via cyberspace, racking up more than 10 million plays on MySpace and the online music source PureVolume. “When my girlfriend broke up with me, I was hurt that she found someone else so fast. I listened to their song ‘Hammers and Hearts’ and it was exactly what I was feeling. A lot of times, bands try to hide behind fancy lyrics. Daphne Loves Derby isn’t afraid to be real.”

A few minutes later, the red curtains rise and the crowd cheers. Stationed front and center is Kenny Choi, the group’s lead singer and guitarist. He clenches the microphone and, with a voice that’s bold and effortlessly emotive, belts out those songs that speak to the soul. 

 

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A few hours before show time, Choi, 22, sits in a swank backstage lounge fully equipped with cases of Corona and a fruit platter. Wearing a plaid shirt, slim-fit corduroys and brown loafers, the 6-foot-2-inch frontman tries to concentrate on the interview amidst a spitfire of jokes from around the room. 

“I was Kenny’s personal stripper,” declares bassist David Sparks when asked how the bandmates found each other.    

Choi laughs. “Yeah, there’s never a dull moment here,” he says. 

Choi was born and raised in Kent, Wash., a quiet Seattle suburb. “I played football, went to Jack and the Box and that’s pretty much it,” he says. “It was kind of like the boonies.” 

His dad taught him how to play the guitar, introducing him to musical greats like The Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel and ABBA. In his early teens, he spent his spare time learning the chords to alternative hits such as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Green Day’s “When I Come Around.”   

During high school, Choi began writing music. At night, he’d jot down the thoughts swarming in his head, filling the pages of his notebook with words and metaphors about his family, spats with friends, his hopes and dreams. Then he’d turn his thoughts into lyrics. “It became my greatest joy in life — just sitting in my room and watching a song come to life,” he describes. “It’s like nothing can stop me.”

In a song titled “You Versus The Sea,” Choi wrote about his mother: “And she said all she had was the cross around her neck to keep her warm, ooh/ I still remember how you tried to hold these walls through perfect storms.”