Uphill Ski Team, a quirky band from DeKalb, views its music in a lighthearted manner.

Members include Tony Donzelli, an OMIS graduate student; Colin McCarthy, a senior psychology major; Juan “Guido” Martinez, a sociology graduate student; Al Aldworth, a finance graduate student and William “Bill” Urso, a finance graduate student.

Their musical influences include Brand New, Winger, Murder By Death, Green Day, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Tuesday. Currently, the band is spinning discs from None More Black and Showoff.

They consider their greatest achievements to be their fans, being able to look each other in the face and sounding better live than on recordings.

One thing Uphill Ski Team wants others to know about its music is they “craft it from the soul – that squeeshy thing that tells you who you are.” The group likes to play their music with emotion.

A normal day in the life of a band member consists of waking up late, going to work or class late, listening to music, thinking about homework, practicing musical agility and then going to play a show somewhere.

The guys have hearts of gold and are involved with research for an annual breast cancer benefit in honor of McCarthy’s mother.

The band has many interesting stories about their crazy antics. One such story is about Martinez running late and forgetting to pack his guitar for an out-of-town show. He had to borrow someone else’s guitar, broke their strings and still blames his bandmates for this mistake from more than six months ago.

Uphill Ski Team will be playing a show at 9 p.m. Oct. 30 at 503 College Ave. with Ryan’s Hope and other bands to be announced later. The show costs $5.00 with a costume and $6.00 without.

Uphill Ski Team encourages people to visit their Web site at www.uphillskiteam.com. They want to remind fans that they “haven’t sold out because they still have everything in stock.”