Deadfall Rd. practices on Burrow Cemetery Drive and one of their songs is about a serial killer. But don't get the wrong impression: The Arlington-based group is not a death metal band.

Photo by Michael Donahue

No ''standard rule'' for Deadfall Rd.: David Hoffman, Eric Graham, Keegan Linton and Blake Leonard.

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"In this band, there's no standard rule," said drummer and co-founder Eric Graham, 14. "We play what we feel like."

Graham began playing drums a year ago. "I just started playing to see if I could even do it."

Thanks to a Wal-Mart insert, band co-founder Blake Leonard, 15, became a guitarist: "I was looking at Christmas presents 'cause my parents told me to look for stuff. I saw a guitar and was like, 'Hey, it'd probably be cool to play guitar.'"

Keegan Linton, 15, likes bass because "you can do a lot more things on the bass than you can on the guitar. You can mess up and still make it sound good."

Jack White of The White Stripes was the biggest inspiration for lead singer/lead guitarist David Hoffman, 15. He met White when the musician was in Memphis for The Raconteurs show at the Cannon Center for the Performing Arts. "He was just walking down the hall," Hoffman said. "I was flipping out. I was kind of shocked at first. I walked up to him. I was like, 'I am such a big fan, man.' He was like, 'Thanks, man. I appreciate it. It's cool.'"

The band, which has one EP under its belt, has written several originals, including "Cottonmouth Jim."

In the song, Cottonmouth Jim catches a kid named John who trespassed on his property. "He ties this kid to a tire and rolls him down so he can throw him in the spring and he won't be able to get back up 'cause the tire just goes to the bottom," Hoffman said.

And, as the song says, "only the snakes (cottonmouths) know where John is."

Listen Up spotlights area performers. Michael Donahue can be reached at 529-2797.

Deadfall Rd.

Tonight at 7 at the New Daisy Theatre, 330 Beale. Also, 6 p.m. Saturday opening for The R. T. Scott Band at Mel's Place Bar and Grill, 8690 U.S. 51 in Southaven. Cover: $8 at The New Daisy and $10 at Mel's Place Bar and Grill.