Indie Rock Band Castle of Genre to Perform at Orange Leaf

The indie band, Castle of Genre, will perform live at Orange Leaf in Bristow in Braemar Village Plaza Friday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m.

On their recent album, entitled “Vint Hill,” Castle of Genre captures the crisp rock sound that is the signature to millennial alternative music. With such high quality of musicianship, listeners may be surprised to learn that “Vint Hill” was produced locally by a group of young men from area high schools.

Brandon Iqbal, senior at Patriot High School in Nokesville, is the front man and lead guitarist for Castle of Genre. He has been a musician since he was 11-years-old and a founding member of Castle since 2010.

Iqbal said the name of the band reflects a variety of musical influences.

“There’s a lot of room for progression; there are a lot of different types of genres. I’d say it’s like clean-toned indie rock,” Iqbal said.

Back in his sophomore year of high school, Iqbal bonded with schoolmate guitarist Joey Fall over their love for bands like Big Pile of Leaves. They started hanging out and writing music and soon decided to start a band.

Iqbal invited his long-time friend, Anthony Crawford, to join them on drums. Then, after they began playing local shows, they met bassist Patrick Stolte, an area graduate, and asked him to come on board. Recently, a mutual friend recommended Harry Thomas, a Battlefield student, join them on guitar, making him the latest addition to the Castle.

Now, the men of Castle of Genre are busy promoting their band by “playing as many local shows as will have us” and networking with a community of local and nation-wide indie rock bands on the Internet.

Iqbal said they have gotten help along the way from venue managers at Nova Music Center in Manassas, Deja Brew in Haymarket and even Jammin’ Java in Vienna, where the management arranged for them to play with the San Francisco band, Stone Foxes. He also thanked all the fans for hosting house shows and restaurants like Orange Leaf for allowing them to play live shows, which helps them to build their fan base.

While some of the band members will be attending VCU next year, Iqbal will be staying locally and attending NOVA Community College. He wants to keep the band together and playing around Virginia since musicianship is his ultimate goal.

“That’s all I want. When I think about college, honestly, all I want to do is be on the road and just play music.”