Results May Vary & the LMN Orchestra

After winning the Illinois State Teen Battle of the Bands, Results May Vary and the LMN Orchestra did what they do best: they went back to school.

Despite having members scattered between high school, college and extra-curricular activities, the amorphous group that originated in Wheaton Warrenville South High School’s show choir band always manages to fill in for missing members and mesh.

To find out why the band is named Results May Vary, just ask a member how many people are in the band. Results, well, they vary from seven to 11.

“You don’t know who will be there. There’s a 99.5 percent chance that I’ll be there, (bass player) Joe Cleveland and (singer) Matt Moore too,” said guitarist Adam Curry, a 16 year-old junior at Wheaton Warrenville South. “For our drummer, it swaps. The horns will swap. Occasionally we’ll have a guy playing keyboard, but you never know who will be there until you arrive.”

The band’s allegiance to school is one of the keys to their success. Every single member of the band started in Wheaton Warrenville South’s show choir band, which won every competition it entered last year. The name of LMN Orchestra is a sly nod to the show choir band, which rehearses late Monday nights.

“That’s why we’re so comfortable playing in front of people, I think, because (show choir) plays over. Show choir is like a world of it’s own,” said senior Jack Mangen, who plays trumpet.

Although the show choir band’s leader, teacher John Burlace, had a large effect on the group’s musical training, he attributes the band’s success to the members’ natural talent and fun-loving nature.

“I think they’re some of the most gifted student musicians I’ve ever worked with,” Burlace said. “It’s funny, because probably the most rewarding part for me in watching their success is knowing they’ve done it on their own and it’s not something I’ve coached and put out there.”

The band also relies on the common friendship of its members to keep the stress of rotating musicians at a minimum.

“It’s not a big deal to us. We don’t really have a power struggle in our group because we’re all good friends,” said Joe, a senior.

For Devon Curry, who plays drums for the band when he’s home from the University of Iowa, having somebody to fill his shoes while he’s away is more of a blessing than a problem.

“Obviously, I can’t be there 100 percent of the time because I’ve got my life here at school. I’m very thankful they can find a drummer while I’m gone so they can continue to grow and play,” Devon Curry said.

The final facet in the band’s success is the help of their parents. Andrea Mangen, Jack’s mother, runs the band’s publicity; Art Curry, Adam and Devon’s father, offers up his basement for rehearsals and serves as the band’s de facto manager; and Kirk Moore, singer Matt Moore’s father, shoots video for the band’s YouTube page. They collectively organized a bus to take the whole crew to the Battle of the Bands finals at the Illinois State Fair in late August.

“The boys really do all the work. We just go along for the ride and get all the big smiles,” Andrea Mangen said.

All the parents express pride about their children’s work in the band and especially their sense of priorities.

“We’re proud beyond measure, but we also want to be measured in our pride,” Kirk Moore said. “A friend of mine asked me, ‘What comes next?’ and I said, ‘School starts on Tuesday.’”

As for plans in the immediate future, the band won a recording session for their victory at the Battle of the Bands, and also are hoping to play the school’s homecoming pep rally. Although the distant future of Results May Vary and the LMN Orchestra is unknown, the members of the band seem thrilled just to be making music with friends.

“I love what we’re doing right now, and I hope we’re good,” Joe said. “But none of us can say where we’re going to be next year or in five years. It’s wherever God places all of us.”
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