In a back booth of the Docksiders bar, Will Tucker is talking about music, Bermuda, and his band Duty Free and his face is moved to a smile, but it seems he can't quite help it.

"I started out just banging on anything I could find in my living room: a pot, my couch, anything while Chris jammed on his guitar with just a little amp."

Heading to Docksiders' dark back room, the other three members of Duty Free are just wrapping up an extended jam session. They are preparing for tonight's final gig and all evening lead singer/guitarist Chris Finsness has been running through the lyrics of some new songs the band is trying out, including a quick version of Paul Simon's classic 'You Can Call Me Al'. It's been a relaxed practice, with Spencer Wood, who technically plays rhythm guitar for the band, taking turns at the drums and the bass, before pulling out a beautiful Bermuda cedar guitar he made for himself.

A little while ago Ben Wicks quietly slipped on stage to seamlessly take up his position as bassist, pulling out a 'ska' rhythm for a Duty Free version of Sublime's 'Santeria'.

These four friends have come a long, long way from the days when a couple 13 year-olds could be found jamming in Will's living room.

Duty Free are now playing to packed crowds who come out every Wednesday and Friday nights to Docksiders' back room to raucously enjoy Duty Free's genre defying style and talent.

But the key to the group's success is more than just amazing musicianship; the crowds are coming out to share a piece of the groups pure energy; their love of simply being up there, playing.

"These guys are going to be taking over from the Kennel Boys in the next couple of years, just watch," said one insider to Bermuda's live music scene, comparing Duty Free to the Kennel Boys who have reigned supreme over live rock on the Island for years.

Not bad for a group of four guys who all just graduated from high school in June. But don't be mistaken by their age, these guys know rock, and they also know where they want to go with it.

Talking to the guys earlier in the week while they were relaxing at a local coffee shop, it's clear that these rockers are in for the long haul. They are already promising to revitalise Bermuda's music business, talking of plans for studios, music stores and local band promotions, amongst a list of other long term goals.

As far as short term plans go, Duty Free is on the right track. Both Spencer and Will are off to the Boston's Berklee School of Music in September, where they will be studying percussion and music production at one of the US's premier schools for jazz and contemporary music.

Also heading off to Boston is Chris, who promises to continue with guitar and vocal studies while at Northeastern University. And though Ben is heading out to New York State to study architecture at Hobart and William Smith University , he has pledged to spend any spare time he has in Boston with the other guys, working towards next summer when Duty Free promises to be back at Docksiders.

"It takes four hours to get to Boston from Hobart, but with me driving, its going to only take two hours." says Ben, who like the others members of the band, (except Will who was unable to make it), are sitting outside on the patio of the Rock Island Coffee Shop.

They all are very relaxed. Clad in tee-shirts and old sneakers, Duty Free has no tough image to maintain, rather they are simply and undeniably themselves.

Talking about how much the group has grown musically since April when Duty Free was still playing in Will's living room, Spencer says that the real transformation came for the foursome when they began playing live.

"It's great playing Docksiders because everyone, the entire Island, our friends, whoever, can come see us. It's so inclusive. Everybody can come out and just have a good time, rather than us just practising by ourselves somewhere."

Agreeing, Chris adds:"I'm just so much more pumped up when the crowd is into us. When I'm playing I feed off of everybody else in the band, the beat, the bass, the guitars; it's just an unbelievable feeling. But the crowds..the crowds are such a big thing."

Ben admits that the energy from their listeners goes a long way.

"When everyone just starts coming up to the front and start going crazy.you know, that's when we all come alive."

"Yeah, we're all grooving with it then," says Spencer, "We want the crowds to interact with us, and extend the fun we're having to all the other musicians in the crowd."

The band has been very welcoming of guest performers, including drummers, guitarists and ever a rapper or two. They have also featured the lovely Bermudian songstress, Rebecca Faulkenberry, in a number of their shows this summer.

"It's all about letting people know that they should just go for it," says Spencer, who knows the strong desire to get up on stage for himself, when as a youngster he would watch his drum teacher perform with the Kennel Boys.

"And even when the crowds not grooving, honestly we can still have a great time. We'll just jam together," Chris goes on. "Also that back room has got the best vibe of any bar on Front Street. The people back there are just so friendly and we've never had any problems with fights at all.

"I think Docksiders' is one of the only places where young adults can enjoy a live band and not have to worry about dealing with a lot of problems Bermuda faces."

As far as influences go though, the band have a hard time saying exactly where they are drawing their musical strengths from, other than a true melting pot of sounds.

"We have a diversity of songs, and play everything from Marvin Gaye, and Bob Marley, to modern pop," says Chris, the main song writer of the group.

"We all have such different tastes in music. We all like a lot of the same stuff, but we all concentrate on the music we grew up with, which was a little different for each of us." says Chris who lists blue grass and grunge as personal favourites whereas Will says he's dabbling more and more into jazz.

"But when that all comes together, all those influences," Spencer pipes up, "it works out."

But Spencer adds that for him it is not a certain sound that has affected him, but rather the singular artists who have fed his fire for learning more, including members of the Kennel Boys and other local musicians

"I've got all these guys I go to for help, different drummers I know, but its like that for everyone in the band, everyone looks to different bands, different people who play. It's nice to be able to bring these aspects together and sort of mesh them to form our own sound."

Chris quickly points out that Duty Free is not about to follow in the footsteps of other young and popular pop bands, but rather forge its own path. "Its not like we are just imitating pop rock starts when it comes out in our own time. Its not just an imitation, we are not a clich? pop punk band"

"We have just great improvisational fun, it's the greatest way to make new stuff and still have a lot of fun." Spencer explains.

The band agrees that one type of band that they are taking cues from is classic jam bands like Phish, who is known for a huge following of devoted fans, yet has meagre commercial chart success. This is something which these young men can relate to, having played at Docksiders for several months on a trial basis before they actually started getting paid.

"With bands like Phish it's all about the music and creating. They're not in it for the money, obviously because they still do it even though they don't get main stream recognition. They play their butts off every time they have a concert and that's why they're always sold out."

Talking about this past summer Ben, 18, is slightly reminiscent about having it come to an end, but that doesn't dampen his enthusiasm for the group's growth over the past couple of months. Explaining the group's song writing process, Ben is very energised.

"Chris comes up with a rift and a song in his head at home. When we're up on stage and we've never played and Chris comes out with the rift. We're all think 'What the hell is this?' and then we start improvising and start to figure out what he's doing. Then suddenly we're just jamming out this song we've never played before and we just get right into it.

"It just brings a smile to my face. Here we are playing something we've never done before and it just sounds so good That just makes me smile.

"I don't want this summer to end."

And listening to the joy in Ben's voice, its understandable why he's saddened with September's swift approach.

These guys love what they are doing, they love inspiring each other, feeding off each other, simply playing together and they love the music.

Unbridled by the modern music industry's need for shiny packaged products or the 'bling-bling' drive to make as much money as possible, these guys are on that stage because they want to be up there giving to the crowd. And if they can bask in the crowd's energised response, well, that's enough payment in return. But that's what Rock and Roll is supposed to be all about in the first place, isn't it?