19 October 2010

VersaEmerge's - Port St. Lucie rock band featured Monday on MTV's 'World of Jenks'

VersaEmerge is Devin Ingelido, left, Sierra Kusterbeck and Port St. Lucie native Blake Harnage.

Photo provided by Brandon Aviram

VersaEmerge is Devin Ingelido, left, Sierra Kusterbeck and Port St. Lucie native Blake Harnage.

Blake Harnage, VersaEmerge

Blake Harnage, VersaEmerge

Port St. Lucie alternative rock band, VersaEmerge will be featured Monday on MTV’s “World of Jenks,” a show that follows the lives of young people from every corner of the U.S.

The 30-minute episode will showcase what a week in the life of a female-fronted band is like. MTV crews shadowed the three-member, edgy pop/rock band for seven days, capturing several hundred hours worth of footage over the summer as the band toured Canada on the Warped Tour, a 43-date mega rock tour around the U.S. and Canada, which features over 80 bands and artists.

Port St. Lucie resident and VersaEmerge founding member Blake Harnage, 21, said the group tours the world eight months out of the year, also filming tour and music videos, but has never been in front of the camera lens 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“It was just weird,” the John Carroll High School graduate laughed. “You wake up in the morning and on a normal day the first thing you want to do is not be on camera.”

Every week on the new hit MTV show, documentary filmmaker Andrew Jenks moves in with a different stranger. In past shows, Jenks has lived with a volatile rapper, got in the ring with a mixed martial arts fighter and documented the struggles of a youth living with autism. Depending on the editing process, Harnage said his group’s episode should be tame in comparison, but said it does offer music-lovers an inside glimpse into the not-so glamorous life of a hardworking band on tour.

“If I had to guess, the most dramatic moment was when our tour manager left while we were on the road,” said Harnage who sings back up and plays lead guitar. “He came to us and told us he was going to tour with another band. We basically agreed with him.”

“MTV also got a lot of crazy footage of us going wild on the bus. We were playing air guitar, crowd surfing and making our bus driver mad. Basically a lot of things you don’t do on a moving vehicle.”

Harnage and original band member Devin Ingelido, 23, of Rockledge, formed VersaEmerge in 2006, and after several group member changes, lead singer Sierra Kusterbeck, 19, of St. Petersburg joined. This year, the group released their first studio album and just announced their first-ever American headline tour set to begin later this month. For album information and tour dates, visit http://versaemergemusic.com.

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