The 16-year-old from West Palm Beach started her music career at 10 and has grown as an artist ever since

By: Liliana Kirby

As the stage lights blaze to life, washing her bass in flashes violet and electric blue, 16-year-old Jasmine Marchi grips her bass and strikes the first chord of “S!CK” by The Warning.  Behind her, the drummer and guitarist follow, producing a loud, metal melody. Marchi leans towards the microphone, gazing upon a sea of faces in front of her, and smiles – this is where she belongs.

Over the past six years, the high school junior has transformed her love for music into a passion for performing through her metal band, Maximum Friction.  What began as a childhood dream is now gaining recognition across Florida, and beginning to make waves in the state’s metal scene.

“One of the reasons why I really wanted to start a band was that I always had this love for music,” Marchi said. “When I first started playing bass at about the age of like nine or 10, I started realizing this was something I really, really wanted to do. So, I decided to take it more seriously by forming my own band.”

Marchi’s passion for music started from an early age, shaped by an exposure to various genres through attending concerts with her parents and lessons at multiple music schools.

“I’ve always listened to a lot of different music, but definitely metal and rock would be my favorite, so she definitely got exposed to that,” Marchi’s father, Douglas Marchi said. “When she was three, she was playing melodies on a piano and I was the one that kind of caught that. So, I decided we should start sticking instruments in front of her and it worked out pretty good.” 

It wasn’t until Marchi took the stage for the first time that her aspirations of starting a band first emerged.  When she was nine years old, the music school she attended at the time, Music for Life, held a student-led show.  At this event, Marchi played the bass and sang the song “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple and was when Marchi said she started realizing performing was something she “really, really wanted to do.”

“The reason I loved performing was the reaction from the crowd,” Marchi said. “It was so impactful on me. I saw people’s faces light up and I was like, ‘this makes me feel good.’”

After that day, Marchi’s love for playing music continued to grow.  While she had access to music groups through her music schools, Marchi’s interests lay in the metal genre, while most of the other students preferred pop or classic rock.  Because of this, Marchi decided to form her own band at the age of 10.

“It started with me and two teachers, and then the process was we had to find people my age to play with,” Marchi said. “When we first started one of the biggest things my parents got told on my behalf was that we wouldn’t be able to find anywhere to play the music we did because I wanted to do heavier music. Another issue was we were kids so in a lot of venues that would take our kind of music, we’re not old enough to be playing there all the time because a lot of  them are bars.”

Currently, Maximum Friction is comprised of 3 members.  Marchi is the lead singer and plays the bass.  The guitarist, 14-year-old Jaden Garcia, has been a part of the band for 5 years.  During the formation of Maximum Friction, Marchi had trouble finding and keeping a drummer, cycling through 4 before finding their permanent member, 19-year-old Anton McCampbell.   

“I joined because I was at a Guitar Center and there was an ad on the wall next to the bathroom,” McCampbell said. “I texted the number and I ended up trying out and I ended up in the band.  It’s fun performing with them and just being together and traveling to shows.”

Maximum Friction rehearses together every Wednesday and Sunday.  On the weekends, they perform in shows across Florida, from Arcadia to Tampa, having about 25 to 50 shows total throughout the year. 

“My favorite memory from a show was when we played at a festival called OCC in Clearwater,” Marchi said. “Joey Belladonna, the singer of Anthrax, was doing his Journey tribute later that night so he happened to be at the venue while we played Anthrax songs. After the show, Joey Belladonna asked to talk to me and my bandmates because he was very impressed with us. Later that summer, we got to open for him.”

Jasmine currently attends A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts,  where she participates in her school’s orchestra as a violinist.  Throughout the school year, Marchi has to balance her school work and music lessons with her band practices and performances. 

“Honestly, it is very stressful, and sometimes it does get overwhelming,” Marchi said. “But at the same time, it’s almost natural. If I wasn’t this busy, I’d be lost.  I’ve been doing bass and violin since I was seven, so it’s kind of just become like a pattern. It’s stressful, but it’s also enjoyable.”

During the early years of the band, Maximum Friction mainly played covers from bands including Megadeth and Metallica.  However, this past year Marchi, Garcia, and McCampbell started writing and recording original songs for their debut album, Death by Dawn, set to come out this September. 

“The process of making the album was very tedious and very long,” Marchi said. “At the beginning, it was like pulling teeth to get us to work together and write. But now, we just write stuff as it comes. We just recently wrote a song within three hours. It started slow but it got comfortable and fast as we went on.”

Marchi plans on continuing to play with her band in the future and performing in venues across South Florida and beyond.

“The most rewarding part of having a band is definitely the people,” Marchi said. “It always makes me happy when people walk up to me and are like, ‘you inspired me to do this,’ or ‘watching you was just so cool.’ Even now, having people stop me to tell me that my performance was really good and inspiring makes me so happy.”