After drawing inspiration for its name from a brewing storm, Leading Edge has combined a whirlwind of musical styles into a coherent whole.

The members of Leading Edge described its sound as alternative rock incorporating elements of indie, reggae, funk and a Latin sound.

Seth Brown, a senior from Social Circle and the band’s bass player, lists the Beatles, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay and Miles Davis as some of Leading Edge’s diverse influences.

“It’s not always easy to comprehend,” said David Beeco, a sophomore from Social Circle who plays drums.

But rather than dedicate themselves to one specific genre, they prefer to focus on the musicality of the songs they write.

“It’s hard to describe because we like to incorporate so many different genres in our music,” said Eric Thompson, a senior from Macon who plays guitar. “We’re really into the musicality . We’ve found that the more musical we are, the more it affects people.”

The band members’ strong musical backgrounds allow them to create this unique sound.

“We’ve all been playing regular orchestra and band instruments since fifth grade, so we all have that classical training,” Brown said.

Leading Edge formed in Social Circle when Brown, Beeco and Matt Daniel were in high school.

“We’ve been playing together since 2005,” said Daniel, a senior and the band’s rhythm guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist. “We were called Mudra. It was just us three for a long time, and we’ve been playing around Athens for a few years.”

From time to time, the band had other members, but none worked out until Thompson joined them in the spring of 2008.

Soon after, they changed their name to Leading Edge. The original name, Mudra, often was mispronounced and was once incorrectly billed as “Mudrat.”

“We were pretty much at [Seth's] house practicing in his basement, and the lights were flickering in and out,” Daniel said.

The group took a break from practicing, went upstairs and soon the power came back on.

“The first thing we heard when the TV came on was ‘the leading edge of the storm,’” Thompson said. Brown’s father suggested that it would make a good band name, and the group adopted the new title.

Leading Edge is now working to build up its fan base in Athens and hopes to play in other cities around the Southeast.

“Athens is great to foster a new upstart band, but there comes a time when it’s time to break out,” Brown said. “So we’ve been playing Monroe, Social Circle . Back in our hometown, we sort of wished we had a local band to sort of get us moving, so we like to help out.”

The group also released a three-song demo last fall, which can be heard on the band’s MySpace page and is available for free at shows.

Leading Edge often performs at benefit shows, such as tonight’s benefit for cystic fibrosis.

“There’s nothing more important, especially with music – helping people, doing what we love to do,” Thompson said. “There’s nothing sweeter than that.”