When alternative rock trio Position 12? goes on stage, the objective is to get the audience to feel as cool as they do.

“It’s the best times ever when the three of us are there and we find the crowd and our fans and friends are with us and we’re all on the same plateau of coolness at the same time,” said Aaron Wilson, the band’s singer, songwriter and guitar player.

Wilson said the group, which also includes drummer Jarrett Gibbons and bassist Andy Ervin, started playing music when they went to high school together in Newton, Ill.

“Me and the drummer specifically, we literally started together,” he said. “I got a guitar from a pawn shop and he had a crappy old drum set and we set up in my grandma’s garage and we would just play.”

Wilson said he left the group for nearly eight years, and when his friends heard he was back in town, they picked up right where they left off and started Position 12?.

“(We) get along a lot better now just because we grew up together and we’re from the same old town,” he said. “So we’re just really a bunch of friends that get together and play music more, and we consider ourselves friends before a band.”

He said different styles could be heard in their songs ranging from groove and funk elements to grunge.

“We try to have a little something for everybody really and we’re kind of diverse,” Wilson said.

Although the band took influence from classic rock musicians like Tom Petty and Frank Sinatra, grunge bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam and metal bands like Iron Maiden and Megadeth, Wilson said their style is unique.

“Our music’s kind of a creation in itself,” he said.

Vocally, Wilson said he admires Chris Cornell of the bands Soundgarden and Audioslave and Freddie Mercury of Queen.

He said he pushed for more of a raspy, alternative sounding voice when he was a teenager, but he has since developed his own distinctive style.

Lyrically, Wilson said he is a storyteller.

“Usually (there are) a lot of double meanings and stuff behind my lyrics,” he said. “But inevitably like every song that I’ve ever written has been from some sort of a life event or certain situation that I’ve got myself into.”

Wilson said the band is currently working toward releasing their second album, though there is no specific time frame they are working with.

When the band released their debut EP, they hired a producer and pushed them selves to work 10-hour days in the studio, Wilson said.

“It was just crazy hectic to record that fast and four guys laying out all the tracks and sleeping in a hotel for like nine days just partying,” he said. “It was a rough week.”

Although the band had fun and learned a lot from the experience, Wilson said the group decided to produce their new album themselves to allow more creative freedom.

He said the band will keep playing music whether they “make it big” or not because it is what they enjoy doing, and it gives them an excuse to hang out.

“We’re all pretty happy right now,” Wilson said. “That’s good. It makes it a lot easier to play good music when you’re happy about what you’re doing.”

Position 12? will be one of four bands playing at 8 p.m. Friday at Roc’s Blackfront Restaurant and Lounge. The other acts include Skydiver Autopsy, Matty Till Dawn and Jake Schlich.

Stephanie Markham can be reached at 581-2812 or samarkham@eiu.edu.