In a time when it's tough to make even the smallest ripple in the music world, South Carolina's hard-rocking band Not Yet Rated has managed to stir up quite a bit of buzz.

      Their driving energy and aggressive live shows--and a little bit of good luck--have propelled the band to overwhelming, nearly impossible heights.

      Composed of vocalist Ryan Updike, 19, guitarist Brandon Clark, 17, bassist Chris Eisaman, 19, and drummer Zack Webster, 20, Not Yet Rated is rocketing through the nation in a blaze of rock glory that includes openings for bands like Crossfade, Lacuna Coil, Three Days Grace and Breaking Benjamin.

      Honing their musical sound--a heavy mix of melody and madness--over the past two years, the members have claimed first place honors at two major battle of the bands. That includes the 2005 Radio Super Showcase, which earned them a paid spot in last month's international Atlantis Music Festival competing against 13 other bands to get discovered and signed.

      It's a wild rock dream come to life--and all before any of the members can even legally buy their first beer.

      "We just rock together," said Clark in a phone interview. "We all love the power of rock music on stage."

      That love is what brought these four Myrtle Beach residents together in 2003. After brief and scattered band attempts throughout middle and high school, they formed an unnamed group with a sound akin to Incubus, 311 and Sublime, and landed their first gig at the House of Blues. And, as spontaneous as their success, they came up with the name Not Yet Rated minutes before hitting the stage and put on what Updike calls their defining moment.

      "We were local and really small, but we brought in the biggest numbers for the night," he said. "We thought, 'Hey, we have something special and we can do whatever we want with this thing.' That's when we said we're going to make the dream come true."

      Since then, their chest-pounding songs like "Between Lies and Broken Dreams" and "Tangles," from their self-titled debut have helped push the band onto the path of success at a rare young age.

      While the music is the core, Updike said it's the live performances that let their name linger long after the music has dissipated.

      "We know how to make a show memorable [because] we use the stage," Updike said. "We make the crowd just as much a part of the show as we are."

       "We want to make people feel entertained and [feel] in the same awe as we are when we're on stage looking at them," Clark added.

      Not Yet Rated's future seems to be glowing with promise, which may include a nationwide tour of 13 Se–or Frog's locations with a possible stop in Miami--all of which Updike said is possible thanks to powerful bond between the young musicians that cements the foundation of the band.

      "We're all about the same age [and] we relate to each other," Updike said. "There's just something there that holds us together that really doesn't have a reason. It's a chemistry that can't be defined in words, but it just works."