The four Baton Rouge-area natives who comprise Here Is Why decided to bring back the good old rock and roll of the 1990s.

Brock Ballow (guitar/vocals), Chris Meyers (guitar), Charlie Williams (bass) and Jeremy Rasti (drums) decided to come together after many years of playing in other bands to recreate that "straight-up rock and roll" because to them, the controversial question, "Is rock and roll dead?" isn't even an issue.

"I don't think its dead, I think it's still out there, and it's making a comeback," Rasti said. "You can look back and laugh at the last 10 or 15 years, because everything comes back around. The Green Day-type bands and the straight up rock and roll bands are starting to come around again. Music comes in phases. You had the new metal bands and that faded out, and now you have the emo thing, and I think rock and roll is starting to come back."

It's definitely coming back to Baton Rouge with Here Is Why, and it all started in 2007 when old friends decided to get together for a jam session.

"In the middle to late '90s, Brock and Chris played in a pretty big local band called Addis," Rasti said. "I knew Brock from high school, and last March he called me up and was interested in jamming out. So, I called my old bass player [Williams] from my first band, Paperstreet, and we all got together. One practice was pretty much all it took for us to decide were gonna keep playing and start a band."

The four hit it off from the beginning. Rasti talked about the dynamics of having experienced band members from different places work together to create this unique bond.

"The chemistry of the group came in two halves, because Chris and Brock have been playing together for so long, and Charlie and I played together for about five or six years," he said. "When we pulled it all together it just worked really well. The best part about the group is there are no egos, no one is trying to show up someone else. We all work really well together, and we're really critical of each other as well."

The band has been working well together since February 2007 and has a four-song EP out called "The Pool House Sessions," but they look to do a lot more in the near future with their first full-length album "As Above, So Below."

"We started recording in February, and we're in the process of getting a disc mastered," Rasti said. "In the next few months or so, we'll actually release the album and our next focus is just to really push forward and try to get [the album] heard and continue to write good music like we've been doing. We already have two new songs that aren't on the album."

Without a label backing them, Here Is Why does everything independently. Though one day the right people may hear their music and ask them to sign, they aren't just sitting around waiting. They went out and got a top media designer from Los Angeles to help them produce a music video to their hit "The Getaway."

"It was by far one of the coolest things I've ever done," Rasti said. "John Lands had a real vision and we all inputted on the story line of the video because it followed the Getaway song lyrics. It took about six to eight months of planning, and then finally over a weekend we managed to get all the shots for the video, and later Chad Bonanno edited it and put together. It came out very well."

With an EP, a full-length album coming soon, and an amazing music video, Here Is Why can definitely say they are a part of the Baton Rouge music scene. Even with all the physical evidence of their success, Rasti admitted it's simply all about the music.

"I really wouldn't call us successful quite yet, but I think what really appeals to people is the music," Rasti explained. "I think we write really, really good music, and people are starting to dig that. It's a straight-up rock and roll style and it's something that hasn't really been around since the middle to late '90s, so that helps out a lot."

That style with Ballow's singer/songwriter vibe is something you'll definitely want to catch. Luckily, Here Is Why plays around Baton Rouge about twice a month.

"Now, we're mostly playing Baton Rouge venues, like the Caterie, Clicks, we've played the Varsity twice," Rasti said. "We've played out of town a few times in Hammond and the Brick House in Houma. I think once we get this album done, we'll play a little bit more out of town, but as far as a full-fledged tour goes, we're all just doing the weekend-warrior thing."

Even though the guys haven't made performing their full-time gig, they wouldn't trade their time on stage for anything.

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else than on the stage with the guys that I'm playing with right now," Rasti said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything. I feel that we have something special and I think everyone feels the same way."

For more information on the band, check out their MySpace page.