Founded in 1947 by scientists from the Manhattan Project, the Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock designed to warn the public about how close humanity is to destroying the world, highlighting threats from nuclear escalation, climate change, and technology. When the clock hits midnight, it symbolizes a total, irrevocable catastrophe — the end of humanity.
Max Griffin, a physics and music double major at Rollins College, was once looking at the Doomsday Clock when he thought that being seconds away from midnight was a cool name for a band.
And that’s how Seconds to Midnight was officially named — but the group’s story starts earlier.
“We had a long yap session about music, about wanting to create a group where we could show each other our compositions and analyze them — and then we were like, ‘what if we form a band?’” said James Hall, who graduated from Rollins in 2025 with degrees in international business and music and plays keyboard for the group.
Seconds to Midnight is made up of seven members, most of them music majors at Rollins. Hall plays keyboard alongside Jakob Zhang on drums, Kasey Rojas on vocals, Robert Ramirez on guitar, Erik Muench and Mason Opinion on bass, Delaney Benton as a lyricist, and Griffin on violin and vocals.
The group describes its sound as fusion, sophisticated rock with 1970s influence, though they are careful not to put it in a box.
“We started the band with the mindset of trying to create different things. We don’t want to be a cover band, just another punk band, just another jazz group,” Zhang said. “We’re trying to be a little more sophisticated or use the knowledge that we’ve learned from school to write music that is both pleasing and intelligent,” said Ramirez.
That formal education, they said, has shaped the way the band operates from the inside out.
“Knowledge of theory has revolutionized the way I look at my instrument,” Ramirez said. “We all have that knowledge, and with our different musical backgrounds, it all intersects into one thing. It also makes communication easy.”
For Griffin, his orchestral background has influenced how the band runs its rehearsals. In the weeks leading up to the first performance, he said they shifted from writing sessions into focused rehearsals — tightening rhythms, pitches, and arrangements until everything locked into place.
The songwriting process is a collaborative effort. Members bring in phrases, melodies, or chord ideas, and the group shapes them together. Their song “Moonlight Shore,” performed at Battle of the Bands, was written by Benton, Griffin, and Hall over a Zoom call in about an hour.
”We like to actively debate our ideas together,” Hall said, “rather than one person being like, ‘I’m the leader, and this is what the songs are going to be like’ — we work with each other to find out what works.”
When disagreements arise, the band relies on compromises.
“It’s about sacrifice,” Ramirez said. “The goal is for all of us to find fulfillment. If there’s a song that I don’t particularly enjoy but the rest of the guys like it, I’m playing it. And it goes both ways.”
The band has been together since the start of the semester, and their first performance was at Rollins’ Battle of the Bands. For a group only a couple of months old, the experience was electric.
“I was definitely nervous, but it went by too fast,” Rojas said. “Once you’re up there, you’re Iike — what? I want more.”
“The adrenaline kicks in,” Zhang said, “and you’re like, ‘oh, we’re having fun now.’”
To date, Seconds to Midnight has no music published on any streaming platform, but it does have an Instragram page and a growing catalog of original compositions. Balancing writing, rehearsing, and being full-time college students is the group’s biggest ongoing challenge.
Seconds to Midnight performed as part of Professor Dan Flick’s acoustic ensemble showcase on April 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Tiedke Concert Hall.
The band’s next goal is gigging and eventually recording an EP or an album. But before that, they want listeners to come in with the right mindset.
“Have an open mind,” Ramirez said. “We’re not trying to make music just for consumption. We want to create something that’s deep and has a strong foundation.”
“We want to put on a show,” Hall said, “but we don’t want it to be gimmicky. We want to create something that actually means something.”
To stay updated on upcoming performances and releases, you can follow Seconds to Midnight on Instagram.
Comments are closed.