Southbound 441 local rock stars

The room had more instruments than people in it. A white drum set sat in the far corner; guitars (yes, plural) and guitar cases were all over the walls and furniture; stereos and their cords covered the floor. The posters on the walls ranged from Dave Matthews to Mac Miller, and the variety of their music style followed this unpatterned trend.

“It’s going to be loud,” Zane warned me.

I sat back and watched the four boys practice, feeling like a '70s rock fan getting an exclusive chance to watch her favorite band perform.

Myles Salustro, Zane Borenstein, Grant Schmid and Cole Brooks make up Southbound 441, a Gainesville-born band. They were brought together by the University of Florida and are held together by the vibrant music scene in Gainesville.

Zane, who has been a guitarist since his early childhood, decided to form the band in August of 2022 after the members came back from summer break. He pitched the idea to Grant, who he had coincidentally met the year before after bonding over a Nirvana shirt and a shared love for music. Grant was on board, and he became the vocalist and guitar player of Southbound. Cole, who Zane met through the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, quickly turned out to be a good drummer. Now all they were missing was a bass player. Myles, Zane’s best friend and fraternity brother, came to the rescue and began learning the instrument from ground zero. His bandmates are not only grateful to have a bassist but constantly praise him for his quick acquisition of the skill.

“You would think he’s been playing for five years,” Zane said about his bandmate Myles. “We are gonna play Puppet Master by Metallica, which is an eight-and-a-half-minute song that’s super complicated and he’s already got the first minute down.”

“In the last show we played Sweet Child O’ Mine and he nailed that bass intro,” Grant added.

Once they formed the band, the next challenge was to come up with a name.

“It took us like two weeks to come up with a band name,” Cole said.

Those two weeks of hard work paid off — the name they landed on couldn’t be more perfect. The name Southbound 441 is a love letter to Gainesville. It’s a reference to U.S. Route 441, but also to local legend Tom Petty, who mentions the road many times in his songs.

“We formed at UF, we all met at UF,” Grant said. “So, we wanted to pay homage to where we formed.”

The band has performed at a variety of venues around town, from High Dive to How Bāzār, even adding a few tailgate shows to the lineup. Soon they will be venturing out of Gainesville’s city bounds and visiting Wake Forest University in North Carolina for a concert.

Even though they have performed all over, sometimes stage fright affects even the most talented, but the band has a way to deal with it.

“I get nervous for the first song,” said Grant, the voice of Southbound 441. “Then everyone starts cheering and you’re kind of just like ‘Oh my God, I’ve got the crowd at my fingertips right now.’ The initial nervousness goes away then.”

“[We can pick our own songs] To a certain extent,” Cole explained. “Once we started we kind of catered to the audience and now that we are getting bigger we can broaden our setlists, which is great.”

While they all eagerly agreed that playing was the best part of performing, the guitarist had another little favorite to add to that list.

“I like getting to meet all the other local bands like Truth Value,” Zane said.

Southbound 441's favorite bands

Myles (Bassist): Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Zane (Guitarist): Red Hot Chilli Peppers or Tool

Grant (Singer and Guitarist): Green Day

Cole (Drummer): Metallica still have a lot of dreams to accomplish as a group.

The bandmates unanimously agree that actually playing the music is their favorite part of performing. They especially love it when they get to pick their favorite songs, which they have been able to do a lot more of lately.

“I think that the biggest dream - and that I hope we can do next year - is if we can do a show at like four to five other colleges,” Zane said. “Like Florida State or South Carolina and Georgia. We’re already going to Wake Forest soon.”

“The non-realistic dream is to play stadiums,” Zane said.

“Do a world tour,” Grant added.

Grant is the one responsible for booking all their shows. He works at Swamp Records and Heartwood Soundstage, which gives him an in. At Swamp Records, he gets to talk to a lot of other bands and build connections, paving the way for Southbound 441. He is responsible for getting the young band off their feet and into the scene, quicker than most others.

“Everyone hates us,” Zane joked.

“We’re the villains,” Grant continued. “We’re growing too quickly.”

This is just the beginning for the bandmates, who

“The plan in my head is I want to release a four to five song EP, around fall when school gets back together and play it around Gainesville,” Grant said. “Then maybe release a single in January, maybe as a teaser for an album. Drop the album right before summer and go around on a summer tour.”

These are not the biggest dreams the boys share. When first asked the question, they joked around.

All four boys fell into laughter, but maybe it wasn’t a joke. We never know what the future holds and we’ve had superstars born out of Gainesville before. Maybe one day Southbound 441 will be playing stadiums and world tours. Until then, we can see them locally all around Gainesville, the town that breeds talent in every generation.

If you or any of your friends want to book the boys for a concert, you can reach out to their Instagram page under the handle @southbound_441.

Story by Maddie Panzer