By Cassie Johnson
There are a lot of great musicians out there today, even if their music isn’t being played all over the radio. Every great band has to start locally.
It is hard for musicians to stay focused when they have to work day jobs to make a living, but the members of the Central Massachusetts band Pathogenic seem to be doing a stellar job of it. The five-member band – featuring Anthony Simone on drums, Chris Gardino and Justin Licht on guitar, Dan Leahy on bass, and Jake Burns on vocals – is set to play in a battle of the bands from 6-10:30 tonight at the Palladium in Worcester. Tickets, at $10, are available online at ticketfly.com.
Pathogenic is a metal band, but members describe themselves as progressive and as melodic as they are heavy. The band started out in 2004, but Burns and Simone are the only original members. Licht says they get along pretty well.
As far as practicing goes, they go to a “shady professional rehearsal space in Billerica” about once a week for four hours during the late night, Burns said.  They’ll start their rehearsals by going over what’s in the set for their upcoming show.  Then they’ll move onto songs that aren’t in the set and jam for a while.  They play a show about once a week. 
Burns said they had been booked to play a show recently at the Unitarian Church in Fitchburg, but when church members found out that Pathogenic a metal band the show was cancelled, to which they just laughed.
The farthest from home they have ever played was a show in New York, which cost them $70 in gas to get to. Burns said it was worth it, though; they had fun and the people there were friendly.  Members of Pathogenic said they don’t typically make a whole lot of money at their shows, but they really just want to get the music out there.  According to Burns, some venues won’t let them sell merchandise unless the venues get a cut of the profits. They play a lot of shows with Hivesmasher and the Summoned.  They said they enjoy it and both of them are awesome bands and dudes. 
To find out more about Pathogenic and its upcoming shows, go to their Facebook page by searching for Pathogenic in the music section.  You can also listen to their entire album for free at pathogenic.bandcamp.com or buy it for $5. Pathogenic t-shirts are now available from Hurt Reynolds clothing company.