It's been a year and a half since Joey Silvio moved back to Elmont from Raleigh North Carolina. When Silvio arrived home at Dutch Broadway, he met his parent's tenant, Jennifer Mallilo. The two found that they both had not only an address in common, but an affinity for music.

Joey had been playing in bands since he was 14 and Jennifer, who has been compared to her favorite singer of all-time, Pat Benetar, started singing in a church choir. When it came to creating music, the two clicked.

Now, Silvio and Mallilo are the driving force behind the up and coming band, The Black Rose Project, which will be playing at DiCarlo's in Mineola on Saturday, July 31.

Although The Black Rose Project has only been together a year, the band has already enjoyed success. With Silvio and Mallilo working together (Silvio writes the music and Mallilo writes the lyrics), the band already has a following and is looking to carry the momentum it gained this past fall when it placed first out of 450 bands entered in the Munchaba Lounge's Battle of the Bands.

Perhaps one of the reasons the band won at the Munchaba Lounge was its originality. The Black Rose Project has a diverse sound that has the ability to appeal to lovers of different types of rock music. Silvio, who was influenced by classic rock, said it's hard to pinpoint the exact style of the band's music. Mallilo describes it as music with a classic rock influence with a modern edge to it. Whatever you want to call it, its sound appeals to the band's audience.

With Silvio on lead guitar and Mallilo on lead vocals, the band also includes other talented members such as Mike Capraro on rhythm guitar, Kerry Miskovits on backup vocals, James Metzler on drums and George Mueller, who has performed gigs as a solo artist, on bass.

Playing ballads, hard rock, songs with a hint of blues, The Black Rose Project performs its own original music.

Playing on Long Island, where cover bands, bands that play music made famous in popular culture, are prominent, The Black Rose Project finds itself in a minority.

It can be hard for bands who play original music to get gigs, but The Black Rose Project has been getting performances consistently and has developed its own following.

"It's a testament to the strength of the music. In a year, we have a pretty faithful following. You wouldn't have that if the music wasn't quality," said Mueller.

Mallilo, who loves being on the stage and, according to Silvio, has the ability to write a song in a matter of minutes, admits its pretty cool when the band gets a request from a member of the audience for a particular song that was written by her and Silvio.

For the humble yet confident Mallilo, singing songs she wrote is sincere. It's telling a story, she says proudly of the band's format of performing original music.

The Black Rose Project will continue to ride the wave of success in its only year of existence. For the band members, playing music is something they love. "Music was always my life whether I played it or listened to it," said Silvio.

Although the members of The Black Rose Project would love to pursue music as a career, but for right now, they are having fun performing their songs and letting their music speak for itself.