The basement is tiny. The ceiling is so low that it's impossible to get around without stooping over. Pipes hang down overhead and must continuously be avoided. Drums are stacked against the far wall, rattling as the music blasts away. Sheet music is strewn across the floor. An emblem for Radiohead is spray painted on the far wall. Next to the emblem hangs a piece of carpet, and in front of that sits Peter Williams, a 2001 Penn State graduate, perched behind his drum set.

"We're just trying to get our songs together," said Williams of tonight's task.

In front of Williams is the rest of the band, The Radio Sky: Peter's brother and lead guitarist Tevis Williams, singer, rhythm guitarist and 2000 Penn State grad Rich Swanger, and bassist Travis Craig (junior-English). In the middle of the circle is a tape player, recording the band's different takes on the song.

And it doesn't matter to the guys in the Radio Sky that it's so late, because they're putting together a new song.

Original songs are all the band has now, because at the end of last semester, The Radio Sky quit playing covers. In the process they gave up their weekly shows at downtown bars and now spend their time trying to put together enough original songs to fill a show. Unlike most bar bands in the State College area, The Radio Sky just didn't want to play other musician's songs.

"We just got tired of it," Craig said. "I didn't learn to play an instrument to play someone else's music."

The band has spent anywhere from two to six weeks working on a single song. Currently they have only seven original songs completed.

"We're not going to rush through it," said Tevis Williams. "We're going to make sure we have everything we want. We're going to nit-pick."

It's not uncommon to find these four down in this basement. The Radio Sky practices about three nights a week for one to two hours at a time at the house where the Williams brothers and Swanger live.

Last semester the band had two weekly gigs playing mostly covers at downtown bars: The Brewery Inc., 233 E. Beaver Ave., on Fridays or Saturdays and Café 210 West on Wednesdays. They also played shows at The Lion's Den, 118 S. Garner St., last summer.

"I liked them very much," said Hal McCullough, owner of Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave. "I thought they were a good bar band, a good fraternity band, and a good overall band."

Eric Miller, manager of The Lion's Den, offered similar sentiments.

"They were a good band who played good music," he said. "They were very high-energy. They played to the crowd and did a good job."

The Radio Sky covered a wide variety of rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, U2, Radiohead, The Strokes, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

"We have about 30 covers we can play, but we don't want to," said Peter Williams. "It wasn't satisfying."

Swanger agreed.

"It's hard to express yourself that way," he said.

"We got to the point where we didn't have time to keep practicing and write new originals," said Tevis Williams. "We want to keep practicing and playing originals and not be such a bar band."

Local musician Bill Filer explained the need for covers.

"It's a tough business," Filer said. "Some places don't want to book you if you don't play songs that are recognizable."

"It's beneficial if a band does play some covers," McCullough said. "But I'm not looking for strictly cover bands. I think if a band mixes it up then it's good."

"When they're ready to go. I'd definitely keep them in mind," said McCullough of having the Radio Sky play an all-original show.

Miller said that he would consider bringing the band back "if they can bring a crowd in."

While the Williams brothers and Swanger have played in several bands together over the past six years, it wasn't until February 2002 that they met Craig. With the band's current line-up in place, they adopted their name.

"It's a pretty cool thing that the sky is just filled with songs and you can channel them," said Swanger.

Added Peter Williams, "We just want to be a part of the radio sky. We want to have a song in the sky."

When describing their sound, the band members offer differing viewpoints. Swanger described the Radio Sky as "pop rock," but Tevis Williams quickly offered his disagreement.

"I think we're more alternative than pop," he said.

But Craig offered an even different perspective.

"There are so many genres anymore that we could fit into 1,000 of them," he said.

While the members have a few common influences such as Pearl Jam, U2, and Radiohead, the band's influences vary by member. Tevis Williams likes a lot of '80s pop metal, while his brother likes jazz. Swanger cites a lot of country as an influence. And Craig lists hard rock and bass-influenced jazz.

Peter Williams describes the band's original songs as, "a mixture of a U2 sound with a little more edge, a little more rhythm."

"We strive for a melody, but we like to have rhythm," he said.

The songs are meant to be "a balance between writing a catchy rock song that anyone can appreciate and a song that a musician can appreciate," said Craig.

When the band played its original songs during their bar band days, Peter Williams pointed out that "people did like them."

Since the people at the bars liked the originals so much, Tevis Williams said, "It was just encouragement to write more."

In January, the Radio Sky went into Audible Images Recording studio, outside of State College, and spent 25 to 30 hours over four days recording a five-song demo CD, titled Impermanence. As soon as the band has enough originals together to play entirely original shows they plan on selling copies of the CD.

"They were very professional," said Filer, who owns and operates the studio. "They seemed to have a uniform goal. A lot of bands seem to have personality clashes. That didn't happen with them."

As far as the future, all four members of the Radio Sky said that they're very committed to continuing in the band.

"I don't think we'll really feel like we've given it a shot until we've moved away from here," said Swanger. "As long as we're happy I think we'll do it indefinitely."

And as long as the band is happy, Swanger said, it means that they've achieved success.