Not only is Bang Music composer Derek Menzies a First Boards finalist, but he and his band, Aquavibe, have been invited to play at Hugh Hefner's house. And you can party with the band there, as well. All you have to do is pick up the X-Box or PS2 version of Playboy: The Mansion in which they make a digitized appearance.

"In the game, you play Hugh Hefner and you throw your parties in the mansion with all these celebrities," says the Staten Island-born and raised, Menzies. "What's cool is they actually asked for pictures of us. You'll see us be invited to the mansion and we walk around."

Menzies was a psychology major in college, and when he finished he went into a mentoring program that involved music in a teenage girls detention center. He started his own music program, and the band was inspired by his experiences. "I was like the white boy from suburbia and the girls were from Harlem and Bed-Sty," he remembers. "But instead of trying to show them how to read music or try to show them how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb", I'd teach them a Biggie song. We just hit it off. Music was this great thing to communicate."

Self-taught, Menzies discovered his talent for music when he received a Casio keyboard for Christmas one year. One instrument led to another. "Around 13 or so, I picked up guitar. After that, every year or two I'd pick up a different instrument."

After he left social work, he went briefly into the financial world. But the band was going strong and needed a place to record. It was fellow band member, Dyverse, that led him to Bang. The recording engineer heard the music and the rest is history.

He started with a Wild Turkey radio spot in spring 2003 and hasn't looked back since. Menzies is as adept with a polka as he is with heavy metal, hip hop or orchestral track.

"I'm pretty good at doing whatever," says Menzies. "But the main adjustment was the time factor. When I was by myself I'd take anywhere from two weeks to a month to make a track, but at Bang I think the earliest deadline they gave me was 45 minutes. From scratch to full track. Luckily I had the right stuff, I just had to pick up the rate at which I could do it."

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