Christmas lights dangle from houses while trees shine in passing windows as kids make their way towards San Francisco’s Mission district just one day after December 25th.

The Balazo 18 Art Gallery, a Latino owned and operated space, is brightly lit with local youth waiting to hear and see major talent. Taking advantage of the winter break from school, the under-age nightlife is in full swing.

Trevor O’Donnell, 16, sits in the passenger seat as his father drives him to the gallery. He has made plans to meet with his other band members. TSA, which stands for whatever the listener wants, is performing tonight.

TSA is a self-proclaimed punk rock and hard core band from San Francisco that’s been together for about five years, the high school equivalent of a million. Though the band members have been friends since the 5th grade, they did not officially form until the 7th grade.

“We started playing when we were 11, just to have something to do and to get our energy out,” said O’Donnell.

TSA exudes passion for the music they play, and while nothing is inherently unique about how the band was created, they are in a sense part of a great cultural significance. The movement of youths participating in self-formed rock and roll bands is an important feature of the American landscape.

San Francisco may not resemble cookie-cutter communities that run up the coast of California but in its own way certain districts adhere to the status quo of suburbia. Though sometimes hidden beneath its free spirited surface, child car-pools, little league sports and PTA meetings are alive and well in the city.

Organized sports are a type of religion in suburbia, with “soccer moms” running around in mini-vans, dropping off and picking up their children. Though these programs continue, many kids today are turning to music, soccer cleats are turning into guitar picks and teammates are becoming band members.

“There is a creative aspect to music that doesn’t get expressed by playing sports. There are no rules in creating music,” said O’Donnell.

When 18-year-old Danny Schnair was eleven, he got a hand-me-down guitar from his older brother. After proving to his mother that he could in fact play Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” she decided to pay for lessons.

Originally rock n’ roll and punk rock were movements founded on rebellion against authority and the status quo. But with bands like TSA and supportive ‘punk rock parents,’ rock music is transforming into what it was originally rebelling against. The once rebellious punk rock movement has immigrated from the gutters of New York City into the pocket books of mothers across the country.

The punk attitude focused on certain ideologies surrounding youth angst-filled rebellion and a do-it-yourself attitude. While these sentiments have not completely vanished, they have been severely alerted. These bands are a cultural enigma. They attempt to emulate a rebellion against the same figures that are supporting them, their parents, their neighborhood and their socio-economic status.

The members of TSA did not grow up with outlandish rock n’ roll childhoods. Like most other youths they were too enrolled in community sports programs. After discovering music and realizing its effect, their concentration quickly shifted.

“I knew I wanted to be involved in making music back in elementary school and so I started learning the guitar and bass in the 6th grade,” said Eli Wald, TSA’s 16-year old bass player.

Like so many other revolutionary movements in America, punk music has been commoditized and sold to the masses. The musical instrument industry is a multi-billion dollar a year business, with music superstores like Guitar Center raking in over $1.7 billion dollars in revenue last year alone according to Google finance.

TSA is a young ambitious band. Drummer Eli Groshelle, 17, contends that they are motivated by a cause.

“We write about what we see in our society, stories that we hear and try to increase people’s knowledge by making them aware,” said Groshelle.

Their lyrical message is a collaboration amongst the band because each member feels they have something to say. The band has had a fair amount of success, with one EP as well as two demo CDs. Their music may be fast, but their message is clear, and one could only hope that other bands their age are as passionate.