Although they have been together only a little more than 18 months, Fireants is leading the pack of upstart young bands. Unlike most of their peers, who essay the rock and alternative styles of the day, Fireants members find their inspiration in roots, folk, Americana and bluegrass music. Which isn’t to say they’re immutably wed to rigid classic forms; one of the quintet describes the combo’s music as “roots rock/gypsy/throwback/bluegrass/eclectic electric.”

The group released its debut self-titled EP this month. The four-song disc features an effervescent blend of jazz, bluegrass, country and even rap-style vocals (check out “Deuce Is Loose”).

The band members may be young in years (all are still in various Austin high schools at this writing, where they participate in marching band, jazz band and orchestra), but they are accruing experience at an accelerated rate.

The group — Ian Stewart (fiddle, mandolin and vocals), Zeke Jarmon (guitar and vocals), Steven Campbell (keyboards), Rebecca Pledger (bass) and Victor Ziolkowski (drums) — won Best Teen Band at this year’s Austin Music Awards. Last year, it took home top honors in the Young Talent Competition at Old Settler’s Music Festival.

Fireants have frequently shared the stage with many seasoned rockers including Bob Schneider and Alejandro Escovedo. In fact, Fireants backed up both during the Austin Music Awards last month, making it the youngest band ever to play the event. And, notably, Stewart won a prestigious 2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin at last year’s Mark O’Connor Strings Conference in San Diego.

As writer Margaret Moser noted in The Austin Chronicle, “Among myriad rising acts under age 18, Fireants rank among the best.” And Houston Press wrote, “This is another group who, like their friends, The Belleville Outfit, play way beyond their years … I think they’ve got great things to come.”

"Thirteen-plus minutes turns out to be more than enough time for the Fireants to swarm Austin. The local quintet's four-song debut boasts such easy chemistry of Southwestern sound and song, such integration of instrumentation, that the brief EP indeed leaves one hungry for more. Opener "Emily D.," undercut somewhat by frontman Ian Stewart's vocals, which though confident nevertheless sound like they're waiting for his voice to change, still shuffles winningly on the beat of drummer Victor Ziolkowski, Zeke Jarmon's CCR guitar work, and Stewart's fiddle and mandolin. Foggy mountain instrumental "Hinterland" avoids the vocal issue altogether, Stewart's mandolin a paddleboat in Ziolkowski's wake and Jarmon's picking. "Hold What You Got" jaunts across Steven Campbell's riverboat keyboards. The group saves the best for last in "Deuce Is Loose," Stewart this time stepping lively into a countrified take on G. Love's laid-back Southern rap with the song's refrain, "Can you dig it?" As the Fireants themselves confirm, yes we can." - BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ