Sandlot Heroes

Sandlot Heroes is a four-piece pop/rock band from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania that consists of lead singer Dan Kastelnik, lead guitar Chris Morrison, bass player Jake Lare, and drummer Ans Gibson. Kastelnik formed the band in 2005 with his brother and a friend, deriving the band's name from his backyard football league. He asked Jake Lare to fill in on bass in 2007 and the two discovered instant chemistry in co-writing songs.

Ans Gibson joined the band in 2009, replacing his older brother as drummer. After a year of searching for an ideal fourth member, the band discovered guitar player Chris Morrison in response to a simple Craigslist advertisement. The band has been creating songs nonstop ever since the four musicians were united, achieving extraordinary radio success for an unsigned band.

It was the band's three-and-a-half minute nugget of pop rock simply titled ?So? that first caught the attention of B104, the biggest radio station in the band's native Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.
Immediately after the station debuted the song on its nightly top ten countdown in late 2007, its phone lines were stormed by listeners feverishly requesting the track. The song swiftly hit number one on the countdown and assumed that position for an unprecedented five weeks straight. The past year has welcomed two more incredibly successful singles from the band: ?Out Of My Hands,? the first single from the band's debut album Pretend That We're Famous, and a full-band version of the album's acoustic track ?Believer.? ?Out Of My Hands,? an unabashedly huge power ballad complemented by a striking piano melody and towering harmonies, entered B104's top 20 in the second half of 2009. The band's newest single ?Believer? also recently hit number one on B104's most requested countdown, giving Sandlot Heroes this title for the third time on the Top 40 station.
The band's successful songs and widespread fan base have allowed them to share the stage with some of the biggest names in alternative and pop music: Boys Like Girls, Yellowcard, New Found Glory, All Time Low, Iyaz and Jason Derulo, to name just a few. B104 Program Director Eric Chase testifies to the band's impressive talent: "From the minute I saw and heard Sandlot Heroes, I recognized them as a presence that could immediately be placed into the fabric of the pop culture equation that we try to create here at B104." There are certainly no limits to the band's aspirations as they plan to continue making radio hits: "We want as many people to hear our music as possible," Kastelink says. "So we wrote these songs to reach everyone. The choruses are broad enough so that anyone can relate to them, but we're still singing about personal experiences. That's a good balance to have." Armed with the songs to grasp the world's attention, Sandlot Heroes is determined to achieve the greater success they have always dreamed of.

In 2011 they renamed themselves The Trace and released a new EP.