The singer stuttered through the defiant lyrics of youthful rebellion as two guitarists, a bass player and a drummer recreated the music.

"Things they do look awful c-c-cold," he sang into the mic. "I hope I die before I get old."

It sounds like a classic scene: a group of teenagers taking the first steps to a rock star dream.

But then the bass player halted the music. He told the band to ignore the vocals' offbeat rhythm and "keep that inner metronome."

If that doesn't sound like a youngster starting a garage band, it's because John Kozicki is not just the bass player. He's a music teacher and this is not a garage band.

This is the Music & Rock School.

Kozicki started the business in 2009 and calls this tract his masters program. The students separately practice a set list of five songs for a couple months before coming together to play as a band. As part of the lessons, students can also record individual instrumentals in the studio that Kozicki later combines with other student recordings to make a demo CD.

His students performed on stage at Saturday's Peakfest in Apex.

The school is the ultimate iteration of rock 'n' roll in the 21st century, a real-life version of the Rock Band video game where everyone can strive for stardom.

Kozicki likens the process to a sports team honing individual skills and then applying them in a game.

"It's unlikely that you would join a soccer team, practice every week, but never play a game. Why should music be any different?" he asked.

The school is located in a two-story office building on the edge of downtown Apex. The lobby, where parents and siblings wait for students finishing lessons, is adorned with paintings of rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine.

Kozicki said the paintings were loaned from an art class at Apex High School. One of the art teachers has a son who took lessons at the music school.

Most of the instruction is one-on-one training, where instructors work with students on their instruments in a practice room. But the students know they will eventually be contributing to a band, even if only for a few hours.

The nascent band ran through "My Generation" all the way - complete with an attempt at the end by guitarist Tyler Thigpen, 13, to turn toward his amp and get his Epiphone to feedback through the speaker. Then they launched into "Give it Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers after listening to the real version.

After the students tackled the song for the first time as a unit, Kozicki asked for their impressions.

"It's really confusing," said Tyler, whose dad drives him all the way from Chapel Hill for this experience.

"John Frusciante is so different from other guitar players," Kozicki explained, referencing the Chili Peppers guitarist.

Kozicki turned to drummer Alex Kan, 13, of Morrisville, seated at a small electronic kit. "[The Chili Peppers'] Chad Smith, he's solid, but he's kind of funky, so the drums are pretty fun, huh?" Kozicki asked.

Alex nodded.

He said he started playing drums because that was his best skill in Rock Band.

"I decided, 'Why not practice and really learn how to play,'" he said.

Alex said he still likes the video game, but he prefers the real thing. "It's harder, but it's more fun," he said.

Kozicki, a Detroit native, moved to North Carolina in 2008 for his wife's veterinary career.

He said he has been playing in bands since age 15.

"I started literally a week after I got a guitar," he said. "I couldn't play a lick, but I wanted to be in a band."

He continued to play in bands as an adult, even while working at a full-time public relations job. His band, I Hate Mars, had some regional success in the late '90s, and he also filled in briefly as a guitarist with the nationally known band Sponge.

Kozicki said the movie "School of Rock," in which actor Jack Black plays a substitute teacher who turns his stuffy private school class into a rock band, was part of his inspiration for the school. He saw the movie on his honeymoon in northern Michigan.

But mainly, he said, he just wanted his students to get more from their music lessons and let them experience the feeling of playing together as a band.

After the Chili Peppers, the students began to play "Drain You" by Nirvana. Vocals on the earlier songs were handled by 18-year-old instructor Chris Godley, but for this demo Tyler sang and played rhythm guitar.

Godley twisted the mic stand down so Tyler could reach it. The song contains an unorthodox break toward the end where dissonant guitar takes over before the band picks the tune back up.

It was up to Jacob Bream, 11, of Cary, to handle this part of the song, and he seemed uncomfortable with it. He started the class late and didn't get a chance to learn all the songs beforehand.

Godley, who is Jacob's guitar instructor, reached over and helped him place his fingers in the correct position on the black Squier Stratocaster.

"You don't have to play things exactly as they're recorded," Kozicki said. "You're not just guys playing Nirvana; you're guys interacting as a band."

Jacob's mother, Grace Bream, said Jacob started playing acoustic guitar but convinced his parents to let him try an electric. He likes it a lot better.

"I'm OK with it," she said of her son's desire to play rock music. "I think it holds his interest more than if he were playing simple little tunes. He's more likely to pick up his guitar and play."

For a few reasons, the Music & Rock School doesn't fit perfectly into the classic ideal of hardscrabble youths starting a band.

Most of these kids are privileged enough to have parents who will buy them expensive instruments and cart them to practice.

And more than anything, the band members' connection to each other ends when they walk out the door.

But Kozicki said they are getting a lesson that will stick with them.

Some of his students form their own bands outside of the school. One former student who now lives in Chicago has released an album.

Kozicki says he looks at what he's doing as providing an outlet for kids that isn't unlike soccer or football.

"It is an activity that you get involved in, and if you like it, you keep doing it," he said. "What I'm trying to do is teach students how to play together, and how much fun it can be."