Deke Kassabian has been playing keyboards in rock and roll bands on and off since 1975. He studied classical piano during his school years but always preferred to play rock and roll, R&B, and other music with a groove. Deke also sang in an a cappella doo-wop group for a few years during the 1980s.

Nick Claxton has been playing the guitar since age 11, but the Lava Rocks is his first band. He has played with other musicians over the years, and has recently been doing open mic nights, playing solo. Growing up in London, his musical tastes included all the usual suspects from the 1960s, 70s and 80s - with a few from the 90s thrown in. Musical interests also include baroque music, especially JS Bach, and he played briefly in a renaissance recorder group.

Bill Smith (aka. Smitty) began studying drums and percussion at age 8. He has played in concert bands, marching bands, stage bands, percussion ensembles, and pit orchestras, as well as Top 40/Disco bands, rock & roll, and blues bands through the years. He did a European concert band tour back in 1976 representing the U.S.A. for the American Youth Symphonic Band Association, which recorded an album in Holland. When not behind a drum kit, Smitty is also an avid pet lover and a big Philly sports fan and has a passion for working on home remodeling projects. He says, “If I keep myself super busy, there is less of a chance that I get in any trouble.”

Ezra Sherman plays guitar with reasonable facility and sings very loudly, if not always well. He's the only band member who wasn't around for the 1960s but is ironically the baldest of them all. He's been making music with other people since he was 14 but this is the longest he's managed to keep a group together.

Don Hantula is a self-taught player of things with strings. He has been in original and cover Southern, punk, alternative, and folk bands, played in a theater pit orchestra and backed up poets on open mic nights. As his interests and attention span may be charitably described as eclectic, he makes the highest and lowest noises in the band.