Even if you didn’t catch them at MIT’s Battle of the Bands last March, you might recognize one of The Modern Elite, a local college pop-punk act. Their drummer (second from the right) is Course 2 major Clark M. Davenport ’11.

Davenport joined this group of Northeastern students his freshman year. They were looking for a drummer; he was looking for a band okay with the fact that he didn’t have a car. Craigslist made the magic happen, Davenport told his hometown paper.

The band self-produced its first album in November, a polished chunk of punk. Granted, none of the songs have a hook worth humming, but every single one is technically impeccable. This is a talented bunch. Perhaps the highest compliment I can pay them is that I can’t tell they’re all still in college. (To preserve the illusion, don’t watch these juvenile antics.)

How does Davenport balance the demands of Course 2 with being in a legit rock band? Well, it doesn’t matter anymore because he and the band parted ways in early December, when the five-man act, now a three-man act, also dropped its lead guitarist Justin Tufariello. The remaining bandmates write that Davenport and Tufariello weren’t “as invested” — which in Davenport’s case is understandable since he’s got 2.006 to deal with.

Oh well. There will always be the memories, including their pop-punk makeover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”:

Yes, there have been more-inspired covers of “Bad Romance” — hot acapella duet bad romance, Lucas Silveira’s soulful bad romance, even Lady Gaga’s own acoustic rendition — but so what if the The Modern Elite sound like derivative radio alt-rock: They know their schtick and they nail it. Davenport, trained as jazz drummer, morphs Lady Gaga’s thump-thump club beats into ticklish cymbal work and fierce snares.

The Modern Elite will get by without Davenport, but somewhere along the way they’ll need to figure out the whole artistry thing. They’ve got chops; now they need soul.

— j