After fast-paced guitar riffs and thunderous drums launch a typical Heart of the Void rehearsal, the music escalates as screaming growls arise from of the lead singer.

Riley Giffin, a City College student and Santa Barbara local, sings and plays keyboard in the metal band. Between his studies, job at the music shop Jensen’s Music and his commitment to veganism, 20-year-old Giffin still dedicates time to writing lyrics and music for the band.

“Ever since I was in middle school, I’ve always wanted to write my own songs and my own music,” said Giffin, an undeclared major. “And I ended up doing all of it.”

Giffin received his first guitar in sixth grade and ignored it until middle school, when he first heard Metallica on the radio. “Every teenage boy wanted a guitar,” he said.

Throughout high school, he started playing regularly and learning about the complexities of a guitar on his own. He never took a music class.

When he first started singing, he was too inexperienced to know how to scream the way the genre usually requires. He said he screamed the way he wanted, but his throat would be sore after rehearsals.

“But then one day it just kind of clicked,” Giffin said. “And ever since then, I’ve done it right and my voice doesn’t hurt as much as it did back then.”

Heart of the Void was first assembled five years ago with Giffin, Joey McDermott, and two other members who have since left the band. McDermott, 17, is now the band’s drummer.

“There’s something between Riley and I that just works musically,” McDermott said. “And I love that we don’t sound like any specific band right now. We aren’t a carbon copy of anyone.”

They also know each other through Giffin’s 17-year-old brother Teagan, who has been close friends with McDermott since kindergarten.

“I’d love Riley to become a well-known household name,” Teagan said. “Like Gene Simmons.”

Both Giffins not only abstain from drugs and alcohol, they’re also dedicated vegans. Not everyone in the band maintains the vegan lifestyle, but nearly all of them attempt a vegetarian diet.

While it clashes with the everyday lives of most rock stars, Giffin said his songwriting is subtly molded by the messages veganism emphasizes.

“I don’t write about any specific values, but it definitely influences my lyrics and the music indirectly,” Giffin said.

Heart of the Void plays most of their shows at Jensen’s Mainstage, a small venue and music shop on De La Vina Street. When Giffin isn’t performing, he works for the store’s manager David Hekhouse.

“He’s always been a polite kid and very dedicated to his music,” Hekhouse, who has known Riley for ten years, said. “I’m more of a rock guy, but they’ve introduced me to an entirely new genre of music.”

The current band is comprised of Giffin, McDermott, Mike Woods on guitar, and Ryan Bealer on bass and guitar.

Although Bealer is enrolled at UCSB, the band remains one of his top priorities and he enjoys making music with Riley and some of his closest friends, he said.

“Riley is definitely different from anyone of my friends or anyone I know,” Bealer said. “He has a concrete idea of what he wants to hear and he makes it happen.”

Bealer also said the band members possess diverse musical backgrounds, which seeps into their songs to form a unique collaboration. This is an element of their music that Giffin would like to develop more fully in the future.

“I’m really interested in expanding our mental horizons and being exposed to a lot of different types of music,” Giffin said. “I try to stay away from the cliché, horror, negativity aspect of metal lyrics.”

Giffin used to co-write all of the lyrics with a former band member, but has now taken over songwriting responsibilities. He said he draws influences from all types of bands, including Between the Buried and Me, Thrice, Foo Fighters, Opeth, and Killswitch Engage.

“They’re modifying what they do to incorporate more music into it,” Hekhouse said. “They’re getting more singing involved and becoming craftier. They could go as far as anyone.”

Heart of the Void also has a small local following. Nico Bleackley, 17, has acted as “band mascot” for four years and said their music is different from anything currently in Santa Barbara.

Bleackley has been friends with Giffin for two years and has known him since fourth grade.

“He’s very quiet and mature for his age,” Bleackley said. “I think of him more as a father figure than anything else.”

The band uses MySpace to broadcast their music to fans. Giffin said there aren’t many current songs on the Web site, but he’s looking to release new material in a few months.

“I’d love to make a career out of this, but chances of success are slim,” Giffin said. “Especially in the metal world, success doesn’t always mean living well.”

But for now, Giffin and Heart of the Void will keep performing at Jensen’s and screaming until their lungs get sore.