Maple Valley natives Mark Hooton and Alex Silvi, the members of the band Stand In Motion, have been doing anything but in the past year.

Having already released an EP “Reflections,” in August, they are set to release their first full-length album, “Between Here and There,” May 22.

Having known each other since first grade at Rock Creek Elementary their journey as musicians has also been intertwined with their friendship. Although they always had an interest in music they didn’t start playing until they were at Tahoma Junior High. There they started to experiment with an old stereo recorder.

Hooton played the piano and guitar and sang while Silvi played the drums.

At Tahoma High, however, they fell out of contact and went their own separate ways musically, each forming his own band. The bands, however, did not last long and split up their junior year.

In 2011 they reconnected and their mutual passion for music inevitably brought them back to where they had started.

Looking back, both Hooton and Silvi believe the separation was beneficial.

“Those few years definitely made us more mature,” Hooton said. “It was vital to have those years apart. It wouldn’t have been the same without those years on our own.”

Around April Hooton, who loved to write song lyrics, came to Silvi with an idea for a song. Taking the lyrics, Silvi and Hooton began working on the music aspect of the song.

“It had such a cool sound to it,” Silvi said. “We liked it so much we did another song.”

The result was Reflections EP which was released in August.

“We thought, ‘Let’s see how far we can go with this,’” Hooton said.

Hooton described their music as alternative indie, which is how they were described by a music blog reviewer who reviewed Reflections. It’s a category they feel is the most accurate, due to what they feel is the unique sound to their songs.

“It’s like we’re influenced by other musicians,” Hooton said. “But we never listen to a song and ask ‘How would this band (Stand In Motion) do it?’”

The singular quality is also affected by the two separate genres Hooton and Silvi bring to their band. While Hooton said he enjoys listening to bands like Coldplay and Death Cab for Cutie, Silvi’s interest lies mostly in hip-hop.

At the same time, Silvi said their inspiration comes from any and all genres.

“I listen to everything,” he said. “Every genre is inspirational. I don’t try to put everything into one song. With Mark and I combined it definitely wouldn’t sound the same by ourselves.”

After graduating from Tahoma in 2011, they both went to Central Washington University in Ellensberg. Incidentally, although it has worked out for their band, it was not done intentionally.

“I was trying to decide to go to a music school,” Silvi said. “We didn’t have to, but it’s the way things worked out, which was in our favor. We didn’t come here for each other.”

Hooton said he plans to major in public relations, while Silvi is interested in film and video production, albeit Mark refers to them as “backup degrees,” an indication of their high hopes for success.

“We’re a lot more into our music than our schoolwork,” he said.

During the summer, they began work on the band’s first full-length album, “Between Here and There,” which took roughly nine months to complete.

The album, Hooton said, ver much reflects their mood at the time, as many of the songs were written while prior ones were being recorded.

“We’d finish the song and I would be working on the next song,” he said. “You can kind of feel what I felt like during the process in the past year. I hope people cling to that.”

While they have embraced their identity as an alternative indie band, Hooton stressed that their songs, while occasionally are somber or reflective, are not meant to convey dark themes.

“I’m not a negative writer,” Hooton said. “Alex checks me on that. It’s not what I want. I think the music that surrounds the lyrics does that.”

Silvi added that “Reflections had a dramatic feel and emotion. We wanted to keep that but bring some uplifting emotion to it as well.”

Hooton said that many of the songs he writes are just as much addressed to himself introspectively as they are to the listener.

“I do like telling stories,” he said. “But a lot of times people might think I’m singing to them when I say ‘you’, but I’m singing to myself. I’m giving people advice, but I’m writing out my own medicine.”

The same well of inspiration Hooton draws for his song lyrics is also where they drew the name for the band itself.

“We took a whole afternoon going over names for our band,” Silvi said. “The thing we really wanted to have were things that clashed.”

They settled on “Stand In Motion,” which Hooton stated describes moments of reflection in life.

“The main is that a lot of times that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Hooton said. “I’m standing in motion watching things take place. I’ll go to Lake Wilderness and watch people. Not in a bad way at all. Everything is moving and so fast.”

Hooton said he has yet to write a song exploring their friendship, but, is certain he will in the future.

“I’m sure that will come up one day (in a song),” Hooton said. “I’m starting to realize lately that’s cool we can say we’ve been friends for so long.”

Stand In Motion will play a concert at Tahoma High on June 1. They will also be performing at the Chop Suey in Seattle on June 21.

To learn more about the band, go to its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/standinmotion.

Their song “Calling My Name” can be listened to on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeCz662lICM