Arlington's Detached Retina Heading to Cleveland for Battle of Corporate Bands

Six employees of an Arlington-based technology consulting firm are heading to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in September to show the country that Courthouse rocks.

Excella Consulting, at 2300 Wilson Blvd., has about 115 employees — and six of them jam together under the moniker Detached Retina. The band has played the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse, Artisphere, Spider Kelly's and Meridian House in the district.

The group submitted a three-song demo to Fortune's 13th annual Battle of the Corporate Bands and was invited to compete as a semi-finalist at the Malibu Inn in Los Angeles earlier this month. 

Detached Retina was one of two bands at that contest to advance to the national final round, which will at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Sept. 28.

“Rock and roll is one of many ways that our staff blend their personal hobbies with their careers,” Steve Cooper, Detached Retina keyboardist and Excella founding partner, said in a statement.

Fortune launched the contest in 2001 for amateur company-sponsored bands, and all proceeds benefit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Detached Retina is one of eight finalists that will perform later this month and represents the smallest company competing, according to a news release.

They'll face off against bands from companies like Hasbro, Kiewit and Olympus USA.

“We don’t have to be big to rock big,” Sherman Ludwig, lead vocalist and Excella senior consultant, said in a statement.  “We’re proud to represent Arlington at the national competition!”

Excella has a variety of public and private sector clients — from the Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal Service to Marriott International, Capital One and Alexandria City Public Schools.