Music has been a lifelong passion for him. He currently participates in concert choir, orchestra, vocal ensemble, and has made states with his acapella group for the past two years. He is pursuing his dream and succeeding at it, too.

“He” is 17-year-old junior Caleb Armstrong, and while most students don’t get the opportunity to use their voice outside of school activities like choir and musicals, he took on the challenge and gets to experience both.

He’s performed for Dallastown several times, at the talent show for two years, and at Welcome to Winter Day 2024.  He held the lead in “Hadestown” in the fall and will again during the reperformance in June. In this year’s “Footloose,” he got to play Cowboy Bob, portraying his fun personality on and off stage.

“I remember being 5, sitting down and watching a ton of music videos. I was so fascinated with the art of the sound, lyrics and visuals. I knew from early on that I wanted to be a pop star,” Armstrong said. 

His pop star name is TAZMEL. To teachers and classmates, he may be Caleb, but a new personality represented through his music encouraged him to be known by something new.

As an aspiring pop artist, Armstrong’s debut single, “septa bus,” dropped almost a year ago on May 16, 2025. This release wasn’t a total surprise to fans, since snippets of the track had circulated on his social media months before.

“I wrote septa bus around three or four years ago. In reality, the writing process took maybe two days, and recording and mastering took 10 to 16 hours in total,” Armstrong said. 

His first single was absolutely a hit, fans and friends supported him and shared his new song all over their platforms. 

“Septa bus” is a fantastic song with great vocals and instrumentals. The style of the song reminds me of Conan Gray,” classmate Lexa Stiles said.

After his first release, he followed with two more singles, “the storm” and “me again” before dropping his first EP.

His EP, “7 songs”, was released on Dec. 19, 2025.

“I just remember people’s overall reaction was being super excited to hear the full body of work,” said Armstrong.

The title comes from the idea that each song has its own identity.

The EP is described by him as a mixtape, an experiment to see what people liked the best.

Of the EP, “2 bad” became the most popular song. Its “2005” type of beat gave it nearly a thousand streams in just one week.

You can find TAZMEL on most streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc.

With so much support from all around, there are many inspirations for Armstrong’s interest in a music career. His family is his number one, as his parents and siblings support his dreams.

“My siblings are definitely some of my biggest supporters, seeing as how the name TAZMEL is all of their names combined. They’re always the first to hear a new song idea. They are my best critics,” Armstrong said.

Armstrong also credits his classmates and mentors for helping him bring his dream to life, including junior Julia Schnaekel, sophomore Elliott Wood and his producer, Scott Gross. He claims he wouldn’t have been able to do it without their support.

Although he just started publicly releasing music, Armstrong has been writing for years. He says the habit really developed during quarantine. 

“I think I started writing genuinely because I was so bored. I wrote my 1st real love/heartbreak song when I was 12, and this was during the peak of Covid. Writing helped me to escape the feeling of imprisonment that we all felt. I was able to make up stories and scenarios in my head and then make a song from it.”

Looking into the future, TAZMEL is just beginning.

Armstrong is hoping to plan one or two concerts this upcoming summer so people are able to experience performances, and friends can sing with him live.

As for new music, fans better stay tuned for the summer.

“In June or early July, we might have something coming out. So that’s a little teaser, and this one’s definitely gonna be more 2000s pop vibe.”

Whether he’s Caleb to his friends, or TAZMEL through people’s AirPods, it doesn’t matter. He has a strong supporting group around him that’s going to encourage him to go far.