WASHINGTON – It’s common for four high school friends to get together and form a band. But it’s a rare occasion when teenage bands achieve success beyond playing in school gyms or church cafeterias.

However, one Virginia-based band falls into this minority.

Will Anderson, Kit French, Alex Hargrave and Johnny Stubblefield met when they were in high school in Charlottesville, Va. During their college years, they picked up lead guitar player, Nate McFarland.

“We’ve been doing this thing ever since we realized we weren’t good at high school sports,” says Kit French, who plays saxophone, keyboards and vocals for Parachute, now on Mercury Records.

It’s been two years since the release of their last album, and now the band is putting an end to that with their latest accomplishment, “Overnight,” out Aug. 13.

Parachute is embarking on a six-week tour, and local fans hoping to catch the band live can do so on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.

“It’s really, really exciting to get out there and play some new music,” says French, who currently lives in Charlottesville, Va., and graduated from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va.

Since Parachute’s 2011 album, “Losing Sleep,” French says the band has been busy touring, playing 450 shows in the past few years.

“We like to have a constant presence out on the road,” French says. “There have been a few shorter breaks for writing sessions and obviously the recording process