By Kreig Marks, July 2024TRR: Could you tell us about how your band formed and what inspired you to start

 

DL: Two of us started working together remotely during Covid and often found ourselves discussing music and life in general in the work chat. We said after the pandemic was over, we should get together and jam, and even after I moved on to another job we kept in touch, and we did just that. When we first got together to jam, Robby (who was on drums) asked if his son Cooper  could come play some drums with us just to fool around a little bit. The rest was history as they say. The next practice we showed up in our  current configuration, with Cooper on drums, me (Sampler) on bass, Robby on guitar, and our former front man who ended up leaving the band early on.

TRR: What would you say sets your music apart from other emerging rock bands today?

DL: Since we have a couple of old guys and a teenager in our lineup, I think we have a lot of similar influences, but we also have some differing perspectives on music and life in general, and I feel like this comes across in our music.

TRR: How would you describe your band's sound and style? Are there any specific artists or bands that have influenced your music?

DL: We call ourselves an Alt Rock band, and we try to avoid boxing ourselves in too much to a specific genre. We’re all influenced by a lot of t he 90s music that we grew up on, along with some of the classic rock stuff that’s engrained in all of us, from punk/pop
punk bands like Green Day, Blink 182, Alkaline Trio, NOFX, and Rancid to more straight up heavy rock like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Tool, System of a Down, and Deftones, and even some Slash, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, and Queen.

TRR: What has been the biggest challenge your band has faced so far, and how did you overcome it?

DL: I think our biggest challenge so far has been the process of pivoting from being a cover band to performing our own original music. We’ve been working hard writing new music, in the studio recording our upcoming EP “Dead Weight” and booking shows wherever we can get the opportunity to share our original tunes with the world.

TRR: Can you share a memorable moment from one of your performances or recording sessions that stands out to you?

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DL: Recently we got to take the stage for the first time at one of our favorite local venues. We all had a bit of a full circle moment and we felt a real sense of accomplishment to finally be up on the stage sharing our message and our music with our friends and fans after watching so many shows there. Sharing our music with others at great venues is what keeps us coming back for more!

TRR: What are your short-term and long-term goals as a band? Where do you see yourselves in the next few years?

DL: For the short term our next milestone is to get our EP out. We hope to have a release date soon, but we expect it will be out before the end of summer. Also just getting out there and playing shows around town, networking with other bands, and building our fan base.

Long term goals are to do a small “long weekend” type tour and test those waters on a small scale before maybe making some longer runs. We’re looking forward to playing some other cities in 2025 like Greenville, Charlotte, Columbia, Raleigh, Charleston,
Savannah, Atlanta, etc. We also plan to start gearing up to do our own recording and hope to release a full-length album at some point down the road.

TRR: How do you approach songwriting as a band? Is it a collaborative process, or does each member contribute individually?

DL: Typically, we’ll come up with song ideas and lyrics individually, then we’ll often share rough phone recordings to give everyone an overall idea of the song’s theme and the structure. Then we’ll get together and run it as a full band and see how it develops,
working on the arrangement and such. Things can often change drastically during this step as we all put our own musical influences onto the  idea. We’ll usually go back and re-write the lyrics a bit once the arrangement is in place. We always make it a point to
make sure we all have an equal voice when it comes to the songwriting and other creative aspects of the band.