This week I got to sit down with James and Gavin out of Minnesota’s newest addition to the local music family, Rally Cap!

Listen to their new single right HERE!

James

Gavin

How would you guys describe your sound? You know sound wise, genre wise, I know there’s been some mention of food wise.

James: (chuckles) Uh.. we could go with pizzacore pop punk. Actually we have what you could probably consider as a beat down pop punk sort of sound. It’s a little faster, some breakdowns here and there.

Gavin: Happy music.

Were there any influences that brought you to that sound?

James: Uh.. not really for me. I guess a lot of people say we sound a little like Four Year Strong meets Fall Out Boy. But I think the Fall Out Boy mainly comes from my singing style.
Gavin: All Time Low is pretty good.

So who are all the members in the band?

James- Vocals
 / Gavin- Guitar / 
Brad- Guitar / 
Joshua Barse “Jables”- Bass
 / Skylar- Drums

What other projects/bands are members affiliated with? I know that a couple members have been in a few other bands.

Gavin: I’m in a couple bands: Heroes Aren’t Born and Conduit.
James: And I’m in nothing. This is my only thing. Skylar and Josh are both in At Mourning’s End and Brad was in The Following.

How did all the members come together?

James: Well when I was in my old band back in high school, Gavin had done a bit of recording for us. Him and Brad were in the same band then at that time. Then I met Skylar and Jables just from hanging out around the scene.

So how did the decision come about to make this sort of band? Or was it a wake up and a “hey guys let’s make a pop punk band!”


Gavin: Well Brad and I had previously been working on music for about 5 years and then after a few years it fell off. Once we both matured as musicians and as people, we both decided to dedicate ourselves to it. We’re really good friends. So basically now is the time.
James: I had been hiding for a while and Brad just kind of asked me if I wanted to be in a pop punk band. Just super nonchalantly asked me about it.

Just super randomly?

James: Yeah. He asked if I wanted to be in a pop punk band and I said yeah and he sent me over some music.  And then it was just alright yeah let’s get this going!

You guys put out a new song recently entitled “I’ll Be Your Secret Lover (Please Take A Seat), who wrote the song and how did it all come to be?

Gavin: I had most of the instrumentals laid out for a long time. Brad and I had been putting this together for about 3 years. It wasn’t finished but when Brad and I got together and decided to initiate the band we really finished, polished it off. Then we sent it to James and he did his magic.
James: I had lyrics prewritten and I just kind of fit them to the mold of the song.  I’ll Be Your Secret Lover was the working title that Brad and Gavin had set up.
Gavin: TO CATCH A PREDATOR!
James: I actually last night just changed the title of the song to Nothing To Say.

So getting a little bit more personal into who you guys are, how would you describe what music is. What’s your main reason for deciding to make this project?  Your driving force.

Gavin: Well for me it’s all bets on black. I’m going to school right now for music business. I’m in three bands and I have an internship at In The Groove in Minneapolis. So being in different types of bands really helps me broaden my horizon and learn different styles. Round my chops is a good way to describe it.
James: I’d say for me, I’ve always been infatuated with music. It’s grown to be kind of like a relationship with it. I use music as a medium to express myself and to do sort of self-therapy. Especially when I’m writing lyrics it usually is a very therapeutic thing for me. It alleviates a lot of the stress that I’m feeling. Even when I’m writing a pop punk song. Sometimes you write about things that are getting on your nerves or a situation that you want to just yell about but can’t really say it and this is that. I mean I really want to do music for the rest of my life just because I think it’s super important. With it being one of the only things that is cross cultural and doesn’t get affected by a language barrier. Like there aren’t many things that do that and being involved in one of those things is a really awesome concept to me.
Gavin: To sum it all up; Music makes us happy.

A lot of people heard the song beforehand. So there was a lot of hype built up! So who would be your main support backing this band?

Gavin: I actually didn’t know about it! I mean I don’t have a twitter.

Oh man! You’re outta the loop!

Gavin and James: (laughing)
Gavin: Yeah everyone knows everything all the time!
James: We were all so surprised at the hype we were getting from what we basically had just shown our friends. We’d go over to his [Gavin’s] house to record and we’d all stand there and ask, “We have hype. Why?!” (laughs) We couldn’t believe it at all. It’s pretty awesome. Our friends have been great
Gavin: We just launched it so we’re starting!

Since you guys are a little bit of a different sound out there.  Were there any bands that you pulled influence from?

Gavin: I mean not really. The only pop punk I listened to growing up was like All Time Low or Green Day.
James: I mean I really like pop punk music. I’ve just never played it. I’m not influenced by it as much as other things.

So it’s a little bit out of the elements for you guys?

James: Oh yeah for sure!

With that being said and all, do you think that this fact gives you a challenge because it is so different? Or are you seeing it as giving you an advantage because it is so different from what the scene has heard?

James: Ah well Brad is sort of the Pop Punk Oracle of all pop punk. Gavin’s just an insane guitar player so he could pretty much play whatever.  I mean even in our first song you can see the influence Brad had on the sound. You also get a sort of blues-ey solo from Gavin. I bring sort of an R&B influence to the table. Skylar’s bound to bring some just hardcore drums to it. Yeah he’s gonna get crazy with our drums. Jables is another huge figure in the scene when it comes to bass. He’s so skilled, creative, and on point every time. So there shouldn’t be any challenges just because we are all so different but we’re able to relate it all back to a pop punk sound.
Gavin: Our music backgrounds will definitely make a more instrumentally tasteful pop punk.
James: This ain’t your typical pop punk band!

What are your next steps as a band moving forward with everything? I mean are there any new little bits?

Gavin: Write more music.
James: Yeah a lot of writing.
Gavin: Is number one always!
James: We should be working on putting out new music out there soon. We have a few underway. They should be out pretty soon.

Awesome. Well thanks you guys! Are there any last words that you wanted to leave with?

Gavin: Just have fun with it! In every music scene, or so it seems, everyone’s really shooting for a sense of professionalism or success but they seem to be losing the personal aspect of it. So just have fun.
James: Yeah I agree. We don’t want to make it a business, we want to make it a band. Play music, have fun, do what we like to do and like we don’t want to be a band that’s a business. We just want to bring it back to what it should be.
Gavin: Yeah… Play fuckin music.
James: Yup. Play fuckin music!

If anyone is interested in finding out more about Rally Cap their information is posted below. Give it a listen and share it with your friends!

Twitter: @RallyCapMN
Facebook: Facebook.com/RallyCapMN
Band Camp: RallyCapMN