MUSIC INTERVIEW: THE CAB
On Tour With The Cab, Learning What It Takes To Keep Driving
Harris Decker: Where are you guys on tour right now?
Cash Colligan: Colorado…Fort Collins, I believe.
HD: Could you give me some background on the band and where it all started?
CC: Basically, Me and Alex [Deleon], one of the singers, started the band in high school. We actually didn’t like each other, but for some reason we both just had the common interest in making music and whatever, passing spare time. “The Cab” basically came from him staying over at my house and we were both just blurting out random shit — everything we thought was in Vegas — and for some reason I said, “The Cab,” and it’s not like it was the best name in the world, but it was the only one that didn’t sound obnoxious. We kinda just kept it as that and then just built around from there. We don’t have any cool epic story behind it; we were just sitting there and we blurted out a name and it stuck three years later.
HD: You’ve had a lot of success with the singles “Bounce” and “I’ll Run.” How do you view these songs and how did they come about?
CC: Well, every song on our record is based off of things we already had written — if you have heard the demo, nothing really changed changed from that: “I’ll Run,” the song that pretty much got us signed and where we’re at; “Bounce” was kind of a collective collaboration between us and a lot of people that knew our song or tried to see potential in the song and put a lot of work into that, and the rest of the album everyone kind of does their own job in our band. So whatever their job is is what they write towards and their input to the music.
HD: How was it working with Patrick Stump and Brendan Urie on the song “One of Those Nights”?
CC: We did a lot of work with Patrick. Patrick did a lot more than just sing on “One of those Nights.” Brendan happened to do a favor for us. They discovered us, and all Brendan did (on the song) was sing on the record for us. His part was written. Patrick did an overlook of our album and gave his input on what he thought would work, kind of like an executive producer. It was cool working with him and having that because we have that Decaydance family vibe. It’s cool that people have your back in certain situations, including songs.
HD: You mentioned Panic at the Disco. How did your relationship with them come about, and what impact did they have on your early career?
CC: Everyone pretty much assumes that Panic (at the Disco) and us were friends just because we’re from the same city, but Alex was a huge Panic fan from day-one. He was at their very first show; he was the only kid that knew the words at this 400-cap little shit venue in Vegas. He went and handed the demo to…conveniently, at a Cobra Starship show, he ran into John and Spencer, and Spencer actually recognized him from that first show. Obviously, John wasn’t in the band yet. They listened to it and now we’re somehow in Colorado about to play a show.
HD: Could you talk a little about how you write as a band?
CC: It’s a little bit of both. Sometimes we’ll be approached with an idea by Ian, Marshall, Alex, or DeLeon and we’ll kind of go around that. It comes back to the subject of we all kind of do the parts we’re made to do, so bass parts, drum parts, guitar parts, piano parts and obviously vocals and lyrics.
HD: As a band, who would you say your major influences are?
CC: We all have different ones. Obviously our vocals are very influenced by NSYNC, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, whatnot… Ian’s been listening to Hendrix and Zeppelin since he came out of the womb, and then you have your soft piano from Marshall. I’m big on hip-hop and Johnson likes a lot of the drummer influentials like Rush and Blink 182 with Travis Barker. It just depends on what instrument for that band we can look up to and make ourselves progress. It helps growth too when everyone is listening to a different genre and not staying tracked on one-track minds.
HD: Could you give me a picture of where you hope to be three years from now?
CC: Hopefully you’ll see us getting our music to all the ears we think would enjoy it. I feel that you can only go so far in an established scene, but we hope, one day, to expand like every other band would, and feel that we get our music to the ears that we want to, as musicians.
HD: How crucial were websites such as MySpace and YouTube in the breaking of The Cab?
CC: Massive. I would be the kid who, after high school, would be thinking about everything with the band, and go home and have programs add 500 kids a day, talk to every single person who was even semi remotely interested, and that actually helped in the signing process because labels do look at little things like that — MySpace and plays and what kids are into you and what you are able to do on your own before people are willing to give a hand and help you with it…
HD: What bands have you shared the stage with in the past? Are there any that stand out in your mind?
CC: We’re on our fourth tour with We the Kings, going on tour number five. They did our first tour with us ever, and they’re like brothers to us — them and Metro Station are huge influences on us from the touring aspect that just took us in under their wing and became a friend bond more than just “we’re on tour with these guys.”
HD: Can you give me a short list of bands you would love to tour with, moving into the future?
CC: First off, I wish Something Corporate would get back together. That’s my number-one influence. Obviously now Jack’s Mannequin, and then I think it would be cool to go on tour with some of the solo R&B artists like John Legend or Rihanna, or anything in that genre. Maroon 5 is another obvious choice — just anywhere we think we would fit, I guess. Hopefully one day it will happen.
HD: Have you played Bamboozle before? What do you think of playing festivals like it in general?
CC: Yes, we played last year. To me, they are like a reunion because, at Bamboozle, we’re going to see all the faces that we’ve seen over the past year, so bands just hanging out and playing and having a great time. It’s a bigger stage, bigger audiences — even for bands that are smaller get the opportunity to know what it’s like; it gives them motivation to want to be there someday, all the time.
HD: If there was a band sitting where you were in Las Vegas a few years ago, calling out things to pick the perfect band name, what advice would you give them?
CC: I would honestly say make sure every ear that can hear your music does. Look at Mayday Parade on Warped Tour — they sold like 50,000 EPs or something just following Warped Tour in a van one year, and look what they’re doing now. The more people who hear your music are the more people that are going to support you as you’re moving on in life, which, in the long term, is awesome. My honest advice is the most creative ways — even if it’s just passing out flyers at a mall or anything like, “Hey, check us out,” trying to get people your song.
HD: What do you hope people walk away from your performance with?
CC: I think it’s, “Wow, these guys are good at their instruments.” I think that’s just what we want to hear — great show, great everything, but I just hope that people look at the instrumentation and see what it is for what it is, not just everyone at the show jumping up and down not really listening to the music.
HD: Do you have any preference to playing live or recording music?
CC: I don’t know. I’ve really yet to hear any of us on the radio or on TV. A couple times it will pop up on Sirius, the Satellite Radio. It’s definitely thrilling. I would go to On Demand pay-per-view and be able to watch “Bounce,” which is kind of cool. It’s flattering and weird being able to see all of that firsthand, because when you’re in a van all year long, there’s a half-hour a day of shows but there are 23 1/2 hours a day when you’re just trying to get by and live life. I’m not saying it overshadows the glamour of everything, but I think it’s just showing that doing everything we’ve been doing — the hardships, the good times, the bad times — everything is just paying off, which keeps us motivated to keep going.
HD: Do you have a favorite song that you perform?
CC: One of my favorites is called “Diamonds Are Forever.” It actually didn’t make the record. It made the Japan release, and I like that song a lot. We felt it wasn’t quite right for the record, but, as a personal favorite, I would say that would be it.
'The Whisper War' by The Cab is in stores now on Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen Records.
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