Knight News got a chance to speak with Alexander DeLeon of The Cab on the night of their show in Orlando. Here is what he had to say:
KN: First off, how’s the tour going?
ADL: The Tour’s been amazing, man! I mean touring is fun as it is, but when you get to tour with your best friends it’s even more fun. And not only are The Summer Set some of our best friends, but we’re big fans of their new album and their music, and there’s a lot of other good bands on the tour. He Is We is amazing, Days Difference, Paradise Fears, I mean there’s so many awesome people that it’s just been a blast.
KN: I saw on twitter you went to Disney World. How was that?
ADL: I went today! It was a blast! I try to go every time I come to Orlando, even if I have to lose sleep I try to sneak in and go on a few rides. It makes me feel normal, cause when you get on tour you get in a routine and it’s like you do the same thing every day. It’s like same thing, different city. You know what I mean? So I just like to kind of feel like a kid, or just feel like… I don’t know. I just like to have fun!
KN: Both of your albums have been incredibly diverse as far as the type of songs that are on them. How important do you feel such diversity is for a band?
ADL: I think diversity is super important! You know when you listen to bands that have an album of 13 of the exact same songs it’s just boring. It takes away the fun as a listener. You don’t want to know what to expect in the next song. If every song sounds the same, how are you calling them an artist? They’re an artist that draws the same painting over and over again. And as an artist or musician you want to make it fun, you want to experiment with different sounds, (John Gomez, Guitarist/Vocalist in The Summer Set, says, “You want to get laid.”) and you want to get laid. And you don’t get laid if you write the same song over and over again.
KN: There were a ton of co-writes that took place for Symphony Soldier – with only a handful actually making the album – can you talk about how some of those co-writes came together, which were your favorite, and why you picked the ones you did?
ADL: Yeah, I mean Maroon 5 has been one of the biggest influences to The Cab for probably 8 years, ever since the band started. So that was always just on our dream “to do” list, and we got to do that, which was a dream come true. Then Bruno Mars was another favorite, and it’s like a no-brainer. When you write songs with Bruno Mars, you don’t write bad songs, you know what I mean? Bruno Mars does not write a bad song, so that was obviously making the album. The song we did with Adam in Maroon 5 turned out amazing. Then “Bad”, our first single, we did with Martin from Boys Like Girls. And I think the reason they all turned out so good is because we’re all friends. We became friends with Bruno, we have been friends with Martin forever, so it’s so easy to get in a room and to write with your friends. There’s no pressure, there’s no over-thinking it, you’re hanging out and you’re just making music, just doing what you love to do.
KN: Are there any you wish would have made the album, but didn’t?
ADL: Yeah, there’s a few songs in general. There’s a song called “I’m Gonna Break You” that I wish would have made the album, there’s a song called “Crown” that will be released at some point, a song called “Cool Me Down” that I loved. We wrote like 200 songs for the album, so there is probably 40 songs that I wish could be released that are just sitting on a shelf somewhere. They might make it out eventually, or they may just die. We’ll see!
KN: There were rumors a while back that you were working on a possible collaboration with Justin Timberlake. How did that come about and is there any update on that idea?
ADL: We run into Justin all the time, and every time we run into him we always talk about it. But we’re just constantly touring, we tour 9 or 10 months out of the year, and Justin is Justin. He’s always filming movies or working on music. The dude is like the most successful guy in the industry, so it’s like he’s busy and we’re busy so it’s just trying to find the right time and the right politics. It will come together I’m sure some day. It’s my number one dream, so if that happens then I can die happy. But we’re huge N Sync fans. For example, tonight at the show Chris from N Sync is coming out and that on its own, the fact that he is coming to support our band because he is a fan of our band and that I grew up listening to them, it’s just the fact that things come full circle like that is insane.
KN: What was it like working with someone like John Feldmann?
ADL: Feldmann is insane (laughs). He drinks about twenty cups of coffee a day, doesn’t drink soda, he is a strict vegan, but you would think that the dude is on caffeine and drugs and all the above but he’s not, he’s just naturally insane. But I think some of the best producers are just naturally insane, like you have to be a little but out of your mind to come up with some of the sounds and some of the ideas that he comes up with. He’s great because he’s a friend, he knows how to bring out the best in you, and he’ll come to the studio one day and come up with these crazy sounds. He’ll be like, ‘dude, I just recorded my daughter laughing and I just tweaked it into a sound’, or like ‘dude, my dog was running across the hardwood floor and I recorded his paws scraping and I made it into a percussive loop’ and we’re like ‘Jesus Christ, you’re insane!’ (Laughing) Who thinks to record their dog running across a hardwood floor? Only Feldmann, and you listen to his albums that he did with The Used and the production is just so unique. He’s very rock, but he also has pop sensibility, which is what The Cab is. It’s pop, but it also has that rock, edgy side to it, so Feldmann definitely brought it out and he was a huge part of the record.
KN: Today the music industry lost a huge icon in Etta James. How do you feel about that? And being a singer, did Etta James have an influence on your music?
ADL: Of Course! I mean obviously it’s tragic. It’s just one of those things in life that happens to everyone, and it’s so sad. A lot of people our age, or even younger, don’t know who she is. Some might now because she’s on that new Flo-Rida song “I Got A Good Feeling”. The thing about Etta James is that not only was she such a good talent and such a good soul, but artists like Adele and Beyoncé, some of the biggest artists in the world right now, Etta James is one of their biggest influences. So if kids don’t know necessarily Etta James or who she is, they know who she’s created. It’s like they’re listening to Beyoncé and Adele and it’s like vocally, Beyoncé and Adele wouldn’t be who they were without Etta James. She just had such a big impact on music and on soul and R&B and all of that in general that it’s a sad day in music.
KN: Well, thank you for your time and I can’t wait for the show tonight!
ADL: No problem, man. Thanks for coming out!
