The members of CRUISR are:
Andy States – Guitar and Vocals, Jon Van Dine – Drums, Kyle Cook – Bass, Bruno Catrambone – Guitar
Interview by Ali Brant
Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com
Can you each describe in one word what quality you bring to the band as an individual?
Andy: Balogna! No, I don’t know. Hold on…
Kyle: It’s like, drums, bass…[laughs]
No, that’s cheating!
Jon: Organization…al skills. [laughs]
Andy: That’s not one word!
Jon: Organization!
Kyle: Wrangling.
Andy: Dancing.
Bruno: Laughter. [all laugh]
So you guys actually only have a handful of songs released, and you’ve already managed to gain quite a following, and you’ve toured with bands such as the 1975 and Young Rising Sons. You’ve also played festivals such as Hang Out Fest and Firefly. What do you think gave you the edge to gain popularity so quickly?
Jon: Jeremy Maciak! [laughs]
Andy: For us as a band, your answer [Jon’s] is more right than anything. But we’ll just say that as a band, I think a lot of times it’s a matter of finding the right team or finding the right people to be behind you in the music industry or whatever you’re doing. So for us, I just think we have a really good team of people behind our band supporting us and putting us in the outlets where we need to be for people to hear our music. I think that’s as hard as making the music is just getting people to find out about your band or getting people to hear it.
Can you tell us a little bit about the meaning behind your new song “Moving to Neptune?”
Andy: Oh, yeah! So “Moving to Neptune,” what’s actually cool about that song, is we had an old EP which we had to take down. Long story short is it’s actually an older song, but we redid it. So the idea is just about wanting to get away from wherever you are, and it has a similar theme to our other song, “Kidnap Me,” and it’s just about being sort of fed up with the world you’re in, the things that you’re surrounded by, or the stresses of life and saying, “You know what, everyone. Guess what? We’re going to go as far away from here as possible to somewhere new, and we’re going to start over and do it way better.” I think it’s this idea of getting away and starting from a clean slate.
Fans who have been following the band obviously know who your original influences are, but what current artists are inspiring you at the moment?
Andy: We’ve been listening to LA Priest.
Kyle: We can’t stop listening to that album. And then Unknown Motral Orchestra is huge.
Jon: Tame Impala, Mac DeMarco.
Andy: The new Alabama Shakes album is just amazing. Every time I hear that album, I’m just floored by the production of it. It’s really awesome, and her voice is amazing too.
The band started off as Andy’s solo project. So Andy, are you still responsible for most of the song-writing or has it shifted to be more of a collaborative effort? Tell us a little bit about CRUISR’s writing process.
Andy: I mean, it’s constantly transforming and constantly works in a different way. For the most part, I’m still doing the bulk of the writing. I think the goal, going forward, is to work on that and integrate these guys into it more and more. Jon has become more of a key player in what happens specifically with the drums, and we work a little bit more collaboratively now depending on how the demos go. We write each of our songs in a different way, so it’s always a little bit different how we do things. But yeah, still definitely doing the bulk of the writing and then having the guys contribute little by little and then…more by more! More by more, they’re playing a role.
If you had to cover any album in its entirety, what would it be and why?
Jon: Blue Album!
Andy: Yes! Exactly what I was going to say.
Jon: Because it’s incredible! Some band just did…You Blew It! did.
Kyle: Yeah, You Blew It! who’s here today just did it. They have an EP called “You Blue It” like spelled out like “blue” the other way.
Andy: What also would kind of make that album awesome to cover is that the arrangements are pretty straight forward, and it’s just like a rock band. There’s not a lot of crazy production going on, and they’re just really, really good songs where song-writing is concerned.
Jon: It’d just be fun to put our own little spin on it too, cause we’ve actually covered a Weezer song once, and we made it our own sound. So I think it would definitely allow for that, and it would be really fun to do. We should probably do that after we write a record. [laughs]
Given the fact that your music is so pop-driven, I feel like it would be really interesting to hear some stripped-down acoustic versions of your songs. Have you guys ever done that or given the idea any thought?
Andy: Yeah, so we have done a few. We never recorded it, but we’ve done videos and little promos and private shows. I think we might have one coming up. But what we do now is Bruno and I will just play together. Bruno is amazing. I think if I had to pick an area where Bruno is really good, it’s with acoustic guitars and playing acoustic and that style of music. So it can be really different the way we do the acoustic stuff.
What can fans expect next from CRUISR as far the full-length record goes and what you’re up to in the near future?
Andy: We’re constantly writing, and I think the goal is for our full-length to be early or Spring 2016. We are planning to embark on another tour, which we’ll be opening, but we can’t yet say who for.
Jon: Full U.S. tour for seven weeks.
Andy: Yeah, in the Fall.
You guys also have your headlining show in Philly soon, right?
Jon: Yeah, September 12th at the TLA. It’s gonna be awesome!
Andy: Yeah, we should definitely be plugging that. [laughs]
Jon: I keep forgetting how close we are. It’s less than a month!
Andy: We’re going to be visiting a lot of the cities that we’ve been to before, so I’m excited about that.
The news is out! CRUISR will be touring this Fall with Misterwives and WATERS. Check to see if they’re coming to your town HERE!
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All photos by Ali Brant Photography
