Alex DeLeon and Alex Marshall of The Cab

This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

This past week I was able to schedule a Zoom call with Alex DeLeon and Alex Marshall of The Cab to discuss what went into their thrilling new EP called Road To Reign: A Prelude, which is their first taste of new music in over ten years. I asked the two band members about what brought them back to playing music together again, their memories surrounding their previous albums of Whisper War and Symphony Soldier, and their upcoming tour dates with All Time Low. You can stream Road To Reign: A Prelude here.

Thanks to you both for your time today! How does it feel to be back and releasing new music after a 10 year hiatus?

Alex DeLeon: So it’s pretty surreal. It’s pretty pretty bizarre and awesome, but like we had this weird moment where, when we were rehearsing for the first time together, we’re all looking at each other being like,”Oh, we’re doing this.” Like, there’s one thing to get on text and be like, “Hey guys,” you’re recording some songs, and people are in different cities, so to get everyone in the same room and to finally be like, “Oh, this is actually happening!” And even now, I think we’re 48 hours away from our first sound check. We’ve been so busy with the pre-production stuff for the tour and rehearsing that I don’t even know if it’s hit us yet. I think that moment you step on stage and see the <fans> I mean, dude, it’s been over a decade. So it’s surreal, but it’s so awesome. It’s so good to see everybody. And we haven’t skipped a beat. So it’s been really nice.

That’s awesome. What about the other Alex…What’s your range of emotions now that you guys are releasing new music?

Alex Marshall: Man, it’s definitely been a roller coaster of emotions. Because when we started touring in 2007, Alex and I were kids. My mom had to sign my first record deal because I was a minor. So, fast forwarding to now, Alex has a beautiful daughter, I have two kids, and so it’s like a united front of dads on the road. Still making music and doing the things that we love, but it’s just a mutual understanding of no one’s here because they have to. We’re here because we want to, and we love making music. And there’s just this special sauce that happens with this group of people, and I just feel so blessed to get to do it again. It’s just gratitude, and I think that comes with age and maturity, and you just appreciate the opportunities.

And what went into these songwriting sessions for The Road To Reign? Was it kind of natural for you guys to kind of pick up where you guys left off, or what went into that process?

Alex DeLeon: The sessions were scattered, man. Some of these songs were started eight years ago. So I mean, the whole way that even the band kind of started getting back together was <Alex> Marshall got really sick. He went in for a surgery, and you almost died, right? I mean, it was bad.

Alex Marshall: Yeah, I had surgery, and I got E-Coli in my blood. And when that happens, it’s a pretty fatal thing, and it’s a very low life expectancy. So when I turned I went septic, and I had septicemia, so that was kind of a really pivotal transitional moment in my life to really prioritize certain things that I didn’t think about. And then also reconnected Alex and I on a very human, best friend level.

Alex DeLeon: Yeah, I mean, we weren’t really talking at the time, and when I found out about that, I just picked up the phone immediately. There’s just some things that you just realize how stupid and small some things are. And then you just think about the human, again the humanity of it, and you think about the person and all of the good times and the positive things. And like Marshall said, that maturity just comes with age and experience. And so I picked up the phone, and luckily Marshall was okay, and then he came over, and we started talking. And then, we both had other music projects, so we just started playing each other’s projects. And we didn’t really talk about The Cab much outside of telling some old stories and talking about older memories. But it just slowly progressed. And then I was like, “Hey, should we get in a room and try to write again? And see what comes of that?” And slowly, like brick by brick, we did a month-long trip to Bali. Was that ‘17?

Alex Marshall: Let me add a little piece of this. So the backstory on Alex is, I’m a total homebody. Like, come out to the farm and let’s write music. Alex is, “Where can we go, the most exotic location in the world to write music? I’m thinking, Bali.” So we flew the studio of what we had. We flew it to Bali, and that was really the birth of our new record. And the songs that are on the EP, two of those four came from that trip.

Alex DeLeon: So because it was like a revolving door, we were there for a month, and then every 10 days, we would have new friends, pretty much, but also writers who also write and produce fly out. So, the first 10 days, our friends, Ryan and Nash, from Hot Shell Ray, the band who are our best friends, flew out. We wrote some songs, and then when they left, we switched houses. So we went from a beach house to a jungle house. And then three new friends came in and when they left, we moved to a different house again in the city. And then 10 more days with four new friends. And that was just kind of a way to get our creative juices flowing. And almost like pre-production on songs. We weren’t going too deep. We weren’t recording final vocals. We were just writing like five song ideas a day, but yeah, “Rollercoaster” on the new EP that started there, and so did “Every Little Lie.” So half of the EP was started and birthed in Bali, eight years ago.

Wow! Okay, so are these the first four songs of a larger collection that’s going to be put out at some point?

Alex DeLeon: I mean, to be honest, we have 20 something songs, and we were just like, “how do we just put something out?” Management was like, “put out one song,” and we’re like, “Dude, it’s been 13 years!” You know what I mean? We can’t give fans one song after all this time. So we kind of fought to be able to put four plus <on the EP>. Our songs are all over the place. Some are funky, some are darker. So we wanted to put out four songs that kind of encapsulated what the band is and what the sound is. So we fought, got the four songs, and four songs were meant to kind of be like a taste of the upcoming album that’ll come sometime next year.

Gotcha! So the next question is, tour dates are coming up with All Time Low as of two more days from now, October 8th. So what do you guys plan to do in your set for reconnecting with your fans who haven’t seen you for a bit?

Alex Marshall: I would say on this set, we were focusing on utilizing the time during this set to just play the songs that we love. We have toured on all of these songs in the past, so we really know which ones, at least from a decade ago, that people really connected with and that were fun to play. And that people felt the energy from. So I can’t give it all away, but it’s gonna be a fun set.

Alex DeLeon: Yeah, we definitely didn’t want to be the band who came back after over a decade and just plays only new songs. As fans of other artists, you want to hear the songs that made you, hopefully fall in love with the band in the first place and stuff. So it leans pretty heavy on nostalgia, I would say. But there’ll definitely be a little bit of new stuff.

Yeah, it gets people kind of reinvigorated in The Cab, and remember why they fell in love with your band in the first place.

Alex DeLeon: Yeah, songs like “Angel With a Shotgun”, when Symphony Soldier came out, we released four singles, right? Sirius XM played four or five songs, and “Angel With a Shotgun” was not one of them. That was always the song we came out to <to start> the set. It was the opener. And since then, it’s just kind of taken on this life of its own with Tik Tok. And Tik Tok kind of brings songs and acts back. And so it went platinum, I remember getting a call, and they said “Angel With A Shotgun” went platinum. Like, what?? It wasn’t even a single! I don’t know where these legs came from, but it’s really cool and fun now too, taking a step back for a few years, looking back, being like, “Okay, this song now means this to people.” And this song still hung around. You kind of see the longevity of certain songs, and you’re able to take a step back and to look at your library as a whole, and see which songs actually stood the test of time.

And talking about Symphony Soldier, I thought the album should have been much bigger commercially at the time. I thought it was really well done,and a really strong follow-up to Whisper War. What does it mean to you to see songs like “Angel With a Shotgun,” still connecting after all this time with your fans?

Alex DeLeon: I mean, that song we did independently, that album we did independently. So I think, what means the most is that was, I mean, you ask Marsh, that was a hard time for us. Because the label drops us, we were signed to pretty much our idols and the bands that we looked up to, and it just didn’t work out label-wise. So we were on our own, and we’re just like, “well, I guess we’re just gonna give this a shot.” And it means that much more to know that every decision was ours. Every song choice was ours. It wasn’t a record label telling us what to do. When you have a label, there’s just so many cooks in the kitchen and moving parts. So it just means the world that Symphony Soldier had the success that it did, but that it still means that much to people. Because it really was just us and our management, and we had an awesome radio guy, Steve Zapp, who fought for us, like crazy.

Alex Marshall: Yeah, I also think on that record, you’re investing time and energy into projects, regardless if you’re with a label or not. But really, when you’re independent and putting yourself out there, we really went in all 100% on ourselves. And we just were like, “We’re going for it,” and we tried it. So that was the first time Alex and I together that we were 100% investing in ourselves with this project. So to just see it now, still living and breathing and doing its thing…It’s just such a rewarding feeling.

Alex DeLeon: And Adam, I don’t know if you know this, but Whisper War we recorded over 30 or 40 days, kind of a typical album. So when we first went to John Feldmann, we did one demo session with him to see if we were going to work together. And he’s like, “I don’t really have time.” He was recording with The Used, and those are all huge acts. And he called us back, and he pretty much was like, “11 days.” He’s like, “You know what, I have 10 or 11 days.” And we’re just like, okay! And so when we did Symphony Soldier, it was about 10 days. It was like boot camp, dude. I slept in his house. I was in his downstairs guest bedroom. We were going till three or four in the morning, and then we were up at nine to get started again. Like, it was pretty crazy looking back, it was like we didn’t even have it was all gut instinct, because you don’t have time to overthink when you have 10 days to do 12 or 13 songs. We were flying through things, dude.

Yeah, but you had your house in order, so to speak. You know what I mean? It turned out great to my ears!

Alex DeLeon: It just feels like a fever dream at this point…

Alex Marshall: Adding to that, I remember exactly where we were in LA. We were in the car together in a Jack in the Box parking lot, and Feldmann called us, and me and Alex just looked at each other, and said, “we’re doing this!”

That’s awesome! So is Symphony Soldier gonna be getting a vinyl release at any point? Are there any plans for that?

Alex DeLeon: Already printed, my man! You’re the first person to know.

Hell yeah! I love it, because we have a big vinyl community at Chorus, and they wanted me to ask that question…<Laughter>

Alex DeLeon: The first place you’ll be able to buy it is on the tour, and then it’ll be available online, too.

So exciting! What memories do you have most fondly of the debut album of Whisper War?

Alex DeLeon: I mean, talk about a fever dream. When I think about that era, for example, the Symphony Soldier tour we did with The Summer Set, those honestly were some of the best days of my life. They’re still some of our best friends. I just think of that era and the Whisper War era, of course, was The Cab, you know what I mean? But the Symphony Soldier era was when we really connected with the fanbase and just felt unified. And it just felt like, “Oh, this is who The Cab is.” Whisper War was kind of like teenagers super happy to be there writing songs, and not overthinking it. And with Symphony Soldier, we really tapped in and we <felt like we> figured this out. We know who we are. We know how to combine our individual strengths. And that’s kind of what Symphony Soldier means to me. My favorite The Cab song to this day is probably “Temporary Bliss.” When I look back at Symphony Soldier, I look at it less as the body of music and more of the movement with the fans. I mean, the fans almost feel like the sixth member of the band. They’re so important and crucial that they’re just like the driving force behind the whole thing.

Alex Marshall: I would say one thing, and I think Alex and I would be aligned on this…with Whisper War, “Take My Hand” and “I’ll Run” were really the start of what got us signed and started going. We recorded “Take My Hand” and “I’ll Run” as a demo. Alex gave it to the guys at a concert that were in Panic! at the Disco, and that started the whole roller coaster. So when I think of that record, I really think of those two songs that were the birth of the journey for Whisper War. But I mean, dude, we got signed in our senior year of high school. So we went from math class to touring. So it was just like a bunch of kids in a band.

Alex DeLeon: Symphony Soldier also was the catalyst. Before we were kind of just put in this box of being like a Fueled By Ramen pop-punk band, right? And the first review ever of our band, I think it was Alt Press, said “it sounds like N’Sync with guitars…” <Laughter> We were always a little pop, I think my voice, especially in the scene. I guess Symphony Soldier was the catalyst to introducing people outside of just the scene to our music. We got to tour 25 countries with Maroon 5 and we got to play some stadiums. And that was the first time, I mean I credit a lot to Mikey at Sirius XM, who believed in us more than anybody, playing the hell out of our music. I remember going to Rock and Riley’s on Sunset, and Ed Sheeran was singing “La La” to me from the street, and being like, “I love ‘la la’.” It’s such a cool song. You should come on tour with me!” And then we already had the Maroon 5 tour. And we were just like, “whoa.” So this record really brought us into a different world than we were used to because of the scene that we were in. I mean, dude, we toured with so many of our friends over and over again. I think we did six tours with We The Kings, five tours with The Summer Set, and we wouldn’t trade it for the world…some of our best friends, but Symphony Soldier allowed us to experiment in other lanes when we didn’t have the opportunity before. So, Whisper War kind of brought us that cult following that the scene brings, and being a Fueled by Ramen band brings. We would not be where we are without that first Panic! at the Disco tour, without that Cobra Starship tour…And then Symphony Soldier was kind of the next step, just branching out to people who listen to other things.

Yeah, but I think the fact that you guys stood out on Fueled by Ramen probably was to your benefit, potentially, because everybody was kind of lumped into that same emo, pop-punk band stuff like that. You guys were trying really cool things with that first record and then the second record. So I applaud you guys for that.

Alex DeLeon: Thank you!

So the new EP opens with a really cool arena rock track called “Pain,” and it takes a listener on a thrilling ride, even though it’s four songs. Is this a good indication of the current/future sound of The Cab?

Alex DeLeon: Yeah, I would say that’s why we chose those four specifically. They’re all different. When you listen to “Pain” it kind of shows there’s more production experiments. There’s things in that song that The Cab has never done before. So that was kind of a cool thing to push the boundaries a little bit and to say we’re not only going to play to nostalgia, we also do want to push ourselves and kind of move forward. But when you listen to a song like “Stay This Way Forever,” and that really taps into nostalgia, and even talks about the lyrics are almost fully about being in a band, and what that’s like to just be touring in a band with your best friends. And how those are the best times in our lives. And even at the time when we’re struggling, and there’s like 11 dudes fitting in a passenger van, and we’re putting our feet in each other’s faces while we sleep. And now we look back and say those were the good old days. And then Rollercoaster”…every song is just a taste and a window into a different part of the house of the record. We wanted to make a record that fans would love, that loved Whisper War and Symphony Soldier, but also a record that we loved, and we could kind of push ourselves to see, “Okay, what is a modern The Cab <album>?”We wanted to bring it to 2025-2026 while tapping into the things that got us to where we are, and that people you know connected to resonated with.

And I think you accomplished that on these four songs. I keep re-streaming them and stuff like that. And I hope for an eventual vinyl release of that too for the full artistic statement. So where do you think The Cab fits in today’s music scene?

Alex DeLeon: I actually had this conversation yesterday. I think the music industry right now is kind of chaotic with streaming with so many artists. I think, as an artist, it’s one of the most refreshing times in music for me. Because, I think before, 10-15 years ago, when we first started The Cab, it was like, if you were a punk rock kid, you hated pop music. And if you’re a pop person, people were very cliquey. If you were a fan of a certain genre, you couldn’t like Taylor Swift if you listened to Slipknot, and you couldn’t like The Cab if you listen to <them>. So, I think because of streaming and playlisting, I just feel like people are so much more open to different genres of music. You listen to Sleep Token, and like all the different genres that they’re combining in their songs. And you listen to Hardy, who does metal with country. And then you listen to Taylor, and every record is blending different things. And I think it’s just a really exciting time in music, because you can kind of do whatever you want. I think people care, one about the songs, but two, about the artists. They just want to know the band or the artist as people, and then they want to just go along that journey with them and see where the road takes them. Yeah, and I don’t think music was like that 15 years ago. So for us, actually, it’s awesome, because our music’s kind of been all over the place. So it’s cool that we can release a song called “Every Little Lie” that kind of sounds N’Sync with guitars. <Laughter> And then we can release a song called “Pain” and no one really is gonna bat an eye, because you’re allowed to do that. So it’s been fun trying to keep it cohesive, but also feeling like there’s no reigns, and there’s no box we kind of have to fit into.

I think that’s why Jason changed the name from AbsolutePunk to Chorus, because genre lines are blurring, and we don’t write about just punk music…

Alex DeLeon: And what is punk? When punk started, it was a rebellion. It was “fuck authority.” And a lot of the punk artists now are in other genres. I mean, the idea of punk is now kind of bleeding into other areas. I think that’s really cool. Some <punk> theorists might not like that, but, I mean, it’s funny that all every rapper is coming out now <saying> their favorite artists are Paramore. And all these young rappers grew up on pop-punk!

Yeah, you’d be surprised at how many artists kind of gravitate away from the music they make themselves. With the interviews I’ve done, I’ve just been shocked at some of the things they’ve name dropped. The things they’re listening to themselves are way outside of their own genre.

Alex DeLeon: I mean, all the producers, like Shellback, who did the new Taylor Swift album, is a good friend <of ours> and he only listens to metal. He’s like, “Oh, I got this riff from Megadeth, and I got this from blah, blah, blah.” Only listens to metal. And then you talk to Rob Knox, who’s a friend of ours, who does like Beyonce and Timberlake and he’s like, “I’m a Metallica head.” All these guys listen to heavy rock music, but they’re producing Hip Hop records. But when they start explaining to you this is where I’m getting the drums from for metal music, and this is where I’m pulling this from, and I’m really just putting different chords over it, I’m putting R&B chords over some metal drums. And you’re like, “shit that actually checks out!” It makes sense when you put it that way.

Did you guys want to do anything different with the production for this current slate of music? The new EP has a lot of different stylistic choices that you made on that. But what about the production in general?

Alex Marshall: I think, from Symphony Soldier to now…Alex and I never stopped making music. We were just doing different projects. So, over 10 years and you’re still doing production and songwriting every day. Hopefully get better over those 10 years, right? But you just get better at the programs and you get better at the craft. So I think on this project, specifically, I know that Alex and I push each other on every song that we’re doing. Some of the songs took a week to do. Some of them took months and months where we were just tweaking little sounds. So I think on this record, it was really just a trust between us and pushing the production that we were passionate about, but just felt right.

Alex DeLeon: I’m kind of the music guy. I have thoughts, but the entire soundscape was pretty much Alex, and our tastes. I kind of want to write something that punches you in the face, something a little more raw and rock, but super melodic. And then Marsh comes with these…Marsh grew up playing piano and listening to Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, and Coldplay. So he kind of puts this warm blanket on things, and makes things just sound really clean and crisp. And so that’s the beauty of coming together on things. I want <the music> to punch you in the face, and he wants to give you a hug, kind of a thing.

A punch and a hug…there you go! That’s the name of the next record, of course. <Laughter> The last question I have for you guys is, every band has a story to tell with their music. What do you hope people take away from listening to The Cab from start to finish?

Alex DeLeon: I think The Cab lyrically, at least, has always been about hope, about breaking free, about being whoever you want to be, and always believing in that. That’s kind of been from Whisper War into Symphony Soldier. If you go into the lyrics, it’s telling people to “Live Loud” from “I’ll Run” and telling people to break free. You get one life. Be who you want to be, be kind to each other and if two 17 year old dorky kids from Vegas can still be in a band, touring 15 years after high school, then you can do anything you want to. So I know it sounds a little bit cliche and cheesy, but The Cab has always been about hope, but also being a family. About being there for the person next to you and helping them achieve what they want to achieve, and kind of being strong for each other, because we all need each other sometimes. So that’s always been The Cab’s mission statement.

That’s great! I appreciate everything you guys do for music and in the community and stuff like that. So I am looking forward to sharing this article when it comes out!

Alex DeLeon: Thanks for talking to us. It means the world to us!

Take care, guys!

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