The Cab is currently on its “Everything’s Fine Symphony Soldier Tour” with The Summer Set. Daily Bruin’s Marjorie Yan spoke to The Cab’s lead singer Alex DeLeon about touring so far, inspiration for the group’s recently released album “Symphony Soldier” and how it differs from its previous albums.
Daily Bruin: What has it been like performing with The Summer Set so far?
Alex DeLeon: The Summer Set is definitely a great band. The coolest part about it is that they’re our best friends. … Everyone from an outsider’s perspective thinks touring is this big party, and it is sometimes, but at the same time it’s lonely sometimes and it gets hard, so (it’s nice) when you’re touring with bands you like, and you become best friends with these bands. The (members of) The Summer Set are literally our best friends in the entire world, so it definitely makes the touring aspect of the job very easy and very fun.
DB: Tell us about “Symphony Soldier.” What was the writing process like? Where did inspiration for some of the songs come from?
AD: Well “Symphony Soldier” definitely took a few years of writing. I mean, one of the songs was written even before our first album came out. Some of our songs are written in the studio on the spot when we’re recording. It definitely took a long time. The album has a lot of different topics. (There are) songs about love and the typical heart break songs, then (there are) songs about life and looking at things in a different way. It was a great experience for us, and we’re very proud of how it turned out.
DB: What would you say is your favorite song on the album and why?
AD: It all differs. You know, my favorite songs to play live are “Angel with a Shot Gun,” “Living Louder,” and then my favorites on the album (change) all the time. I love “Animal.” “Love is My Religion” is also very dear to me.
DB: How would you say the creation of “Symphony Soldier” differs from “Lady Luck” and “Whisper War?”
AD: “Lady Luck” were all songs that were already written. That was a novelty release, and we were like, “We already have these songs, so let’s give fans more songs.” “Whisper War” was kind of like we didn’t know what we were doing. We were in high school in a band for fun where we would write all those songs. Those songs are dear to us. With “Symphony Soldier” we knew what we were doing and what kind of songs we wanted to write. It’s much more of a cohesive album, and we’re proud of them.
DB: What’s it like having numerous members in the group named Alex? How does the band deal with that?
AD: We don’t even use the name Alex. They use Marshall for Alex Marshall, and they call me “singer.” They decided to get really creative and come up with something very abstract.
DB: Who would you say are some of your musical inspirations and why?
AD: My dad, first and foremost. He’s the reason I sing, and he’s the reason I listen to what I listen to. Growing up, my dad was always singing and then, outside of that as far as singers go, everyone from Frank Sinatra to Justin Timberlake to Brandon Boyd of Incubus to Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder. (There are) so many, but those are probably my favorites.
DB: If you had to describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before, how would you?
AD: I would say soulful pop rock. … It’s really hard to classify music because a lot of it is in R&B, and a lot of it is pop and rock. I would say soulful pop rock is as close to it as it gets.
DB: Is there a special meaning behind your album title, “Symphony Soldier”?
AD: Well soldier is someone who fights for what they believe in and symphony is a body of music, so before there was ever the “Symphony Soldier” album, I had a symphony soldier tattoo, and before the symphony soldier tattoo there was a song called “Symphony Soldier,” and the song was pretty much my way of venting and saying, “Look – obviously I’m not a real soldier, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight for what I believe in or defend my beliefs and what I love in this world with my music.” “Symphony Soldier” is pretty much representing someone who fights for themselves and what they love.