Interview with Cascade Riot: ‘Al’s the glue, if you don’t have a solid drummer, you’re dead on arrival!’

Detroit’s Cascade Riot, which fuses a unique blend of punk, power-pop, alternative rock and rock & roll, released a new EP this week (30 January) called ‘Life on Venus’.

The band formed in April 2015. However, Ryan Failla (lead vocals and guitar) and Adam Brady (bass and backing vocals) met in middle school and instantly found a connection through music. The two played together in various projects and eventually Brady’s brother Al (drums) wanted in on the action. The threesome formed a band and would get together to play after school but they never pursued anything to its fullest extent. ‘I’ve known Adam since sixth grade,’ Failla said. ‘Nick (Nick Maston, their new guitar player) played with Adam and Al about 10 years ago, Nick went to the same school as we did.’ Of their band name, Failla says: ‘I’d like to say there’s an awesome story behind it but it’s just two words we jammed together (laughs). You should have seen the others we dismissed! One time, we were gonna be ‘Sex Pest’ – that found its way into the trash! We came up with ‘Cascade Riot’ in 2015 and decided we’d stick with that.’

Their energetic and hooky punk-rock production complements lyrical themes documenting emotional and personal struggles, such as the desire for change, hope and tackling communication woes. ‘Life on Venus’ takes ‘a lot of inspiration from Green Day, Blink-182 and Foo Fighters’ across the five tracks, according to Maston: ‘It’s very familiar but in a new way,’ he said. ‘I was immediately on board, it’s very guitar-driven but with bass here and there.’ Failla shouts out to their drummer: ‘Al’s the glue, if you don’t have a solid drummer, you’re dead on arrival! The lyrics on this EP are personal, I’d say. I wanted to open myself up a bit more, there’s more vulnerability. Sonically, we’re still very much in the lane we’ve been in but we have expanded on that and added different textures and layers.’ Of the EP title, he says: ‘We had finished recording and needed a title. One night I was listening to “Life on Mars” by David Bowie and “Life on Venus” just happened to pop into my head. When I suggested it to the band, they seemed to think it fit the vibe of the EP.’

‘Green Day is all over that song, it’s like an old school Green Day song’

‘P.N.C.’ is a blistering opener, with Foo Fighters’ style ramped up drumming: ‘I cannot tell you what it stands for,’ Failla said laughing. ‘It’s a song about finding trouble and getting motivation. Green Day is all over that song, it’s like an old school Green Day song.’ It is, you almost feel that you shouldn’t listen to it unless you’ve got your skateboard – and swagger – to hand. The talk quickly turns to the new Green Day album, Saviours: ‘It’s different sounding to what they’ve put out for a time,’ Maston said. ‘I think they have a bit of a Weezer sound, which makes sense as they toured together for a while.’

As the track opens: “The tank is dry, it’s like a reawakening. Certain things don’t have the same appeal. Guilt, disgust, and weird decision making. Logic’s back now that I broke the seal.”

‘Chasing Stars’ continues to harness the Foosey energy, creating a layered, festival anthem in the making. Brady’s drumming reaches fever pitch as he builds towards the first minute; it’s a hands in the air, crowd singing it back to them kind of track, boosted by catchy and compelling layered vocals on the big chorus: ‘It introduced some new textures, it’s more atmospheric the way it fades in with the somewhat sparkly picked guitar, the dynamics, etc. it isn’t anything extremely out of the box but it isn’t necessarily as straightforward as most of the other stuff we do,’ Failla said. ‘You say Foo Fighters, a few people have mentioned that to me. Those massive drums fills, they weren’t there at the start, it’s a testament to what Al brings to it. Nick also plays acoustic guitar on it. ‘Chasing Stars’ is about waiting for someone to come along that you don’t know yet. It’s the idea of calling out.’ I say that I like that it’s opaque and that it could be about waiting in a variety of contexts and Failla nods: ‘I do tend to do that (leave the meaning opaque), I don’t deliberately hit people over the head with it (laughs). I tend to start with the melody, hit a chord progression, hum a melody. That way, you’re not trying to shoehorn lyrics into it. They’re melody-driven songs, so we can fill in the lyrics afterwards.’

As the track kicks off: “I was drifting off into space. Hoping I might find a friendly face. Someone who might take me away. To somewhere new with a better view.”

‘The cobwebs are metophorical, you hope you get out of there’

One of my favourite tracks on the EP is ‘Cobwebs’, which is pulled along at a frenetic pace by drumming from Brady. It’s a huge, singalong song designed for big crowds and is ultimately a Carpe Diem song about getting out of wherever you are and seizing the day: ‘Al came up with the music for that one,’ Failla said. ‘It’s the first time we’ve really collaborated like that. It’s about feeling stuck, the cobwebs are metaphorical, you hope you get out of there.’

As the song goes: “Meet me in another timeline. And let’s curse the one we’re in. ‘Cause we’re both a little broken. And we can’t seem to begin.”

Other tracks such as ‘Valentine’s Day’ (2023) are a punky, tortured take on the day in question: ‘It was written around Valentine’s Day last year,’ Failla said. ‘The funny thing is that it seems very simple but I’m saying a few separate things. Is it about someone getting rejected on Valentine’s Day or knocked down and still trying? It’s really just about rejection in general. You made an attempt at something and you failed. Now what? Maybe you were going for something because it represented some sort of potential hope and now that hope isn’t there so you’re left with whatever you had in the first place. And you’re scared because you don’t know how things are going to turn out. But at the same time, somewhere deep down, you know you’re probably going to be okay. ‘

I ask what the dynamics of having two brothers in the band are like. ‘I haven’t noticed anything that’s a red flag!,’ Maston said. ‘They’re not at each other’s throats (laughs).’ Failla weighs in: ‘I remember a few times when we were younger when they were!’

‘Ryan reached out to me a week later and said: “You still play guitar? Do you still want to?!”‘

Maston tells an endearing story as to how he came to join the band: ‘The band had a show where they opened for Billy Talent (a rock band from Ontario, Canada) and they asked me to take photos, I got some sweet pics of the night. Ryan reached out to me a week later and said: “You still play guitar? Do you still want to?!” People kept buying me drinks that night, they thought I was already in the band!’

The artwork for ‘Life on Venus’ depicts what appears to be a father and his two young children watching TV in a black and white photo that appears to be from the 1950’s: ‘We’re fans of that retro aesthetic and when we were brainstorming ideas for a cover we thought it might be cool to have the title appear on an old TV,’ Failla said. ‘We liked the imagery of this innocent looking family from the past being presented with our stuff.’

Failla got into classical rock as a kid: ‘I started playing music ‘cos of The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, raiding my dad’s record collection,’ he said. ‘Actually, when we were recording this EP, we had a pic of Paul Stanley (rhythm guitarist and co-vocalist in KISS) in the booth to inspire us, like he was waving at us!’ Maston cites AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath as early influences: ‘I also listened to a lot of music like Van Halen that my parents and uncle played,’ he said.

Locally, Failla describes Detroit’s music scene as ‘DIY house shows’: ‘A lot of venues didn’t survive COVID and it can be hard to get a gig,’ he said. ‘There’s not a ton of stuff like we do, I’d like to see more melodic guitar rock! There’s a hardcore punk band Come Out Fighting, we’re playing with them on Friday. There’s a band called Middle-Out, they’re a bit punk rock, and The Idiot Kids. I wish it was flooded with rock bands! Lately, I’ve seen a lot of jazz in Detroit, a cousin of mine plays jazz (in a band), that genre is alive and well.’ Maston jumps in: ‘In Michigan, there’s a band Potion Seller from Grand Rapids and Equipment from Ohio.’ Failla weighs in: ‘We always this running inside joke about playing Wembley Stadium in London, probably because of how far fetched and absurd it seems! But we’d be lying if we said it wouldn’t be cool to play a stadium one day.’

if he could meet any musician, Failla plums for Keith Richards: ‘Just to go drinking with him! I’d ask him: “What’s the secret? How are you still here?!” Maston laughs: ‘I saw an interview somewhere where they said don’t even try to keep up with him! I’d go with John Lennon, I feel there was so much more he was ready to do. I don’t know what question I’d ask him, maybe: “Did you sell yourself to the devil to get those songwriting skills?!”‘

They’ve had some sweet and funny moments along the way, as Failla recounts: ‘The funniest is probably when we played a show in Toronto last year,’ he said. ‘I’d been having a series of gear issues at the shows prior and before this show we were like “Alright, nothing is gonna go wrong tonight!” We took the stage and ten seconds into the first song my amp blew a fuse! The best moment was probably getting to open for Billy Talent last fall. It was so unexpected and the largest show we had ever played at that point. Landing that gig sort of reaffirmed in our minds how glad we were to have started playing together again and that everything we’d been through together had been worth it. It was also the show that planted the seeds of Nick joining the band so it was just super memorable for multiple reasons.’

(Top photo from left to right: Al, Adam, Ryan and Nick.)