By: Brad Litton
Mostbands make a name for themselves playing live show after live show and doing as much as possible to get out in front of people. But in today's world of the Internet it's much easier for bands to create a following completely online. Not only that, it also provides a medium for bands to exist and create music without even having to be face to face. Maybe not the choice that every musician would make, but it's working beautifully for local indie pop rock duo Red Lights and Cathedrals. I had a chance to sit down with Coby Coonradt, one half of the group, with the other half, Randy Moser, on speakerphone, to find out more about how these guys have gotten where they are today without following the traditional routine.
EDGE: First things first guys, how did you come up with the name Red Lights and Cathedrals? Seems quite unique to me.
RL&C: (Coby) Actually that's a line from a Third Eye Blind song called My Hit And Run on their Out Of The Vein album.
EDGE: That's pretty awesome, I'm a big Third Eye Blind fan and didn't even realize that.
RL&C: (Coby) Yeah, now when you go back and listen to that song you'll hear that every time.
EDGE: So how did you guys get started? What's your origin story?
RL&C: (Coby) Randy and I went to school together; he was actually a few years older than me. I was in a band called Wet Cement with one of his friends when I was 16 or 17. (Randy) And we're both from Kamas and our friend Tyler introduced us and when I got home from an LDS mission we started a band called Anesty. We played around as Anesty for a long time and then everybody had to move away, but Coby and I kept writing and going at it and eventually formally 'got back together'. (Coby) Yeah, we're basically an Internet band. It's all write, record, post it online, we don't play a lot of live shows or anything.
EDGE: I've been seeing more and more bands doing things solely on the Internet. That's a really cool idea, but how does the writing process work when you two are so far apart?
RL&C: (Coby) Actually the other day I wrote a verse and a chorus and just texted it over to Randy on my phone and then he just ran with it, put something down on his recorder and sent it back to me. Sometimes I'll demo it myself or we'll write songs together, but we get together every 3 or 4 months and record together and collaborate on each song.
EDGE: So are there any specific roles that each of you fill? Does one guy write the music, the other does the lyrics or something like that?
RL&C: (Coby) No, actually, we both do everything. Wouldn't you say Randy? (Randy) Yeah, we definitely do. Both of us definitely have our strengths and weaknesses, but we both do everything. We're kinda like Prince. (Coby) Randy is definitely the better guitar player, but we both play, sing, write lyrics, everything.
EDGE: Then who plays what?
RL&C: (Coby) We both play guitar, we both sing, we both play bass…Like seriously when we're recording I'll play parts on his songs, maybe I'll play bass for half the song and he'll do the other half, we both really do collaborate on everything that way. We both play keys a little bit… (Randy) Neither of us really do drums, though. (Coby) Yeah, we use a program called EZDrummer for our drums for recording, but we do have an awesome drummer when we play live, but he lives in Cedar City so he's a long ways away.
EDGE: Speaking of shows and being Internet based, so is this more of a hobby band or serious career since you don't play many live shows? No world tours or anything?
RL&C: (Coby) Well that totally depends. If something happens and someone said, "Hey, come play, we want to sign you" then yeah. I think right now it's more of a hobby, but a little more serious than that. (Randy) I feel a lot of it is kinda like the lottery, y'know, as much as you play you're not going to win. It's true though, there's no doubt that we don't have big aspirations, it never hurts to dream. We used to tour and play a lot of shows previously. (Coby) Yeah, like two shows a week, and Randy still does two or three times a week across the Wasatch Front. (Randy) And when Coby can make it out he's playing with me, too.
RL&C: (Coby) Yep, we played with them probably 15, 20 times….And now they're being featured on Glee, that's crazy, how does that happen? Did you see that Randy? Wait don't you like Glee? (Randy) Yeah… (Coby) You're a Gleek! Yeah, we played with those guys a ton, Plain White T's, The Matches, Allred, and so forth.
EDGE: So how would you guys define your style? A lot of these other bands your naming are pretty indie, alternative, rock-ish stuff, is that the same vein you find yourselves in?
RL&C: (Coby) I'd say indie pop maybe? We're not really trying for anything, it's just what comes out is what it is. (Randy) That new 'indie' sound is something that we don't really have, some mornings I'll wake up and feel like folk music, or rock or whatever comes out.
EDGE: So who are your influences?
RL&C: (Both) Third Eye Blind obviously (Coby) The Beatles, Jars of Clay, Toad and the Wet Sprocket, Brand New…(Randy) I'm always looking for new stuff, right now I'd say Vampire Weekend, Ra Ra Riot, and PlayBill. I really like those guys a lot. We used to always listen to the same stuff together and have passed our collections back and forth.
EDGE: So what plans have you guys got, anything we can look forward to?
RL&C: (Coby) Well, we just released the self-titled album online at Reverbnation. We'll probably get together in a few months and record four or five more songs, maybe have another album in six months.
EDGE: Where can we find you guys online?
RL&C: (Coby) Reverbnation is the biggest one, we're also on Facebook and MySpace. Don't know why we're on MySpace anymore, but we are.
Brad Litton is a professional guitarist and guitar instructor in the Uintah Basin. For more info check out VernalGuitar.net or search Guitar Lessons in Vernal on Facebook
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