The Formation
I (Steve Davis) founded the group a number of years ago, and the band has gone through many membership changes since. Lee Brown came on board a few years ago drumming in the second version, Rallies 2.0, as he was a good friend of the guitarist at that time. Then, Rick Jones joined The Rallies 3.0 as a bassist who had played in another band with the guitarist at that time. And finally, Jeff Weideman joined the band’s current 4.0 version not long ago, answering a Craigslist ad in which he replied: “Trying to find a quality band, and you are IMHO that.”
The Name
I am a big fan of the sport of tennis, I love to watch and play the game. And initially, I came up with the name for its reference to tennis, and also that the word (rally) had so many other meanings and uses. Little did I know though back then, just how relevant a word it would become in the world today.
The Sound
I’ll leave describing our sound up to the listeners, critics, and journalist. But I can tell you that when I’m writing songs, I try to write something that has a positive vibe, that feels true & honest, and hopefully it’s something that others can relate to and connect with from their own personal experiences.
Musical Influences
I dig so many groups and artists that range all the way back to the 50’s through to today — pretty much any group or artist that writes melodic driven music, power pop rock. On our band site, we list some groups that I’ve heard people reference that they hear in our music. All-time favorite though would have to be The Beatles, for sure!
Songwriting
For me, it’s just something that comes out of noodling around on the guitar, a kind of bi-product that shows itself sometimes when I’m playing. I never know when it’ll happen, but when it does, it’s a very cool feeling.
The Album
We started recording our album ‘Serve’ in the springtime last year as just a three piece. We didn’t have an electric guitar player at that time, just a Craigslist ad titled “Guitar Player Wanted”, and it had an important requirement, “No showboating solos, no metal, no covers.” Jeff joined the band about midway through the recording process, after we had tracked about half the songs. And because of that it took us around half a year just to track the entire album. It definitely wasn’t the ideal way to do it, but in the end we were all pleased with how it turned out.
Promotion
We’ve been using the social networks to get some attention, and that’s helped us find an audience that we didn’t even know existed or was possible. We’ve really been pleasantly surprised by the positive responses, and people have reached out to us from all over the U.S., Canada, and Europe. We’ve also gotten some airplay on internet and college radio stations that’s helped get our music heard all around the world’s airwaves.
Our album can be purchased at quite a number of places, it’s been distributed to; iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Bandcamp, eMusic, Shazam, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, the list goes on and on.
Playing Live
The band hasn’t had much time to play out recently because we’ve been busy working on the album. We hope to start playing out soon though and would really like to do a tour of some kind this year, so look for that coming. By the way, the next live performance will be a first for our new guitarist Jeff, who I know is really looking forward to it.
The State of Music
There’s really good music out there, though sometimes it’s hard to find through the normal “industry” channels. I find college radio to be one of the best places to find good new and interesting music, that’s been my go-to source for music and it’s never let me down.
The Plan
We definitely want to get out and start performing our new album, so that’s in the near term plan. As well as touring this year, we just need to figure out where and when. We all want to keep making music too, so more recording and new albums will definitely be part of our future as a band.
The Rallies Social Media Links:
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/TheRallies
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheRallies
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/The_Rallies
BANDCAMP: https://therallies.bandcamp.com/
