Brian Cag from Action Item Interview 2014

Interview: Brian Cag from Action Item | July 24 2014

by • July 26, 2014

Brian from Action Item gave me a few minutes of his time yesterday to answer a few question. Turns out Portland has been their favorite show of the tour so far, their new EP is part of their upcoming concept album and they totally prefer Disney World of Disneyland. Additionally, Brian gives us an inside look at his Spotify account and what’s he’s digging right now and tells us who his dream band to tour with us. Read and listen below. Thanks for your time Brian!

Action Item is currently being featured by Skype Presents as “Ones to Watch.” Their “The American Dream Tour” rolls through Orlando, FL at House Of Blues on Wednesday July 30 with headliners MKTO- Buy Tickets here. Check out the Action Item facebook for a full list of upcoming tour dates.

Here’s the audio of the interview. Read the transcribed version below. Thanks Brian!

 

Brian Cag from Action Item Interview 2014

Jeff: You guys just released an EP on July 1st. How’s the response been from that?

Ben: It’s been great! It’s sort of a different EP from what we’ve done in the past. This one kinda really kinda fit all of our styles. We did it with our producer/friend Paul Scott and it was really fun. We opted for more of an indie-pop approach to the music and its been pretty gratifying.

J: Cool man. What’s your favorite song from it?

B: My personal favorite is song called “Outsiders.” I just loved working on it. I think the production is really cool and it kinda mixes elements of folk pop meets somewhat of a Passion Pit kind of era. It’s really interesting as far as song value, take a listen, you’ll see all that stuff in it.

J: Cool, I’ve listened to it and I enjoy it a lot! I see that you named your new EP Great Mission: Life. How did you come up with the name of the album?

B: Well, we wrote these songs and kinda found out that they’re generalized concepts mostly about life. That kinda have backed the EP, Great Mission: Life. And its also part of a bigger project, called Great Mission – it’ll be our first full length. We’re going have three EP’s put together to make a full length (a.k.a. Great Mission) eventually. Each set of songs are songs that are specifically about life. Just different facts about it: the good, the bad, the in-between, and all that.

J: That’s awesome. So it’s kinda like a “concept album” just spread over different EP’s?

B: Exactly, yeah. It’s somewhat of a “concept album,” but thats not what the original intentions was. But [now] I guess you can kinda say that.

J: Cool. So how has the tour been with MKTO?

B: They’re great! Really cool, chill bunch of guys. It’s been fun so far; crowds been great. We’re just enjoying ourselves.

J: Has their been a favorite show for you yet that you guys have played with them on the tour?

B: I loved Portland. Portland’s so fun. And it was kinda unexpected because Portland, for a pop market, doesn’t seem like it would usually “pop off” as you’d expect. It’s a very indie market for a pop tour. I was very surprised how crazy Portland was so I think that was my favorite one.

J: What are some bands that influence you personally or some artists you guys look up to?

B: Let’s see… I’m actually gonna pull up Spotify right now and look for myself because theres never a point in time where I’m like “oh yeah so and so’s influencing me specifically.” There’s just a lot of obvious stuff that I select and I kinda gain things from. I’m really enjoying the new Broods track “Mother and Father;” great song. Love the new Magic Man album; really cool. Their keys sounds on there, very similar to some of the patterns on our EP, kinda cool and fun to hear. Love RAC, I love RAC.

J: Cool! If you guys could tour with one band or just an artist in general, who would you guys wanna tour with?

B: Thats a good one! I guess I’m just saying “reach for the stars” or “go big or go home.” But I say Coldplay. That would be the overall big one.

J:That would be pretty epic, Coldplay, that would be an epic tour right there.

B: Oh it would!

J: So when you guys come see me here in florida you guys are playing at the House Of Blues [in downtown Disney]. I was wondering if you guys had any time planned to go to Disney World?

B: You know its funny, we actually just went to Disneyland for the first time. But I’m gonna be honest Disney World is my favorite. They have Epcot! I just drink around the world. And its inexpensive! I would love to go there.

J: So if Epcot is you favorite [park], whats is your favorite ride all together?

B: Favorite ride? I think we all collectively, minus one member, like Space Mountain. It’s just so fun and kind of a rush, your in the dark and too fun.

J: I have to say, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is probably one of my favorites.

B: Oh nice! It’s good. And honestly the Toy Story Ride is so fun! I could ride that all day.

J: Yes! I’d have to agree on that one, except for the wait, the wait time for that ride is always like 2 hours.

B: You know whats crazy about that? The one in Disneyland, even though its the same ride, the wait times about a half an hour.

J: That’s crazy, every time I’ve ever been it’s always been like a two hour wait, so I’m like “forget that I’m not going.”

B: Oh yeah [Laughs].

J: What is your favorite song to play live, which gets the most crowd interaction?

B: Well we play a song called “We’ll Be Fine” live. There’s a section of the songs where there’s group vocals and we go “Hey!”and then we go “Ho!” and we kinda split the crowd in half and make one half of the crowd do the “Heys! one half do the “Hos!” It’s just something that we do that kinda gains good participation with the crowd. And when we do that in Orlando, I’m sure you’ll be like “Oh yeah.”

J: Do you have any pre-show rituals you do as a band before you guys go on stage?

B: We used to be super neurotic about that. I think over time we kinda grew into ourselves. I feel like all of us used get nervous a little bit and have to set ourselves up and do thee warm ups and stuff. And after a while, not that it became unnecessary but, we’ve kinda came to know ourselves a little better. It varies from day to day.

J: [Facebook Fan Question]: What made you decide to make the right choice and play Fender guitars. 

B: [Laughs] Well we do like Fender. I like the way Fenders play and been a big fan of them for a long time. So, I guess it’s kinda why we typically use fender. We like the way the sound on the record. And it just kinda fell into that its not just planned like “Oh yeah fender sponsored us for like a million dollars!” [Laughs] I wish. They’re so versatile and you just get “what you want” out of a Fender guitar.

J: [Facebook Fan Question]: Do you guys have any inside jokes in the band? And if so, what’s the story behind the band’s best inside joke

B: I think one of the best ones is actually our publishing name as a band. It’s probably one of the best inside jokes but I can’t tell you. It’s stupid but I can’t say what is is. [Laughs] It’s great. It’s ridiculous.

J: [Facebook Fan Question]: If you could have any of the thirty one flavors of Baskin Robbin at this very moment, which would it be? 

B: Ohh I’ve have so many good flavors that I lost count. I don’t know, right now, it seems weird, but having a Banana Split sounds good. I’m not sure if thats an actual flavor, I just really want a banana split [laughs].

J: [Laughs] Thanks again for your time! Is there anything else you’d like to say to your fans?

B: Just check out the EP, you can grab it on iTunes and Spotify and come out to a show!

J: Awesome. See you guys next week!


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