The Rescues

Have you ever imagined that you could go to a concert and have it in a vegetarian restaurant? Well, that's where I was lucky enough to experience my first Rescues show, and it was at Club Passim. Passim is a well respected vegetarian restaurant that doubles a venue, kind of like a dinner and a show feel?

I caught The Rescues with their opener AM on the road on August 19th and was able to do an interview with the band afterwards. The Rescues are four singer songwriters who came together for a friend's wedding and have been playing music together ever since.

Since then, the band has released a full length album but due to the craziness of the music industry, have signed a new record deal and will be putting out some new music on that label soon. Even though they may not have some of their old material, they put on an amazing show! So many people told me stories at the show of just walking by the venue, hearing the sweet sounds of Kyler England, Adrianne Gonzalez, Gabriel Mann and Rob Giles and decided to come in and check it out. The live show that The Rescues produced blew me away and have definitely notched in a place in my music library.

I was able to sit down with the gang post performance and everything was on the table. Complete with lots of laughs and a family vibe with in the band, it's clear that this band is going places. Places that include going on headlining tours and having their music featured on shows like Drop Dead Diva and Grey's Anatomy to the new Jennifer Aniston film, Love Comes.

Being on the first night of this tour, how does it feel so far? Only being one show but there was a really great audience tonight?

Adrianne Gonzalez: Unbelievably unexpected and great.

Gabrielle Mann: The problem with shows like this one is that you play them and then you want to stay on the road forever.You can't stay on the road forever. It's a real problem. How could you have a show like that and not want to do this just all the time?

Have you ever played this small of a venue on a tour?

Kyler England: This is one of the smaller venues we have probably played as The Rescues for sure, but I mean they pack it in here so the vibe was great. I mean it's not really like a rock room but we're four singer songwriters and this is like that vibe right here so we thought it was the best place to make our debut in Boston.

Are there any cities that you're particularly excited about playing this tour? I mean I know you're pretty excited to play this one.

KE: I'm excited to play Atlanta.

GM:

AG: I've never played Annapolis.

Rob Giles: I've never even heard of it but it's crazy. I'm excited about that.

Have you explored the city at all? I mean, I know you've only been here for a night.

KE: We got lost in Roxbury last night. She(Adrianne) put it in the GPS. We were trying to find Harvard Square so we were like 'Let's put in the address of Club Passim' 47 Palmer Street, you know. She put it in but as Boston. So we get there, everything is boarded up, like there's been some avian flu epidemic or something.

GM: I really though it was the economy. I was like, wow!

I know a few of you went to Berklee School of Music. Did you know each other at the time? Is that how the band got together?

AG: I knew of Rob, Rob knew of me but we never actually hung out until after.

RG: It was like the Sharks and the Jets kind of thing. Straights and gays. (everyone laughs!) Of course I didn't know she was gay and I tried to hit on her but I was like wearing pleated pants and loafers at the time so I think she just walked in the other direction. No was the answer. That's not where the band started.

Where did it start?

RG: It started because we were invited to play at a wedding.

KE: It sounds so lame.

RG: It's not as lame as you would think. It was a beautiful wedding, the mayor of Los Angeles was there-

KE: In the Hollywood Hills

RG: It's gorgeous. After that, we started writing together and that was like a year and a half ago. It really started in November of 2008.

You guys talked about it before, but I know you guys were on Grey's Anatomy multiple times and Drop Dead Diva. How did that come about?

AG: People basically pitch our songs to people that put the songs in the show and so that's what happens. The people at Grey's Anatomy have now become big fans of ours and they've just been really great. The Drop Dead Diva thing is the same sort of thing.

KE: Yeah, it helps that we live in LA which is where all that happens.

AG: Yeah we know all of those people, they're our friends, that kind of thing.

How did it feel to hear your songs on that show?

RG: I've heard our song once.

KE: You haven't? OK, we'll find that for you online.

GM: This whole Drop Dead Diva thing is like a rumor I don't believe.

RG: It is a trip, I think every time to hear it. It feels like you're sort of an impostor. You're like 'what?!' It's so weird because we all literally two or three times a week hang out and watch Lifetime tv. You know, have some ice cream.

I know you guys released an album, your first album. I know because you guys signed with a new record label and everything that you can't use that material anymore. I don't really understand all of that yet but how would you describe that album and your new album maybe to people who haven't heard of you guys yet to try and pull them in?

GM: The stuff that we're playing live is pretty much brand new different material. Our audience, if they have heard of us at all before they come and see us, won't recognize a lot of the songs since we can't use songs that came out after January 2009. There are no recordings you can buy of that stuff except one song. There are enough songs in this set that are, that they can buy that existed. We're playing to an audience songs that are like ninety degrees from where we before. It's a lot to ask but there's a huge difference between the first record and the new material.

KE: What stayed the same is that we are still able to write these songs with a pop melody and obviously the vocals. The cool thing about this new album is that with Rob in the band now, he plays songs that now allow us to really create every sound that you hear in these songs on the record. Before on our other album, we hired a drummer, bass guitar player, electric but on this new record we play everything.

RG: We kind of made the band what we've wanted to be ourselves and we kind of talked about it.

I know you guys just played a benefit show a few weeks ago. Another name I know from it was Sara Barielles. Do you want to explain what it was for, I know it was close to heart.

KE: A friend of ours from Berklee had a traumatic brain injury and it's just a very very long recovery from last fall. So in LA, I was one of the organizers so The Rescues agreed to play and Sara Barielles played, a bunch of great artists and it was a blast. I mean everyone did short sets so it was really really fun. I don't know if you know this but Gabe produced Sara Bareilles first album.

GM: Before her first major label release. I discovered her, in other words. (everyone laughs!) She'd be nothing with out me!