Breakups aren't easy -- but sometimes they're for the better. That seems especially true since the abrupt disbanding (and subsequent hiatus) of Hey Monday last year after West Palm-born-and-raised singer Cassadee Pope decided to pursue a solo career, leaving the band's future uncertain.
Former bandmates and brothers -- guitarist Mike Gentile and bassist Chris Gentile -- are moving on for now, regrouped with a new project of their own, a rock act they've dubbed Rescue Kid. For the past nine months, the fivesome of South Florida natives -- rounded out by guitarist Eddie Castineira, drummer Nicky Cedeno, and vocalist Armando Soler -- have been hard at work building a band from "the ground up," writing songs, practicing, and recording in Miami. So far, they've composed six songs featuring a sound they call "melodic rock."
"Our music might not be original [in genre], but we do have something that a lot of music lacks these days: honesty," Castineira recently told New Times. "The best thing about this band and the music is that it has substance. We write our own music, our own melodies. It was also important for us to have a real raw rock sound. Real guitars, real amps, real drums, real vocals."
Although there's no record deal in the works or plans to release an album in the foreseeable future, live music will be the band's focus for the next few months. With the help of John Wylie, guitarist for Florida metal band Old Habits and founder of Fort Lauderdale's Eulogy Recordings, Rescue Kid organized its first official "all ages" show happening this Friday at Propaganda in Lake Worth, where it'll be hitting the stage with Wellington's Break Blossom, Orlando's Bad Wolf, and West Palm Beach's American Photo Club.
The October 5 show is a focused attempt to "get South Florida bands heard," said Castineira. "[These days] every local show is too costly, and there aren't enough decent bands anymore to draw enough people. We want to try and bring back the local music scene how it used to be eight to ten years ago. [We're hoping this show could] spark a fire."
We spoke with Mike Gentile about moving on from Hey Monday, growing up listening to Blink-182, and why he hates band names.
New Times: From Hey Monday to Rescue Kid. Tell us about that evolution.
Mike Gentile: Simply put, last summer [2011] it was time for Hey Monday to work on a new record.
But that didn't happen...
The band's vocalist [West Palm's Cassadee Pope] was, and still is, extremely driven and passionate about reaching superstardom and felt it was in her best interest as a musician to [pursue a solo career]. Since that happened, working on new music with a new band has been an incredible growing and learning experience for me, personally. It's really exciting to move forward. Hey Monday was an unbelievable life experience, and I'm grateful, but it didn't really happen naturally with that band. It was surreal. Everything happened so fast. It blew up. There was no time to think. Now I'm at a point with music where I can do me. I can write music that I want to write and do what I want to do. No influences other than the guys in this band. I can start over.
When did you decide to start working on new music?
It has been in the works since last December but didn't officially become Rescue Kid until about a month ago.
