Interview with Cruise Control

Who: Cruise Control
What: Revive at Five
Where: Old Town Pavilion, Pocatello, ID - map
When: Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 5:00 pm
How Much: Free !!

I first caught up with Cruise Control in March of this year, a duo of guitar and keyboards based in Pocatello, ID. This week, Cruise Control opens up the weekly concert series, "Revive At Five," hosted by the Bannock County Civitans.


Our genre is really difficult to describe - it's a fusion between folk, punk rock, and rap with a few other influences that vary in each of our songs. We have 2 songs that people most know us for: our song "The Vain and the Mundane" really exemplifies our style with it's chill verses and harmonic melodies, and instrumentally it really shows off our influences with in how we transition from our folk rock influences to a heart pounding punk rock sounding rap section. Our other song that people know us for is "Lori's Song." It is most well known for the recording we did with it where I tracked a really pretty string section and conga drum pattern to compliment my piano melody and Sam's guitar noodling. People say they really enjoy our originality and especially our harmonies which seem almost Simon-and-Garfunkle-esque as we're told.

I (Cam Lewis) sing lead vocals and rap as well as play the piano. Sam Garner sings backup vocals and plays acoustic guitar. We've had this lineup since May of 2008 when we first got together. However, it's undergoing a change right now; we are adding a new bassist named Matt Schmuck, and we're really excited about the different musical aspects he brings to the table.

We both live in Pocatello and gig around as often as we can book shows, mostly at local coffee shops, which we enjoy.

We've mostly been playing coffee shops around town such as Mocha Madness and the College Market, but we've also played at the ISU Ballroom, and in November 2008 we played at The Icon opening for Jeremy Enigk.

We really love the music scene in Pocatello especially a few of the other local bands here. We really have a lot of love and respect for such as Greyhouse Effect and Nyr Lif. All of our dealings with local bands here though have really been great. We love to be a part of the great music that happens here. We also really like the support all the local bands get from our friends Jake and Aaron Ball from Ball Brothers Music. They are really great guys and I know those guys do a lot to help out local music in this area.

We have an EP recorded that we sell at every show for $3. It's got 6 songs on it including a really unique folk cover of a punk rock song called "The Adventure" by Angels and Airwaves.

I always respond to anything anyone sends me on MySpace. I love getting messages or comments from people, and I really appreciate it. Our link is www. myspace. com/cruisecontrol76. Also, our band email address is cruise_control@rocketmail.com, if they don't use MySpace.