Written by Susie Salva
Do you have a survival plan in place? That’s the question that Cage9 proposes on their explosive new CD, “Survival Plan”. And they think they have the answer. Cage9, based in Los Angeles, is comprised of Panama transplants Evan Rodaniche and Gustavo Aued on guitars/vocals and bass respectively, LA native Jess Beltz on guitar and from Phoenix, AZ, Gordon Heckaman have put forth something somewhat of a conceptual album dealing with such a dilemma.
Cage9
The bands’ sound has the heaviness of Godsmack tempered with the memorable melodies of Buckcherry with a tinge of scream-0. Cage9 recorded two albums in 2008, an acoustic CD called, “For Amnesia”, which was finished in October of that year, and their latest project titled, “Survival Plan”. Both albums were released in Japan in January 2009 via Triple Vision Entertainment. This CD has an extensive repertoire including 15 gut wrenching tracks and two bonus songs.
Evan steers the project as the bands’ main song-scaper and master recording-guru who’s production and mixing skills have not only shaped Cage9’s unique sound but that of many other performers from Latin Grammy winners Los Rabanes, Atlantic Record’s upstarts Big City Rock, to Rolling Stone and Spin darlings The Willowz.
According to Rodaniche “Survival Plan”, delves into the idea that appears like all you hear about these days is talk of fear and what’s going to happen when the world self-destructs sometime in the very, very near future. Such sentiments can be heard on the lead track, “Comatose”, where war and impeding doom are expressed with a catchy chorus and memorable lyrics. “As am artist I felt it was my duty to accurately imitate life and compose an album or guide, if you will, on how to survive you own worst case scenario – random, mundane or impossible as it might be”. Their second track, “Worst Case Scenario”, deals with disaster and death again conjuring images of this looming doom. These songs are so expressive that they remain in your head for days on end.
A survival plan is what you would supposedly need to maximize your chances of making it out of any given unfortunate and or lethal situation intact. “Our theme icon is a play on the gas mask a universal sign. Many of these images are on the liner copy of the CD and the images center around one of us dressed in a tattered business suit performing everyday chores. This was to illustrate and at the same time poke fun at the fear that we are constantly barraged with on news reports and the Internet”, explains Evan.
“I based a lot of my lyrics on the concept although the whole album doesn’t necessarily reflect the theme, there are hidden clues and meanings to yes, formulate your very own survival plan – should your existence stumble upon any fateful twists or turns…during 70 or so minutes you might happen to be listening to this album anyway”, says Rodaniche.
On the track, “2:30 and Anxious”, Evan originally sang some falsetto vocals on his low verse vocal line but the he decided it might work better with someone whose voice was naturally high – a girl. Mandy (Cursed Lullaby) was his first pick because even though she mostly does different levels of guttural barking on much of her bands album, Evan has heard her softer, gentler, non-metal side.
The track “Horsey” has a galloping, bouncy feel of it and you can hear Evan’s voice intro into it within the first few bars. He was inspired to write a song about the relationship the denizens of Los Angeles have with the pilots of ‘ghetto birds” – do they really care about us?? Or is it just big brother watching over the sheep?? Whatever, sometimes you want (helicopters) to just go away. If you listen carefully, the percussion sound in the verse is a helicopter blade chopping up the smoggy LA skyline.
Cage9 has written an album, “El Motivo”, which was available in both English and Spanish. “It felt like the right time to do something in Spanish – it was definitely fun and we do have plans to do some more stuff in Spanish in the future”. Cage9’s albums are available for sale online at CDBaby.com and digital stores like iTunes. For all things Cage9 go to: www.Cage9.com, www.myspace.com/cage9 or www.twitter.com/cage9.
