Interview: Cabinet - Southern Brewers Festival, Chattanooga, TN (Aug 22, 2014)

In the bluegrass scene, there is one name that has been creating a stir, or buzz, lately: Cabinet. The six-piece group has honed in their sound through their love of music and, especially, playing music together. With a captivating repertoire of tunes spanning the fast-picking, foot-stomping tracks to melodic, harmonic tunes that will leave your head spinning, this talented group of musicians is continuously working their way up the totem pole, landing gigs at esteemed festivals such as Peach Music Festival, Lockn’ Festival and Catskill Chill Music Festival. On August 22, 2014, the band made their way down south to help Chattanooga’s Southern Brewers Festival celebrate its 20^th Anniversary. After a great set, despite the sweltering hot southern sun, I was fortunate enough to sit down with Mickey Coviello (guitar), Patrick “Pappy” Biondo (banjo) and Todd Kopec (fiddle) for a quick interview.

Ragin’ Randy: I’ve heard a lot about you guys in recent months, but I’m not real familiar with your story. Could one of you tell me a little bit about how you guys all met?

Mickey: Yeah, I grew up with the mandolin player (JP), and so did he [points to Patrick] because they are cousins. They have a big family, and they have family reunions every year, and they sing and dance and have a good time. But I went to school with [JP], and then, I think he graduated a year ahead of me from high school, and then I graduated, and we kind of just started playing music. He was on mandolin, and I was on open E tuning on like a 12-string acoustic guitar. Then, Pappy (Patrick) moved out here from Cleveland, Ohio, and we started doing these open mic nights at the River Street Jazz Café in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and that’s where we met. This guy [points to Todd], who was introduced to us by Dylan, our bass player, who was doing sound at the River Street Café, and he would just sit in and play bass with whoever wanted him to, so we had him sit in and play bass, and one night he was like, “Hey man, my friend Todd is here, and, you know, he plays fiddle…”

Patrick: Basically what it was is like, Mickey was playing guitar, JP was playing mandolin and I was playing banjo. We were thinking of starting a bluegrass band, and Todd was playing fiddle, you know, we need a fiddle player, Dylan played upright bass…

Mickey: Well, yeah, we weren't thinking of forming a bluegrass band, it just kind of just happened.

Patrick: Well, I mean, those kinds of instruments all go together, you know, like if Todd was a keyboard player or something, it might have been different, but it’s, like, fiddle, you know all the instruments kind of work together, so yeah, it just kind of made sense, and then later on, we decided to get a drummer into the group. Jamie was a local drummer for years, and that was about 2006 when the six of us were together as a unit.

Ragin’ Randy: Quite a story! [laughs] I really enjoyed Jamie’s drumming. He was definitely on point.

Patrick: Yeah, he’s a great drummer.

Ragin’ Randy: Well, that’s great. Thank you, that helps me get a much better idea of your background. I love those stories, especially when it just seems to come together so naturally.

Patrick: It was pretty organic, you know.

Ragin’ Randy: Definitely. So, tell me a little bit about your goals and ambitions as a band. All bands and artists want to be successful in their own way, so what does success mean to you?

Mickey: Success for me was getting paid to play music, whatever it was, you know? I never thought when I was in high school I’ll play in a band and make money doing it, you know, and then it just kind of happened. But, to me, we were successful when we first started playing shows for money. That’s me personally, that’s how I feel.

Todd: I would agree. I think making a sustainable living, you know.

Mickey: I mean, not saying that I’m, like, satisfied…

Ragin’ Randy: Right, you obviously always want to try and push it further.

Mickey: Sure, sure, and it kind of has happened, you know, steadily and organically.

Ragin’ Randy: Well, that’s a good way to think of it, you know, if you’re not necessarily satisfied but you feel that you’ve been successful, I would say that’s a good place to be in.

Mickey: Yeah.

Ragin’ Randy: So, you’ve said that everything’s happened so organically up to this point, but would you say that you are where you thought you would be at this point?

Mickey: Wow…

Patrick: I don’t think we ever thought much about how far it would go, you know, we’ve kind of been taking it on a yearly basis, you know? What’s going to happen this year? Where are we going to go this year? And we’ve been fortunate enough that it’s been building, you know, it’s been moving in a positive direction each year, which is why we keep doing it. And as far as your last question with goals and ambitions, I think, you know, to reach as many ears as possible, you know, who are willing and able to listen to our music. That’s a big part of it. As long as we keep playing in front of bigger crowds and trying to bring in more people, you know, the more people you get turned on to it, the easier it is to be successful.

Ragin’ Randy: You guys have Lockn’ and Catskill Chill coming up in the same weekend. You’ve got to be psyched to be on both of those lineups. How did you guys land those gigs? Is your manager working hard for you?

Mickey: Manager and booking agent, yeah.

Ragin’ Randy: Yeah, I met Billy briefly, and he seems like a good guy and a hard worker.

Mickey: Yes, he is, he works very hard.

Ragin’ Randy: Good, good. My degree is in Music Business, so I understand how hard those guys work. So, I’ve noticed you guys have been sharing stages with lots of different artists, both big and small. Do you approach a live show differently when you’re opening for a bigger act versus when you’re, say, co-headlining with another up-and-coming artist?

Patrick: I don’t think so, you know, a setlist… there’s definitely pre-though to the setlists, given the crowd, but as far as playing in front of bigger crowds, it’s almost easier. You know, we just came off of Peach Fest Thursday night, and there’s 7,000 people or something. That’s a lot of people, but it almost felt easier to get on stage than, you know, in a small bar room where everybody’s kind of tight and listening. So, you know, at that point, it’s just, like, get up and go, you know, hard drive it until the end of the show.

Ragin’ Randy: That’s interesting, because I, personally, don’t think I would feel that way [laughs].

Patrick: Well, there’s always the intention of keeping the set tight and keeping a good connection on stage, regardless what crowd it is.

Ragin’ Randy: Cool. Can you guys give me an idea of how much of your set is improvised and how much is planned?

Patrick: It’s probably 90% improvised.

Mickey: No, no.

Patrick: Well, we don’t rehearse, you know? We rarely rehearse for a show.

Ragin’ Randy: Well, what I mean is do you play the songs exactly how they are on the album?

Patrick: Not really.

Mickey: We leave a lot of room for improvisation.

Patrick: Yeah, or changing parts or trade-offs. We like to play with each other, musically.

Todd: We kind of stick to the form, but we improvise inside of the form, you know.

Ragin’ Randy: Umphrey’s McGee is well known for their signals on-stage while they’re improvising. Do you guys have anything like that or do you just work off of each other?

Mickey: No, just simple communication. Not, like, signals, but maybe a cue or a nod, maybe, or just a facial expression. Sometimes it happens without having to do that.

Todd: I’ve been interested in trying to do something like that for a while, but like Pappy said, we don’t have too many opportunities to rehearse. We’re usually, if we’re not hitting it hard, then we’re having some family time. But I do wonder how the signals would work for us.

Ragin’ Randy: It’s interesting, and UM even has silent mics on certain stages, so they can actually talk to each other, and the audience doesn’t hear.

Todd: That’s interesting!

Mickey: Oh, like an in-ear monitor? Yeah, yeah.

Todd: I like that idea.

Mickey: [leans in to voice recorder] If anyone wants to send us money so we can do that, please do [laughs].

Ragin’ Randy: Alright, one more question. I posted in the Cabinet Fans Facebook Group asking if anyone had any questions for the band, and I got a good one from Cabinet Fan Gina Paret. She asks if you intend to go back into the studio any time soon? She says, “Your studio recordings are on heavy rotation in our house, and we're looking forward to some new material.”

Mickey: We just finished a pretty serious studio session. It’s just, some things need to be rerecorded, and, you know, whatever, then it needs to get mixed and mastered. But there will be a studio recording at some point in the near future.

Ragin’ Randy: Alright, well, I really enjoyed your set, and thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me.

Patrick: Thank you, man.

Mickey: Thanks.

Todd: Thanks.