Scroungin’ Around with ParrotFish!
The School of ParrotFish
No one is ready for the summer season to come to an end, so let's keep the summer vibe going through up-and-coming band ParrotFish’s discography and new EP ‘Scroungin’ Around’!
“We came up with the name ParrotFish when we were in high school,” Joe Cadrecha, the band’s guitarist said, “we were playing a local Battle of the Bands and we needed a name by the end of the week, and we didn't have one. Our first drummer and I were at the Florida Aquarium, and there's like a parrot fish exhibit. And we thought it would be a cool band name - it's a super cool fish, we're from Florida, it kind of fits! So that's kind of why it just stuck.”
Matty Rodrigo, singer, writer, and bassist, Conor Lynch, writer and singer, and Joe Cadrecha, guitarist, attended high school together in Tampa, Florida, where they formed the band in 2017. The group loved the sound that was being made from their collaboration and decided to make their way to Belmont University together in Nashville, Tennessee for college and the constantly growing music scene.
“We met Trace Chiappe, our drummer, our first day at Belmont, and from there it just took off,” Cadrecha reminisced. “The band really took its shape, and ever since then, it’s been the only thing we want to do. We moved off campus into a house together during our sophomore year of college, and once we graduated we knew we wanted to keep making music! We still live together, building up our presence more and more by playing live shows all the time, which we love.”
Living Life Live
By playing consistently around the Belmont University campus and Nashville in general, the band began to build up a following, and soon began booking more and more gigs.
“We played a lot of house shows,” Cadrecha laughed. “A lot of frat parties, dive bars, anything to get our name out there. Touring around the south, returning to Florida, and rotating the state of Texas really helped to build up our following. Constantly playing live is what seems to get our name out there; we could really feel that we were going to make it as a band during one of these house shows when the crowd started singing one of our original songs back to us. It was like our ‘Eureka!’ moment.’”
“What’s so awesome about our constant booking of house shows, is that it brings us back to our roots. House shows always have this high energy to them, that you can’t really feel at a proper venue. At a house show, everyone is up close and personal to the music, there isn’t a stage or a properly fitted schedule. I think we like the chaos of performing freely is what I’m getting at,” Cadrecha laughed.
As the band continues to see a climb in listeners on streaming platforms, they’re also booking venues, locations, and events that they have only attended as fans or listeners themselves in the past, which can feel pretty surreal with festival after festival lining up in the remaining good weather.
“We played Bonnaroo this past year, a festival that we used to attend for fun before we were booked, and that was a phenomenal experience,” Cadrecha reminisced. “We played the first day of the festival, so we got to stay and actually enjoy the festival in its entirety - the food, the activities, and the other performers. Playing a festival that we've been going to and have always loved was really cool. We played at Dartmouth University’s Green Key festival for the first time this year as well and that was an amazing experience. That was definitely one of our favorite shows we played, and Peach Fest in New York was out of this world. Outdoor festivals get us going just about as much as house shows, maybe not quite the same energy, but we really feed off that exciting and interactive crowd.”
Uniquely ParrotFish
Growing up in Florida, the band was frequently inspired by island music, reggae, and specific bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers. They took the music each individual member of the band listened to growing up and worked off the sounds they were familiar with, creating something uniquely ParrotFish.
“We like to incorporate a lot of different styles, throwing in funk, reggae, classic rock, etc.; in college, we really started to use what we were learning in school and our sound evolved even more,” Cadrecha explained. “We like to incorporate everything into our sound. Matty and Conor are the primary two who write lyrics for the band, using life experiences to write in different themes. We definitely have a lot more to say than when we first started in high school. We didn’t have a lot to write about yet, but we’re older now and we’ve done more, there’s more to think about and more we want to express now. We have a much broader range of influences today than when we first started.”
Dedicated to not fitting into one specific sound, the band has decided to release their newest EP, ‘Scroungin’ Around’, in six-week segments.
“Every six weeks we’re releasing a new song, that will compile our six-track EP, ‘Scroungin’ Around’, fully available for listening and download in October,” Cadrecha excitedly revealed. “We rented an AirBnB for four days in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, and studio-fied it with our engineer so that we could write and record this newest project, and it came out better than we could have ever imagined. There’s a little bit of everything in it – our first single in this release lineup, ‘The Implication’ has actually performed much better than we thought.”
Surprisingly, ‘The Implication’ wasn’t originally going to be on the EP, but their manager heard the potential the song held and urged them to add it to their release lineup.
“We were originally just going to record five songs for ‘Scroungin’ Around’, and ‘The Implication’ wasn't even one we were super stoked on, but our manager said the demo was really good, and asked us to actually record it for the EP if we had time,” Cadrecha explained. “The recording ended up coming out really well, and we decided to include it. Once we released it, it was pretty quickly added to fan-made playlists, and it’s overall been doing really well. I guess it just goes to show you never really know which ones are going to do well, we hope each release continues to steadily climb above the last one.”
There isn’t one sound or genre that dominates over another in their upcoming EP, ‘Scroungin’ Around’, rather the band wanted to span as many genres and inspirations as possible.
“‘The Implication’ is straight-up rock, ‘Cold Inside’ (featuring Callaway Martin) has those essential summer-pop vibes, they all fall into a live-track theme, but other than that they’re all very instrumentally different,” Cadrecha smiled. “Listeners can definitely expect a broad range of genres on ‘Scroungin’ Around’. I’m most excited for ‘I’ve Been’, it’s our second to last single from the EP to be released and I have really high hopes for it. It’s really groovy!”
As of right now, ‘Hitchhiking’, ‘The Implication’, ‘Cold Inside’, ‘Secrets of the Mind’, and ‘I’ve Been’ are all available for listen and download on all platforms today. The last and final song of the EP is called ‘Stay’ and will be available to add to your playlists on October 5th.
According to Cadrecha, the band hopes to continue writing, recording, and playing new songs together for a while.
“We’re a family at this point – we live together, we travel in a van together, we’re constantly making new amazing memories. And I don’t think that’s going to stop any time soon,” Cadrecha promised.
You can look for ParrotFish’s new EP, ‘Scroungin’ Around’ everywhere in October, and preserve your summer vibes with a new soundtrack to life.
