We recently reviewed Californian 4 piece PlayFight’s debut EP Mutt, which you can read here. We loved the EP so much we got in contact with singer Kyle Castellani to find out all about the band.
Who, and what are PlayFight? PlayFight is Kyle Castellani on vox and guitar, Matt Buehner on lead guitar, Ross Garcia on bass and Chris Munson on drums. We’re a 4-piece band based out of San Diego and we’ve been together for less than a year!
You’ve just released your debut EP Mutt, Tell us about how it was written? The writing process for this record has been going down long before the band was even formed. Matt and I met in 2010 and we’ve been jamming together since. We accumulated a bunch of song ideas that we started recording demos for out of Matt’s apartment and we sent them to Ross and Chris to see if they were in to it. Shortly after, we all started jamming together. With only a hand-full of practices, we played our first show and started planning the EP immediately following the show. We definitely have hit the ground running with this entire project, but for each of us, it’s been a long time coming.
Where and who was it recorded with? We recorded at Big Fish Studios in San Diego, which is an awesome and extremely laid-back place. It was home for 2 days and the owner Paul is the chillest guy on earth. Thankfully our guitarist Matt is a recording engineer and he took the reigns on that, but our buddy Keita Ishibashi recorded the album and acted as our producer for this one. He earned the nickname “The Sound Sorcerer.”
Funniest or dumbest thing that happened during the recording? Damn, that’s a tough one because we’re all pretty funny and pretty dumb ! Haha! I’d say having our mascot Johann (the dog on the cover of the EP) at the studio the whole time was just constant entertainment on all fronts. I’m pretty sure the studio owner Paul fed Johann something like 15 chicken hot dogs the first day of recording… Needless to say, it was a shit show that night and the next day of tracking! Thankfully he’s the most well-behaved dog ever and would at least take his business outside.
What is your favourite track on the EP? My personal favorite is Big Brother. I just think the arrangement is the most interesting and anyone I show always ends up walking away singing it. Enemy is a close 2nd.
What are your biggest influences for the EP and the band? For this EP we definitely looked to the past a lot for our main influences. We wanted to track something that was real and not so manufactured. Bands Like Led Zeppelin and The Band had a very raw approach that we miss in today’s music and wanted to capture ourselves, but we’re all also influenced by more current stuff like Incubus, Karnivool and Tool. Between all of us there are too many influences to mention.
Are you planning any singles/videos from the EP? Definitely both. We’re mostly focused on tour at the moment.
What are the touring plans for PlayFight? We got dates lined up through all of November! Check them out here.
Kyle, are you still going to be releasing solo material? I always have songs waiting in the wings. PlayFight is gonna be my main focus from here on out, but you can definitely expect solo stuff too.
What is on the collective PlayFight iPod at the moment? I wanna say everything. We’re stoked to tour and spend enough time in one bus together to share all of our favorites with eachother… Here’s a short list: Tool, Lamb of God, Incubus, Karnivool, Guns N’ Roses, Blink 182, Rage Against The Machine, Jeff Buckley, Stevie Wonder, AC/DC, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Enya.
What will the future hold for PlayFight? Tours, music videos, live videos, pictures, a FULL-LENGTH ALBUM and Grammy’s… Not necessarily in that order.
PlayFight – Facebook|Twitter|ReverbNation|iTunes link for the EP
