Cadillac Rock Box

Cadillac Rock Box not only won the voting for opening BlocktoberFest, they DOMINATED. - HiBall Events

Putting the heavy back in heavy metal, not only does Cadillac Rock Box have a cool name, they pick up where Black Label Society left off. - Jim Dunlop Music

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"Putting the HEAVY back in heavy metal! Cadillac Rock Box not only do they have a cool name, they pick up where BLS left off." - Jim Dunlop Music

By Lindsey Laing
Photo courtesy of W.A. Pratt

Members of Cadillac Rock Box – (left to right) Jeff Erickson, Matt Wilde, Greg Slader and Pascual Banuelos.
The rock ‘n’ roll band Cadillac Rock Box has its roots firmly planted in a military background.

Back in 2003, Jeff Erickson’s band was looking for a second guitarist. When Matt Wilde showed up to audition, not only was Erickson blown away by his musical prowess, the two found out they had something in common. While stationed overseas during their time in the Army, both had attended the same concert in Mannheim, Germany, without knowing it.

‘‘We were there at the same time, no less than 50 feet from each other. We didn’t know each other. But, we must have bumped into each other that day. We must have. After we realized that, that brotherhood, that bond was made right there,” remembered Erickson.

The pair wrote a song very personal to the lead singer together. ‘‘I found out my dad had passed away while I was deployed. Matt and I wrote the song called,‘‘January” about that,” said Erickson.

Comprised of bassist Pascual Banuelos, drummer Greg Slader, guitarist Matt Wilde and lead singer Jeff Erickson, Cadillac Rock Box is focused on cranking out ‘‘an arena rock show every time we play.” The band’s mantra is ‘‘This dream we live is not life, it's Rock and Roll.“

Now based out of Alexandria, Va., each band member is originally from a different part of the U.S. Yet, Erickson maintains that they are truly ‘‘family.”

‘‘Across the board, we come from a lot of different styles of music,” said Erickson, outlining their influences. The band’s sound is heavily driven by bands like Dream Theater, a progressive rock band, Alice in Chains, the darker side of the Seattle grunge rock of the ‘90s and heavy metal godfathers like Anthrax and Pantera. The name Cadillac Rock Box is actually taken from an Anthrax song by the same name.

With veterans in the band, Cadillac Rock Box feels connected to service members. The band members understand the sacrifices made by the men and women who serve and strive to remember those sacrifices. Passionate about their military connection and proud of their strong military fan base, portions of their Web site and MySpace page are dedicated to honoring the soldiers, sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen who serve.

‘‘We are popular with the music fans of all ages, along with a steadily growing fan base to include a lot of U.S. military across the area. We were voted “Fans Choice Winner“ for Blocktoberfest at RFK Stadium this past October by overwhelming support from our brothers and sisters in arms,” said lead singer Erickson, who also manages the band. Seventy-five percent of the votes the band received were from military service members.

The band’s music has been billed as ‘‘aggressive, yet easily digestible heavy rock.“ The tracks that can be downloaded on their Web site include, ‘‘Rain,” ‘‘What I See,” and ‘‘Hail Mary,” and represent the range of the band.

‘‘We’re such a cohesive unit,” said Erickson. ‘‘Matt Wilde used to practice six or seven hours a day. All of our new music, he’s written. Every time we play shows, you just see mouths drop. Our bassist, Pascual, is a rock bassist. He just came into the audition and rocked it, so we hired him on the spot. Greg came around, and he just nailed his audition.”

Erickson affirms that the Cadillac Rock Box ‘‘dream tour” would include a show in Baghdad for the troops.

‘‘We all have friends over there, my nephew is over there,” he said. ‘‘We would love to play for the soldiers over there. Because of what they do, we can do this. Guys can ride into combat with (our music). I would love to have some bombs flying over Afghanistan with ‘‘Hail Mary” playing in the background.”

See Cadillac Rock Box play in Washington, D.C., Sunday, Dec. 16 at the Rock and Roll Hotel in the 2d Round of the BoDog Battle of the Bands. For more information, visit their Web site at www.cadillacrockbox.com. The band will release their self-titled CD on Dec. 29. - The Bolling Aviator

By Katie Dolac / Culpeper Star Exponent
Published: August 10, 2007
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Metal has no bigger fans than United States military personnel. If this is not a proven fact, it should be.

Maybe it's just a crazy theory, but when whole squads of young men are forced to coexist and bond by shooting big guns, driving tanks and training for war it generates a lot of pent-up testosterone, which for some reason is symbiotic with childlike appreciation for bands like Metallica, Pantera, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath and Type O Negative.

Given the fact that two of Cadillac Rock Box's members are former military and considering the mad military love the D.C.-based metal band receives, only serves to strengthen the theory: the military knows metal.

"We're just a bunch of music fans makin' music," lead vocalist Jeff Erickson said during a telephone interview.

The band's major influences come from the late '80s and early '90s heavy metal days of ZZ Top, Metallica, Pantera, Life of Agony and Anthrax, though "We don't really write like that," Erickson said. However, people often tell him CRB's sound resembles Life of Agony.

CRB calls its sound "aggressive, yet easily digestible rock."

"Because of the way we write," Erickson said. "We write songs that people can relate to, and songs they can sing along to."

"We do have light stuff for the ladies," he added.

Cadillac Rock Box headlines Culpeper Rock Academy's MetalFest 2007 (the first of what owner Keith MacDonald hopes will be a long line of metal festivals) at In-Motion Sport and Dance Complex in Warrenton tonight. Culpeper's Revenent, Rath and Eclypsio are also in the line-up along with four other popular area head banging bands.

CRB has deep military roots. Erickson was medically discharged in 2001 after 12 years enlisted in the Army. Guitarist Matt Wilde served four years in the Army and the rest of the foursome is affiliated with the military through friends and family. The group's manager Erica Crisson, of New York, is a 9/11 survivor.

"We all have friends and family over there (overseas)," Erickson said.

It is for that very reason, Erickson said, CRB often offers free admission to service members.

"They do what they do, so we can do what we do. I can't thank them enough for that," Erickson said.

"Had it not been for the military I would not have this band," he added. "I have a friendship and brotherhood with these guys."

Military brotherhood sparked a pivotal friendship between CRB's founding members Erickson and Wilde. The two bonded over a cigarette break during practice for a band called Gone Missing.

"We started talking about being stationed in Germany, and started talking about the same Metallica concert," Erickson said. "We chewed some of the same mud over there and didn't even know it. It was like talking to a brother."

When Gone Missing fell apart the two "brothers" went separate ways and reunited as Cadillac Rock Box in 2005. They jammed for a while, finally rounding out their sound with drummer Greg Slader and bassist Pascual Banuelos in 2006.

"I've been in a lot of bands my whole life, but this is absolutely the best band I've ever been in," Erickson paused, "cohesive-wise, brother-wise, family-wise. … We're like a family."

Despite not yet having a full-length album (work on CRB's first album is complete and the self-titled CD is due out in late fall or early winter), CRB has made some major headway in the industry.

In addition to building a solid military following in northern Virginia and southern Maryland, the group recently beat out more than 600 area bands for a spot on the BLOCKtoberfest line-up at RFK Stadium Oct. 6 (sponsored by DC101, Hot 99.5, Bud Light and HiBall Events). CRB's MySpace.com page averages between 300 and 500 plays a day, and the band even has nine street teams scattered across the country - from Arizona to Baltimore, with three up-and-coming chapters in Dallas, Portland, Ore., and Seattle. CRB has also opened for big names, like Deep Purple, Flaw, Life of Agony and Vince Neil of Motley Crew.

"We've been working our butts off," Erickson said, adding that tonight marks CRB's 92nd show in 14 months. That's an average of 6 or 7 shows a month.

"We feed off the crowd that we're playing in front of," Erickson said. "When you look at a band like Pearl Jam, you see how they capture the crowd. That's what we live for. That's what we want to do. No matter if it's 10 people or 10,000 people, you're going to get an arena show. That's just how we run. … This is what the fan deserves."

Katie Dolac can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 138 or kdolac@starexponent.com - Culpeper Star Exponent