Wait and Shackle
Written by: Cait Elizabeth - April 2019
Edited by: Travis Ryan
INTRODUCTIONS:
Wait and Shackle is a four-piece progressive math rock band that weaves dreamy melodies through unconventional time signatures. Winning their fans’ hearts with high-energy performances, gorgeous music, and captivating light shows, Wait and Shackle simply puts on a hell of a show. Comprised of Dave Lundari (guitar/vocals), Christian Seda (guitar/vocals), Quinn McCormack (drums),
and Kevin Rinn (bass/vocals), the band decided on the name as a nod to their commitment and patience while waiting to play music together again. In 2013 Dave, Seda, and Kevin started playing together briefly, with Seda surprising everyone by jumping on drums. The trio played a quick set together as And More TBA at an open mic in Bayshore before life got in the way and Dave moved back to California. Shortly after that, Seda fell ill and planned on moving down to Florida to be in the care of his family. Before he left they recorded their first demo to capture what they’d written so far, and Seda ended up hospitalized for about a year following a struggle with diverticulitis. While traveling together, Dave and Kevin came across a baby ‘Lowki Dog’ on a cattle farm in San Diego. Tucking him into their truck ‘Big Red’, they set sail with the intentions of kidnapping Seda from Florida. Unfortunately, they jumped the gun on their rescue mission and Seda was just not healthy enough to return to New York yet. After a few visits and some more recovery time they reunited, played some shows, and settled in a home in Hicksville. In the following year they wrote and recorded The Cantilever EP and adopted Wait and Shackle as their name. Quinn came into the picture in a rest stop in Kansas on tour. Seda transitioned back to guitar, and on a three-month cross country tour promoting The Cantilever, he was announced as their full-time drummer. Upon returning home they began their next project, Happy 26th Birthday, along with their future full-length record, When We Get There.
TOURS & SHOWS
Wait and Shackle has traversed a good portion of the country, which isn’t surprising considering they all are such free spirits. Collectively the band members have played in 27 states. Over the course of the band’s career they have gone down the east coast, across the southern border, up and down the west coast, and then back across to New York. Their most recent tour brought them to SXSW Music Festival in Austin, TX. They played a whole host of shows in the Midwest this time around, with 15 out of 17 shows being in cities they’d never been to before.
Wait and Shackle shared that March 2019’s Hikes Fest in Austin, TX was one of their favorite shows to date. After planning their whole spring tour around the festival, they were crushed to find out the lineup was full. Less than a week before the festival they received a personal text asking if they could still make it. “We were so stoked to play with one of our favorite bands and so many other talented groups,” Kevin explained.
Another memorable adventure was a mansion party in LA in early 2017. With just under 500 guests confirmed on the Facebook event and another thousand marked interested, they prepared for a wild night. What they couldn’t prepare for was the mansion owner backing out hours before doors. With musicians, artists, vendors, instructors, and dancers all in limbo, a warehouse was procured and the show went on! The host—Wait and Shackles’ friend Noodles—may have taken a hit financially after that, but he (and the show) will go down in infamy.
In 2018, the band took first place in Battle of The Bands. “This experience was very humbling. To be amidst some of the top names in the music world such as Fender, Zildjian, and D'addario was a true honor,” Kevin shared. Their success there has led them to new avenues to create and share their music.
INSPIRATION & INFLUENCES
Seda’s musical influences include Fall of Troy, At the Drive-In, and The Mars Volta. He tries to distill the energy and emotion he loves from the artists and incorporate it into his music. You can hear the parallels between those styles and Wait and Shackle’s with the balance between softer melodies and heavier crashes and the shimmery quality featured on some of their tracks. Dave grew up in the skate-punk scene but picked up a lot of Seda’s influences when he was learning guitar from him. His style is therefore influenced by Thomas Erak, Guthrie Govan, and Rick Reinhart. Kevin started as a guitar player, so that bleeds into his bass playing techniques. He approached learning guitar by studying Slash, Hendrix, and Django Reinhardt, but aims for a “late bebop hard bop jazz era with a modern Wooten/Claypool flair” on bass. Quinn’s show-going career started in the ska scene. Bands like Algernon Cadwallader, Floral, and Hikes are counted among his influences and share a similar style to the band as a whole.
Seda sends shout outs to Karma Versa, Time King, and It Came From Space. Also to his girlfriend Kaelyn who has created a lot of Wait and Shackle’s media.
Kevin sends shout outs to Jesse Davidson for always patching up their gear, to Oscar (of Karma Versa), JoJo Godfrey (of MJT), and The Most from CT for being outstanding and inspiring performers, and to Doc Scherr and Small Settlement Records for always having their back. Thanks go out to Jordon Muller for being “the best friend a touring band can have (other than Lowki Dog)”. Without the support of the promoters, fans, friends, and show-goers from Long Island, Wait and Shackle wouldn’t have the success or aspirations they do. Kevin mentions Josh McKinley and CALLS as “doing some great work in bringing quality touring acts to Long island” and credits the guys in High Bluff “for shaping me into the musician I am”.
“A little piece of encouragement is go and play live music. Performing live has helped me conquer so many obstacles in my life and is my most prominent outlet for any emotions I have going on at that time. It’s the only place I can get out of my own head and its actually become a meditative practice for me,” Kevin recommends based on his personal experience with music.
“One life lesson I have learned is to always push yourself to do the things you want most out of life because in an instant it can be taken. My solitude for over a year with my medical problem taught me a lot about inner growth and to appreciate everything out of life. ”