Rain City Drive, hailing from Florida, is a post hardcore ensemble, made up of Matt McAndrew
(vocals), Colin Vieira (bass), Weston Richmond (guitar), Felipe Sanchez (guitar), and Zachary
Baker (drums) that has been growing more popular in the scene by the minute. After a name
and sound refresh in 2020, Rain City Drive has been consistently putting out music that blurs
genre lines and spans over various audiences. With relatable lyrics and refreshing, rock-filled
instrumentals, the band’s music goes above and beyond expectations. Their debut album under
their new moniker, To Better Days, caught audiences’ attentions with hits like “Talk to a Friend”
and “Heavier.” Their self-titled 2022 release garnered attention from SiriusXM Octane and
various songs made it into notable editorial playlist rotations such as New Noise and All New
Rock. Their touring experience is extensive, supporting bands like Our Last Night and playing
alongside From Ashes to New, Memphis May Fire, and Oxymorons.
With no intentions of slowing down, in 2023, Rain City Drive released a deluxe version of their
self-titled album and most recently, a brand new single, “Frozen,” that we were able to sit down
and talk to singer Matt McAndrew about.
McAndrew explains that the song is about getting stuck on the wrong person and having a hard
time letting go of them. Written with Erik Ron, who previously worked with the band on songs
like “Blood Runs Cold” and “Cutting It Close,” “Frozen” bridges the gap between sounds and
allows the band to lean more into the pop elements they have been chasing after. When asked
about the song’s similarity to some of the band’s previous work, McAndrew nods his head and
explains when all five members agree on a sound, it’s best to just run with it. While the entire
band listens to different genres of music and wants to explore the possibilities of trying
something new, they prefer to rely on something they know, but also sprinkle in something new
where they can. “Frozen” is the perfect example of that as it has a classic Rain City Drive sound
but pushes the limits by adding a pop edge. And the song’s success speaks for itself as it has
over 1 million listens on Spotify and is played among rock radio stations such as SiriusXM
Octane, where the single debuted. In fact, McAndrew confirms that there was already supposed
to be another single released, but “Frozen”’s success has kept their focus on building up that
momentum.
To find new ways to continue the hype and attention of the single, McAndrew explains the band
was toying with the idea of doing a Christmas cover and ultimately landed on this reimagined
version of “Frozen” due to the song’s overall icy vibe and the more obvious connotations of its
name. To achieve the reimagined version’s festive sound, the new arrangement features sleigh
bells and clean acoustic guitar. When jokingly asked about writing an entirely original Christmas
album, McAndrew laughs and tries to brainstorm what he could possibly write the songs about.
He eventually lands on leaving that endeavor to the Christmas pros and moves onto talking
about exploring more reimagined versions of songs in the future. Rain City Drive released a
deluxe edition of their Self-Titled record this year that included six reimagined versions of songs
off the original album including popular tracks like “Blood Runs Cold” “Talk to a Friend” and
“Cutting It Close.” McAndrew believes reimagined versions allow bands to still focus on newer releases but gives those songs a chance to breathe new life and maybe even reach a different
audience. If he got a chance to do any more reimagined versions, he’d do a boy band rendition
of To Better Days’ “Witch Hunt” and personally, we’d do anything to hear that.
“Frozen,” and its reimagined version, is not the only thing the band currently has up their
sleeve. McAndrew confirms there is a new album in the works. Roughly about thirty songs were
written in June and the rest of the album will be written, recorded, and finished this upcoming
February with producer Dan Braunstein. McAndrew is hoping for a mid-year release but
promises it will be sometime in 2024. If it were all up to him, Rain City Drive would be putting out
two albums a year and maybe even releasing singles intermittently. He feels the more music an
artist has, the more there is for fans to experience and listen to. Older legacy bands are brought
up to further his point. The Beatles put out two albums a year and even sprinkled more singles
in throughout. Why can’t Rain City Drive do the same? When challenged with the idea of artistic
and creative burnout, McAndrew shrugs it off. “It’s all about balance,” he explains. He swears
he’d find a way to make it work by making room for himself to take breaks just so he could
constantly be creating more music for people to find and fall in love with. He loves what he does
so it is not a chore. He wants to produce quality music in a heavy quantity and then find ways to
make the rest of the puzzle pieces, like touring, fit in wherever there is room.
Rain City Drive’s newest touring endeavor is a U.S. spring tour, opening for Dayseeker, a band
of which McAndrew cites as a constant touring suggestion in their comments section. He goes
on to explain that with tours, it is all dependent on the size of the band. For Rain City Drive,
important pieces of the puzzle are routing, scheduling (making sure it aligns with previously
scheduled appearances) and pay. They take the tours that work best and don’t have too much
say in who said tour is with. However, when he heard about the prospect of this lineup, he felt “it
just made sense” and was excited to get back on the road. There is already some semblance of
a setlist being tossed around as well. McAndrew starts the list with “Frozen”, then fan favorites
“Blood Runs Cold” and “Cutting It Close.” He goes on to say he hopes a few more singles are
out by then (and that at least one more should be) so they can be played as well. Opening sets
can be tricky to navigate as bands are usually confined to crowd pleasing songs and already
established hits, but McAndrew doesn’t mind. In fact, he goes out of his way to only write songs
he enjoys creating from start to finish; that way there’s no chance they become stale and boring
for him to perform. Playing the hits isn’t bad and he doesn’t mind doing it. When asked if he ever
prefers to play what he wants instead of what fans want to hear, he shrugs and says he’ll add in
a few personal favorites here and there to break up that set or try something new but ultimately
“if I am having fun, the crowd is more likely to have fun.” The upcoming Dayseeker tour is surely
going to be one to remember.
When circling back to the tour’s lineup, there’s a brief tangent about bands in similar genres
aiding each other in touring success in which McAndrew references the “Hella Mega” tour
(Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer) and “So Much For (Tour) Dust” (Fall Out Boy and Bring
Me the Horizon) as prime examples of bands taking on opener rolls to elevate and support the
headlining band. However, McAndrew does mention the chances of their own headliner next year, stating that the band is “definitely due for one” but that they also want to go to Europe,
Australia, and maybe even Japan, if the opportunity presents itself.
To wrap up the evening, McAndrew takes a moment to ponder what his musical New Year’s
resolution is before answering honestly. Finishing this new Rain City Drive album is his number
one priority but he also wants to work on solo music and maybe even some other projects.
Ultimately, he just wants to continue to create quality music he is proud of, and we are excited
to hear whatever Rain City Drive has to offer in 2024.
