New York alternative rockers RODERIK are comprised of the fragments of bands that once reverberated through the vibrant Long Island music scene.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Jake Salazar- Singer/Song Writer

David P.K. - Bass

Danny Nugent- Drums

Jay Sutherland- Guitar/Vocals

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to RODERIK? How long has the band been around?

Well first off, thank you so much for doing this with us. We’re honored to be talking to you today. So, Jay and I were both in a band called Approaching Troy for many years together. We did a lot of great things together, but after a while it started to feel stale, and after a terrible experience with a label, we felt it was time to do something new. We really wanted that fresh start to open doors to incorporating different styles of music into our songs.

During that journey together, we came across Dave. He filled in on bass for a while, so during the transition to the new band, it was a no brainer to bring him on as our full time bassist as he brings a lot of influences you don’t traditionally see in our music.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

So the band name is heavily inspired by the character, Roderick Usher from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House of Usher. We really felt like the description Poe gives him, and the trials and tribulations he goes through as a character really related to what we went through as an artist. One example of how we related to the text was how Poe explains that Roderick was once this vibrant and lively person who now is a shell of his former self. That’s exactly how we felt when we created RODERIK. We did however remove the “C” out of his name to create our own identity and self image.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Currently I do most of the writing myself. I typically start with a shell of a song and then bring it to the guys who will make their parts much better than I could ever do myself. As far as the lyrics go, I feel like I tend to focus on the introspective. I battle a lot with depression and anxiety so you’ll often see those topics in our songs along with other intangible focus points. I’m honestly not sure what the future brings when it comes to lyrical topics. I do get bored very quickly with a lyrical idea so I imagine I would eventually expand into other topics over time. However, at the moment I don’t think I’m done saying what’s on my mind about myself and where I’m heading or where I’ve been.

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

There are so many. Between You and Me is a great band that’s been on my playlist a lot. Then there’s point north who has a really cool fusion thing going on. Coin is putting out some amazing stuff that I find making its way into my writing style. I’m still heavily attracted to the classic emo, pop punk bands too though. I often site My Chem as one of my all time favorites and I don’t think that’ll ever change. Their writing changed a generation and honestly really inspired me from the get-go. There’s more than just the band aspect too though. I really love Lauv, Julia Michaels, Iann Dior and Grandson. I could talk all day about this one.

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

I’d say it was a combination of the two, but 100% the inspiration came from seeing others do it. When I was a kid, my brother stumbled across MCR’s, I’m not Okay and my head was spinning. I believe I must have played that song over 100,000 times in a summer. That is actually an accurate number too because my old MP3 player kept track of how many plays you had on a song. Then within the next few years, I went to my first concert, which was Bamboozle ‘07. I’m sure going to such a monumental festival as a first concert had a huge impact on my aspirations to be an artist/musician.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …

I don’t stretch yet although I probably should haha. You’re probably more likely to catch me meditating before a show. Because of my extreme anxiety, I do get a bit of performance anxiety too so, meditating is the only thing that keeps me grounded before a show. I also think it helps my performance as well, but who knows.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

I think our biggest highlight as a bands so far was playing our first hometown show. Due to Covid and the lack of shows going on, we took some time before diving into live performance. We actually had played Launch 2021, and almost did a weekender in Canada before playing our hometown. Not because we didn’t want to, but more so because we wanted to make sure that when we did play our town for the first time, we had already worked out the kinks in our performance. By the time we played though, we felt like we had already had our stuff together, and the support was incredible. I’ll never forget that night or the people who came out and supported us.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

I think my ultimate tour line up would be as follows. My Chemical Romance as the headliner, and Grandson as the direct support. Then the rest of the tour would be The Maine, NF, Point North and then us. We’d of course be the small fry on that tour, but it would be cool to be touring with all these incredible acts. Similarly to my influences, I’d definitely like it to have a bit of diversity to it.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Well first and foremost, I’d like to thank everybody who has checked us out and given us a chance. Original music is very hard to “sell” these days, so if you’ve even given us a passing glance, thank you. We have new music in the pipeline, but due to some movement going on right now, and Covid spiking over the winter season, some things are or have gotten delayed unfortunately, but you can expect us to be putting out a bunch of new music/content this year!

I also want to thank you guys for putting this interview together. I had a lot of fun with these questions and I can’t wait to talk to you again.

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