The Takeover are a rock band from New York City,they have created authentic, sincere and unapologetically their own music. They dropped a new single called “The Uncle“. The song is energetic and electrifying.
We had the opportunity to sit down and ask a couple of questions to the band about their latest single.
- The Track is captivating to say the least. Can you walk us through your creative process while creating this track? Was it a song that seemingly wrote itself, or was the process more complicated than that?
I don’t remember the very beginning of the process for this one. I think I was on house arrest that week or something. But I remember we debuted it at our 2023 Halloween show and it didn’t sound quite right. Our guitarist “Young Mark” was ready to throw it in the trash because he’s our youngest and least patient member and has the attention span of a fucking toad. But I heard something great on the outro and me and the singer Dylan fought to keep working on it. That’s when we as a group came up with that 32 bar breakdown/ solo and the subsequent bridge. Which I think is the key part that makes the climax of the song (the last chorus/outro) really hit hard.
- What’s the story of the song title “The Uncle”?
This tune is one of Dylan’s (our singer). He was the one who first brought the musical idea to the band and the one who wrote the lyrics. It’s about his uncle. The guy on the album art is the titular uncle. Dylan’s a straightforward guy, a song about his uncle he calls “The Uncle” and puts a picture of his uncle on the cover.
- Tell us more about the lyrics and what was the meaning behind it?
I’ll paraphrase from how I’ve heard Dylan introduce it at our live shows: “it’s about society’s forgotten people. The invisible members of society who fall in and out of drug addiction and homelessness. About having to helplessly watch someone you love wither away.” From what I understand that’s what it’s about. Again, Dylan wrote the lyrics. I think it’s the best song he’s ever written. It’s a fucking great tune and I wish I had written it. I tell him all the time “see what you’re capable of when you write something with your heart instead of your dick?”
- After seven years creating music, what is something you wished you had known at the very beginning?
Who was gonna win the Super Bowl in 2018 so that I could put my life savings on it and earn millions of dollars and then pay for top tier management, booking agents, and all that business nonsense. Either that or go back in time and spend all our time making inane Tik Toks since apparently that’s all that matters.
- With a dozen tracks under your belt, what are your favorite/Top songs to perform?
I still love playing “Plastic 40s” which is our “balls-to-the-wall” show stopping closing tune. The energy that it infects the crowd with is awesome to see. “The Uncle” is a big cinematic climax of the show that’s a lot of fun to play. “Wait” is a big chorus that gets me going every time. Even the tunes I hate I enjoy playing live. Now that I’m on “time out” within the band and relegated to bass, some of the hits that we have to play night in night out have fun bass parts that make them tolerable.
⇒ Check out their full music catalogue here.
- After your first international tour, I can totally see you all rocking some European cities. Is there a specific city or maybe more that you want to visit? and why?
There’s a bunch of places in Europe I’d love to go. Some of the “second” cities would be a ton of fun. Hamburg, Cardiff, Lyon, Naples, Porto etc. But at the end of the day I just wanna go where they love rock n roll and live music. Cuz when you go to these cities on tour, whether that’s internationally or domestically, you don’t get to “see” the city. For the most part your days on tour involve driving all day, arriving to the city, checking into the hotel, getting a quick bite, going to the venue, playing the show, and then going out drinking with the locals that came to the gig. Point being is that you don’t have time to be a tourist. So any city that loves rock n roll and isn’t in a war-zone is where I wanna be.
- I know you just dropped “The Uncle” but I can’t wait to hear your next song. Are there any new tracks coming this year and what could we expect from the Takeover in the near future?
We’ve got 3 more in the pipeline and just finished mixing another massive, cinematic, tune called “City Lights”. It’s the 2nd time we’ve recorded this song and we did it properly this time. Or at least as properly as we could afford. I wanted a 36 piece didgeridoo orchestra but the lads wouldn’t let me dive into the band coffers to pay for that. But it’s still mega! Who knows when it’ll come out. I’ll have to ask our manager if he’s still alive. He’s still collecting his paychecks so I assume he’s out there doing something to further our stardom.
