The founding members of The Cadillac Saints are, from left, Jeremy Walley, Jeff Copeland and Matthew Walley.Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with guitarist/vocalist Matthew Walley of the local blues rock band Cadillac Saints about the group’s origins, why their rehearsals are like being back in youth orchestra and what they’ve learned about putting on a stellar live show.
CP: Walk me through the origin of Cadillac Saints. How and when did you guys get together?
MW: You know, my brother and I have been playing music and guitar since we were little kids. We both started as classical violin players. We’ve been in and out of other groups before and helped form other bands, but we thought it was time to take all our original material we’ve collected over the years and put it to work.
We started making phone calls in late spring 2009 around town to find other musicians to work with. We made the right phone calls and got the right people. Jeff, our lead singer and bass player, played classical orchestra with us. I knew he could sing really well. We took his original ideas and merged them with my brother’s and mine. We started rehearsing in the summer of 2009 and started playing shows that fall.
CP: Was the chemistry between you immediately there or did it take time to develop?