At this year’s Railroad Fest I got the honor of being allowed interviews with all of the bands playing. Unfortunately though, because of the bad weather, I was only able to get one interview. As I arrived to the venue, I ran to their “green room” tarp where I met Shreveport-native band Rella. I quickly pulled out my phone to ask the few questions I had off the top of my head.
The band is made up of lead singer Tyler Christiana, bass player Charles Gallaher, guitar player Alex Stokes, and drummer Chris Ball. Ball wasn’t able to join them at Railroad Fest, so I wasn’t about to meet him. Instead, I also got to hang out with Tyler’s gorgeous wife, Lindsay.
Me: “Have you guys released an album yet?”
Tyler: “Yeah, we have a self-titled album released almost two years ago actually, and then we have a couple of singles released recently.”
Me: “Where can people stream or buy your music?”
Alex: “We’re on Spotify, Apple Music, BandCamp, Google Play, and we have a YouTube channel. We post a lot there.”
Me: “Do you guys have any bands that you would say inspire your sound? If so, which is the most influential?
Tyler: “I think Coheed and Cambria is probably our biggest inspiration as far as sound goes, but we really like making the music our own and we change it up a lot.”
Lindsay then tipped me off to ask Tyler the story behind the name of the band.
Tyler: “When the band was formed everyone was in a very bad relationship with not-so-good people. So, we all had something in common: we were all involved with a bunch of rellas.”
Me: “So, essentially you named the band after your shitty ex-girlfriends?”
Tyler: “Yeah..” [laughs] “…but isn’t that what the best bands are made from?”
Following the very brief interview, I planned on waiting for the other bands to arrive. The waiting that I thought would be a solid hour turned into 3+ hours under the tarp with Rella. They talked about different gigs they’ve played, made vine references, drank an incredible amount of alcohol, and called Charles “Bass Daddy” so many times that I don’t think I can not think of him as such. After spending a pretty significant chunk of time trapped in the rain, under a tarp, in the cold, I can tell you that I actually had a good time hanging out with these guys. If they’re ever playing at Sundown Tavern I would highly suggest checking them out. Even if you’re not a fan of their style of music, I would still give them a listen. You’ll be supporting a group of talented musicians and overall awesome human beings.
Rella’s newest release, Foreign Tongues, is available on all the streaming services they mentioned above.