The Influence is a band that passionately melds the sounds of all of its favorite genres into one.
The Virginia quintet includes Will Clarke and John Zontini on guitars and backup vocals, Collin Cogan on drums and backup vocals, Chris Tully on bass and Matt Stephenson on guitar and lead vocals. And Collin’s dad Dave Cogan as manager.
The band name, The Influence, describes the band’s style, according to Dave.
“The name fits with different influences they bring to the table,” Dave Cogan said.
The band’s members bring sounds from everything from acoustic artists like Dave Matthews to the Seattle grunge music of Eddie Vedder to bands like Tool and Incubus, according to Tully.
Stephenson said he gathered a lot of his style from other countries he has lived in, including El Salvador, Grenada and Egypt.
However, the sound the band most respects is the rock music from the early ’90s, according to Tully, which he described as the “most recent golden age of rock music.”
He said he thought it was great how bands like Pearl Jam are still coming out with amazing records after leaving a “lasting impression” from when they first started.
Although the band members have different opinions about music, they all get along very well, according to Stephenson. Even though they all came from different bands, friendship seemed to just happen.
After Collin Cogan brought home a demo CD of some of the band’s songs, it piqued the interest of his father, Dave.
Dave said he could tell the sound was different than most of the bands playing today.
“Hearing something unique was exciting,” Dave said.
As the band started searching for a manager, it turned to Dave Cogan because he had been a musician and knew some of the tricks of the trade.
“I didn’t have a lot of contacts, but I had some,” Dave said.
Although Dave had a lot of learning to do, it was nice to have an inside track with the band because the members were so comfortable with him.
“Mr. Cogan is a saint,” Stephenson said, adding he couldn’t bring himself to call him Dave, out of respect.
For his son, Collin, having his dad for a manager is “pretty cool.”
He said he gets to talk with his father every day and avoid the small talk that most fathers and sons have to endure over the phone.
“It’s a good excuse to stay in touch,” Collin said.
The Influence has been playing the last two years, touring up and down the east coast everywhere from Florida to Connecticut.
“We are limited by geography. The band doesn’t like to travel too far,” Tully said. “Anywhere we can drive, we go.”
The Influence will be performing at the Brewery March 3 at 9 p.m. Stephenson said the members are no strangers to the area, after playing at places like the Pour House and even some shows in Wilmington. He said they have a good crowd base in the state.
“North Carolina has been very receptive to us,” Stephenson said. “North Carolina apparently loves music.”
The band will be playing mostly songs from its first album, but will also introduce some from its new album, which it goes into the studio for next month, including “The Wall” and “Break.”
According to Collin, the band hopes to have a single out by June and the album available by August when school is starting.
“Next year is going to be busy, but fun,” Tully said. “We don’t have time off.”
The band agreed that being friends helped with the busy schedules of touring.
“It’s nice to be adjusted,” Tully said. “Like a family, we have a certain amount of dysfunction, but our dysfunction seems to work.”