A rock band that pulls inspiration from genres across the board, from 70s-style music to bands like Pink Floyd, Speak Easy creates their own sound with five talented members. You can hear this live at Chelsea’s Live on April 14.
There is John Bajor who is the bassist and manager, and Katelyn Chopin who does rhythm guitar and is the band’s artist. Then there’s Drake Dugas on drums and Madison Delacroix who sings and manages some of the band’s social media. Last but not least is Patrick Ross Campesi who is on lead guitar and is the producer for the band.
Each member of the band pulls their own inspiration from different genres to bring together the sound of Speak Easy. “I pull a lot of my drum stuff from 70s bands, I take a lot of influence from older genres,” Drake said. From Hip-Hop to Indie, they all pull from their own music taste. “All of us have our own style, every genre we all listen to,” Patrick said.
The band said while their inspirations are very fusion-esque, they are far from a fusion band. “We have our sound, but we let the songs develop themselves,” Patrick said. They all agreed they make high-energy music, but with a touch of some slow songs that are thrown into the mix.
Speak Easy actually started with a completely different band that three of the members were in. Maddie, Patrick, and Drake were already in a band when Maddie met John and Katelyn at parties and ended up recruiting them. The band has been going on for about three years, John and Katelyn joined around a year ago. Drake and Patrick had already been playing for six or seven years, and now all five of them make up Speak Easy.
Everyone agreed that seeing people find them on streaming platforms and actively listening to them is still fun and unreal. So far, they have gone almost a month without a person not listening to their music. “Now we’ve got people none of us know saying they love our songs,” Patrick said.
On May 6 the band will release their first album. It will be around 40 minutes long with 10 songs. Two of those songs, “Santiago” and “Construct,” are already released. They will also have a release show at Fred’s the same day the album comes out.
“It’s cool to see some tracks took a while and some tracks were like ‘we got this’ and knocked it out,” John said. Some of the songs that were already written got re-written when John and Katelyn joined. They put their own interpretations on them, and they all agreed that nine times out of ten it turned out for the better. “We went into thinking the album needed to sound cohesive to the specific sound, but as we started to write more, they became their own. That became our sound we have today,” Patrick said.
The album will have a cohesive theme and all the songs are related in some way that will be very apparent in the album title, which is a secret for now. However, there is one spoiler, “Simplicity” and “Disappointment,” which are songs you can look forward to seeing on the album. Everyone is really excited about its release, it has been in the works for a while they said, so be on the lookout for it.
When it comes to playing live, they all agreed that the experience all depends on where you play. “It feels like what I imagined being in a band was like when I was a kid,” Drake said about what it feels like at some places. The band said it really all depends on the crowd and the location, it’s a different feeling for different places.
“If I’m having a bad week I’m always looking forward to the show,” John said. Early on it was nerve-wracking to play, but now that they have gotten settled, and the chemistry has grown stronger, they have grown into it a lot more. “Now we bring the energy. We got it,” Katelyn said.
Their next show is on April 14 at Chelsea’s Live, with bands Lvvrs and Wave Runner. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and Speak Easy will go on around 10 p.m. after the two other bands. Everyone is looking forward to the show.
Their upcoming shows after that are a show at the Varsity and their release show at Fred’s on May 6. The band might also be at the battle of the bands at Fred’s on April 28, which is still in the works.
“Our personal goal for the fall is to extend out of baton rouge,” John said. They want to do shows in Lafayette and New Orleans and are even applying to Jazz Fest. One of the other venues they said is on their list is House of Blues in New Orleans.
The band has come a long way and hopes to go even further. “It’s crazy to see the progress from where we were a year ago to now,” John said. “I’m just really excited to go on that journey with my friends,” He added.
You can follow the band on their socials like Instagram and TikTok by the name of speakeasybandbr and Speak Easy on Spotify and iTunes. They have their two singles out right now and be sure to be on the lookout for their upcoming album on May 6.
“We are manifesting our music speaks for itself, so we’re Speak Easy,” was Madison’s ending note.