Fresh off of their first tour, OC-based band Between California and Summer are doing pretty well for themselves considering they only formed their band in May 2014.
BCAS consists of lead vocalist Adam Cease, rhythm guitarist Legend Pham, guitarist James Boone, drummer Connor Allen and their newest member, bassist Adam Lamah.
Pham and Boone started the band together after meeting at Chain Reaction, an all ages venue in Anaheim. All it took was a simple “Hey man, you wanna start a band?” and the rest is history.
Their band name originates from a Daphne Loves Derby song, though it didn’t have deeper meaning to them until recently.
“I never knew exactly what it meant at the time and I was in the spur of the moment like, ‘Hey that’s a cool name!’ and then it’s very long… I’ve been told that. But it works for us and our genre,” according to Pham, 19. “We always get asked what it means.”
Boone, 20, a former Fullerton College student, left his studies to pursue his dream of music but continues to work part-time in Anaheim. While Allen, 18, is still in high school. The remainder of the band continues to double up on part-time jobs and college life; they rehearse for about two hours a week at the very least with their busy schedules.
However, even with hard to manage schedules, they were able to get out on tour for a few weeks in order to expand their fan base into other states such as Arizona, Nevada and Texas.
“We didn’t really know what we were doing. We were just kind of getting out there,” said Cease, 18. “It was insane. It met our expectations, but some things were kind of like… uh, we knew better.”
Pham added that it made them want to get back out there and keep pushing forward, which brought them to the opportunity to open up for Secondhand Serenade by making connections with a promoter at Whisky A Go Go, a venue in Hollywood.
“We went from just playing these smaller shows on Tuesday nights to maybe like, Friday night shows, sold out for bigger artists,” Pham said.
BCAS says that their musical influences are based on other bands such as All Time Low, Taking Back Sunday and Yellowcard. However, both stated that if they could collaborate with any other artists it would be Drake, 5 Seconds of Summer, Adam Levin, The Story So Far and Bruno Mars, just to name a few.
“Some people hit the road and realize they can’t do it,” Cease said in regards to going away on tour for a few weeks. “I learned that I can do it. I can do this.”
In their free time, the guys like watching sports and just hanging out with their friends. Pham quickly added that if he didn’t have music, he’d seem “lame.”
Their goals for the future are to continue to write their own music, which can be found for free on YouTube, Band Camp and Spotify and keep playing shows to get their name out there.
“I want to see ourselves where 5 Seconds of Summer are right now. They’re playing arena shows with 10, 000 people and having so much fun!” Cease said. “We just want to grow.”
Between California and Summer will be playing at the OC Fair Grounds on May 8 and the House of Blues in Anaheim for a free show on May 10.
“Even if it doesn’t add up to 5SOS’s following or something like that, we just want to play music and share it with people who care,” Pham added. “It’s never about money or fame in the genre of music we’re in.”
They will be hitting the road again at the end of May, playing their first solo tour until the end of summer.
For more information, head to their Facebook page: facebook.com/betweencaliforniaandsummer
YouTube: youtube.com/betweencaliforniaand
Bandcamp: betweencaliforniaandsummer.bandcamp.com/ or follow them on Instagram @bcasband.
