Airwalk’s Hero! Take One Car’s Brittany Maccarello

Gotta admit, when I showed up to the gig my friends were filming for the Airwalk Unsigned Hero competition, I wasn’t expecting much, other than the distinct feeling that I’d be slurping down beers as fast as humanly possible to the sounds of terrible commercial rock. Call me nuts, but my faith in America + corporate sponsorship + music voting competitions does not equal the absolutely kick ass music that tore out of Take One Car and their heavy-hitting, cymbal-crashing drummer, Brittany Maccarello (and thank god for that, as the gig was at a coffee shop and the only beer in sight was root beer)!

Full name: Brittany Rose Maccarello
Nickname/pseudonym: bmacc, marshmellow, macc
Where were you born: Middletown, NY
Where do you live now: Pine Bush, NY
Musical instrument?: I play the drums, a Pearl Export
Bands past and present: I was in a band called Chaos when I was younger and played in a lot of jam bands, and now in Take One Car

Tom Tom Magazine: Where did you learn to drum like that?! Who are your biggest influences?

Brittany Maccarello: My father used to play drums way back when and taught me at a very young age, and from there I worked very hard to become the drummer that I am now, learning all different types of styles from pop to metal and everything in between. It wasn’t easy but I played and practiced every day and jammed with a lot of bands as well. My influences are Neil Pert most definitely, and when I was younger and just starting out, Lars Ulrich. Then there’s Zac Farro from Paramore–he is an amazing drummer–and Aaron Gillespie from Underoath. Chris Adler from Lamb of God is a creative drummer as well.

TTM: Are you an original member of the band?

BM: No, I am not an original member. I was on craigslist and I posted an ad because I couldn’t find people to jam or start a band with. I was about to get off the computer and I said to myself, why don’t I see if anybody is looking for a drummer? I found Take One Car’s ad and everything sounded great, their Myspace was good, so I called Tyler and from there I learned the songs, tried out, and we’ve been playing since October of 09′. It’s been a blast so far with these guys!

TTM: What’s it like being the only lady in the band?

BM: It’s amazing, it really is. These guys are like my brothers and ever since we have been touring, we have gotten to know each other a lot better. They are the funniest dudes in the world, and it’s great because we watch out for each other like family and all click together.

TTM: Take One Car has been billed as everything from “anger jazz” to straightforward rock to “math-rocky.” The band’s website state’s “post-hardcore/experimental.” What do these labels mean to to you? How do you think of Take One Car’s music?

BM: It’s very hard for us to fall under a genre that’s easy to define, like pop/rock or hardcore, or even screamo, as we cross a wide variety of genres. Each song is very different from the others, but you can always tell that it’s a Take One Car song. Our music is distinctive, energetic, fun and very well planned out. We put a lot of thought and time into each song so it feels right to us before we play it out. It’s so hard to find your own sound in such a huge music scene these days. Some bands want to sound like a band that’s already big, but for me I really wanted to be in a band that had its OWN sound, so when you put on the cd, you instantly recognize Tyler’s unique vocals, the guitar’s ambient sound and my heavy-hitting cymbals behind it.

TTM: You’re up against 9 very different bands in the Airwalk competition. What do you think your chances are? What would change for you guys if you won the $5,000 and got to go on the AP tour?

BM: Our chances are the same as any other band in this competition. We have really been promoting this to our fans and families, and have gotten a lot of votes. If we win, it would definitely help us make the next album that we are planning to record soon after we finish touring. Being on the AP tour would help us stand out to a new kind of crowd and expose us to labels and managers, which would be really great. Meeting the other bands on the bill would also be really amazing!

TTM: Okay. So you’re playing a show in NYC when a toxic spill brings about a slow but imminent zombie uprising. The band has luckily hotwired a 15 passenger van to get out of the city and has exclusive knowledge of a safe haven upstate. You only have 24 hours to pickup everyone and thing you ever want to see again (too intense? okay, you can immunize whoever you want against zombie bites, but you can only bring 15 people or animals and one trunk full of things.) Go!

BM: Well first off, this is my kind of question! I love zombies and zombie games. OK, first we gather up our families in the van and travel to Poughkeepsie to play our best set ever to a bunch of crazy zombies below us (as we are on the roof rocking out and our families have blocked off the doors). The vibrations from our loudness somehow reverses the zombie uprising and brings people back to life. Then we head over to the Walmart and grab a whole bunch of food and twinkies!! Then we drive up to the safe haven to hang out with each other and have a BBQ.

TTM: Great answer! And thanks for rocking hard enough to turn zombies back into nice people, Brittany.

Everyone else, show your gratitude for not having to eat the brains of your nearest and dearest by checking out Take One Car’s Airwalk Unsigned Hero video below, and help them out by voting for them here! Voting ends Aug. 31st!

And another video of them if you aren’t convinced yet.

Exclusive interview for Tom Tom Magazine by Leslie Henkel

Photos provided by Take One Car and Angela Bruno