Columbus’ Own: Clark’s Cape looks to get in the Columbus pop punk scene

Emma Steele
Thu, 26 Jan 2017 06:01:59 +0000
Arts & Life, Music, News, b team, better days, clark's cape, Columbus Ohio, columbus' own, local music

When Mack Covell started messing around on drums his senior year of high school in his bedroom in Tiffin, Ohio, he had no intention of starting a band. For him, playing music was a sense of control, an outlet.

“I’m an extrovert and an introvert at the same time, but I’m only extroverted if I can control the entire environment,” Covell said. “With music, and with playing music, you can totally do that.”

Eventually, some of his friends became interested and began playing along on guitar and bass. After playing a few shows consisting of Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World covers in their local park, Mack Covell, his younger brother Colin Covell and their friend Dustyn Cimo decided to officially call themselves a band.

“It’s one of those things where you feel like you can’t, because you don’t know how to start,” Mack Covell said. “It seems impenetrable, but just that moment, when you hear a song you’re covering sound almost like it does when a professional band plays it … that’s when we all collectively were like, ‘Okay let’s do this.’ All you have to do is play.”

Since its founding in 2012, Clark’s Cape has released an EP, “Better Days,” and a full album, “B Team,” featuring Mack Covel on guitar and vocals, Colin Covell on bass and vocals and Cimo on drums.

For their EP, the trio would try to churn out upbeat punk songs as fast as they could, using random lyrics they had scrawled away on scraps of paper — Colin Covell even wrote one entirely on a suspension slip when he was angry about getting suspended from school for a few days. While “B Team” keeps that same pop-punk sound Clark’s Cape started out with the songs are more thought out.

“My favorite song (from “B Team”) is ‘Things Change,’” Cimo said. “For me it hits home. We’ve all been through some drastic changes over the past few years and I think you can really feel it in that song.”

The Covell brothers and Cimo moved from Tiffin to Columbus in the fall of 2014 after writing “B Team” and said they feel like the album predicted their future.

“It’s all about leaving home and challenging yourself,” Mack Covell said. “Everything in the album was basically like, ‘Go give it a shot, do what you need to do to try to be happy.’ It kind of inspired us.”

In the two and a half years since they’ve lived in Columbus, Clark’s Cape has taken a break from touring but has played in various places around town — including Donatos’ Basement and the Tree Bar — along with house shows. Mack Covell said the band would also travel around Ohio, into Pennsylvania and as far as Syracuse, New York.

“I’ve definitely had the most fun playing in places we haven’t before,” Cimo added. “It’s just cool to meet other bands and come together for a kick ass show.”

Many bands would determine their success by how many shows they book, how far they travel or how much money they make, but for Mack Covell and the rest of the band, it all comes back to messing around and having fun with each other.

“When we all play together there are moments where we all smile and to me that’s worth it. I don’t have to be touring and doing this as a job if I have that,” he said.

Cimo said he wouldn’t have been in a band if it wasn’t for his friends. ?

“At the end of the day, I think the best thing about being in a band with Mack and Colin has got to be the fact that outside from whatever happens with the music, good or bad, we’ll still always be friends,” he said. “We were friends before we were a band, and now Clark’s Cape is something we all can share.”

Clark’s Cape performing from left to right: Colin Covell, Dustyn Cimo, Mack Covell. Credit: Courtesy of Autumn Vallandingham