Pop Punk Rescue with Seven Fly

Pop Punk Rescue with Seven Fly

Seven Fly is a dynamic Pop Punk band from the wilds of West Palm Beach, Florida who are more than ready to burst into the throes of the national music scene.  Their latest EP is entitled No Saint, a grand slam of five thoroughly exhiliarating pop punk anthems.   In addition to their heroic sonic adventures,  two of Seven Fly’s members are actually Firefighter/Paramedics for Boca Raton Fire Rescue. In this interview, Highwire Daze chats with Seven Fly’s Levi Ruiz about their just released No Saint endeavor, reactions from their Motionless In White acoustic cover, being on fire rescue in the midst of Covid-19, and more!  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Seven Fly, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Levi, I do vocals and rhythm guitar in Seven Fly, and I wanted to thank Highwire Daze Magazine for taking the time to get to know us!  The band has been around for about 2 years officially. We started playing covers and writing some originals around 2017 but nothing professional until this release of No Saint.

Where is the band based out of and what is the local music scene like there?
We’re based out of West Palm Beach, FL, and the local music scene here is definitely diverse when it comes to genres. We have underground rap, lots of country, and a very close knit Pop Punk/Metal scene due to the low volume of Alternative bars and clubs in the area. Not “everyone knows everyone” close, but if we’re at an Emo Night and we’re all singing Dirty Little Secret, we’re basically friends.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the No Saint title?
The concept is more of a mosaic I’d say. We wanted to take 5 different experiments of our Pop Punk sounds and go different ways with them. One song we focused on high energy and sense of rhythm, whereas another song we focused on the lyrics and emotion, or even another was more based on catchiness and melody. We’re definitely enjoying the great feedback on all the styles we threw into the album!

Select two songs from No Saint and what inspired the lyrics.
Two songs would be Fever and Stay Golden, Ponyboy. Fever’s lyrics were definitely inspired by having that gut feeling about something but constantly being proven wrong. Afterwards, it comes to find out you were right the whole time and it’s very frustrating. Stay Golden, Ponyboy’s lyrics are mainly about getting back up again. Our band gets hurt all the time, from my motorcycle accident to Sam’s motorcycle accident, to Steven’s snowboarding accident – we all broke many bones in our stories hilariously. Other members in our band struggle with internal pain as well. The key is to push through to the other side and become better than you were before.

Who produced No Saint and what was it like working with them?
Paul Spirou from the band, Fame On Fire, produces our album, and he is like a machine. Watching him work makes your eyes hurt. He definitely becomes inhuman when he gets in the studio. He has a very good ear for what’s catchy and what needs revision, and he’s a very experienced audio engineer. We’re obviously going to work with him again and again.

What could one expect from a live Seven Fly show?
Seven Fly playing a live show is a 45 minute party. When we perform, we also have minor choreography that goes with our perfectly tempo’d songs. Seven Fly was made for jumping up and down, and tearing apart the venue metaphorically. We’ve gotten amazing feedback that our shows make it worthwhile coming back to just for a fun night of bouncing.

If Seven Fly could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I’d say we’d love to open up for State Champs or Fall Out Boy! That’s my opinion but I’m sure other members in the band would pick anywhere from Our Last Night to A Day to Remember. We’re huge fans of modern scene and classic 2000’s scenes coinciding.

Have you guys ever played in the Los Angeles/OC area and if so, what was the experience like?
We’ve never played the Los Angeles/OC area but without a doubt we’ll perform there in the upcoming future.

What is your favorite Warped Tour experience and has your band ever played Warped?
My favorite Warped experience was most likely 2018 Warped Tour in West Palm Beach, FL. Not only was it the last official cross country Warped, but I had a Paramedic pass to backstage areas and met loads of my favorite bands. Don Broco and State Champs were there and suprisingly remembered me despite the amount of people they meet. It was definitely a wonderful experience.

Has Motionless In White heard or commented on your acoustic cover of Voices and what made you decide to cover that song?
We don’t know if Motionless in White has ever heard our cover, but we assume they haven’t because they’ve never commented. I chose that one because the song has such a melodic appeal even with its high energy, I wanted to see its potential when stripped down a bit.

With two members of Seven Fly being firefighters / paramedics, what has it been like during this time of Covid-19?
When it comes to Sam and me working in Fire Rescue these days, I could write an entire paper on the stresses of work. Responding to any patient from a “Fall” to a “Chest Pain” can result in contacting COVID-19. Precautions and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is prioritized above all else along with patient care. There’s no way we’re gonna stop helping people in need, but the amount of precautions we must take to keep our community safe is VERY extensive. However, we’re proud to say that our department is very adaptive, hard-working, and is overcoming all of these obstacles. We’re definitely in need of a show as soon as this is all over to help with the stressors of our workplace!

And now for a way less serious question – If the music of Seven Fly was a donut, what kind would it be and why?
If Seven Fly was a donut, we’d be a Jelly donut…wait for it….because the fills are so good you gotta have ‘em! That was a one-liner from our drummer, Steven Pippin.

What’s up next for Seven Fly?
Soon to come, we’re going to produce more originals and covers and just keep finding ways to relate to our audience and grow. Our goal is to make one person’s life better for 3 minutes at a time.

Any final words of wisdom?
I don’t think any of us are wise enough to give out words of wisdom yet, but in these times of the COVID-19 pandemic, good hand-washing is so important. Scrub like you just ate hot wings and your eye itches!

Band Members
Levi Ruiz
Steven Pippin
Sam Cavaleri
Zack Lopez

(Interview by Ken Morton)

Seven Fly on Facebook