Photo credit: Christian Fiedler

By Steve Sears

Cassidy Rain and Bryan Schroeder decided in 2016 to form a band. Six years later, The Outcrops are one of the more popular musical groups in northern New Jersey.

“We were just trying to have some fun,” Rain says of the early days, “and it has gone on from there.”

The music of The Outcrops – a foursome comprised of Rain (guitarist, vocalist and songwriter) and Schroeder (lead guitarist and backing vocalist), in addition to bassist and backup vocalist Jason Casanovas, and Long Valley based drummer, Max Adler – is a blend of blues, country, folk, funk, jazz, Rhythm & Blues, and soul. The group has been busy since late last year. In November, they released an EP of six-songs recorded live, and are now rolling with the strong flow.

“The past six months have been definitely starting to get a little bit busier,” Rain says. “There’s definitely a lot of spots that are starting to do music again, and we’ve done a bunch of traveling.”

Casanovas joined the band in 2018, and Adler was discovered last year at Hackettstown’s Czig Meister Brewing Company while performing his self-titled project. Rain and other members of the band had seen Adler perform on several occasions, liked what they heard, and wanted him in The Outcrops. “I happened to drop an ad at The Music Den in Randolph, and his card was right next to the ad just coincidentally,” Rain recalls. “I reached out to him, and we’ve been playing with him ever since.”

Adler feels right at home in The Outcrops. “I’m just looking forward to the future dates, just trying to maybe evolve with the band, to change stuff up,” he says. “I guess it is an older-type sound – the blues and the rock – so it is kind of nice. We played in Hoboken one night, and we saw some younger people, and we were playing the shuffles and blues, and they were getting down to it. So, we’re seeing where it takes us.”

A huge part of Rain’s overall feeling of why she and The Outcrops do what they do is conveyed in a song she wrote for the band’s first album, Peace of Mind. “Wishing Well” expresses her feeling about being on the road, and the feeling of freedom which has defined the band. “That has a lot to do with music as well,” she says. “In writing your own music and playing it on stage, that’s a lot like freedom. And then the fact that we actually have the ability to take it on the road and bring our music to other people, it’s really a cool thing. “Wishing Well” is kind of like that. One of the lines in it says,

“And I’m gonna buy myself a fishin’ pole and fish for good luck,

Like they say, if I miss, I might hook a star from above;

Never had no money, not sure I ever will,

But my life’s as rich as if I owned a wishin’ well.”

“Whenever I play music,” Rain says, “I feel very lucky, and we feel lucky, to be able to do what we do. I feel there’s a real beauty to that.”

Rain says those coming to a venue to see and listen to The Outcrops will be entertained with a lot of high energy from the stage, and much of what the audience will hear goes back to the band’s early days. “There are instrumental tunes, and there’s tunes that have stories behind them. It’s about 75% original music depending on the show.” Peace of Mind – released in 2019 – was a continuation of the band’s growth. “I think just the process of continuing to work is what makes more music come out,” Rain affirms. “When we do have new material, it makes performing the newer material a lot more exciting, and I feel performing is a huge thing, for sure. The music and writing is very important, but I think that’s what brings the live performance to an even better level for us.”

The Outcrops will be headlining this summer’s Sourland Music Festival at Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes on July 23. “That sounds pretty awesome,” Adler adds about the Hunterdon County event. “I always love to show up to an area and play. Playing live music is the reward, and it’s something I always wanted to do, just playing music for different audiences.”

For more information about The Outcrops, visit www.theoutcrops.com.