Assistant A&E Editor
In a day and age where every genre of music is accessible through the Internet, it’s difficult for bands to get their names out. It’s a feeding frenzy for fame, and for as cruel of a world as the music industry is today, the two men that make up Timeflies still manage to stay extremely humble and down-to-earth as they fight their way to the top.
The duo consisting of 23-year-old Cal Shapiro or “Cal” and 22-year-old Rob Resnick, better known as “Rez,” sat in the basement of Blake Arena in a makeshift dressing room with a plateful of wings and pizza this past weekend prior to the Sti-Yu-Ka spring concert. They ate slowly and reflected on the road they’ve taken to get here.
“We work really hard; I think some people recognize, that other people don’t,” said Rez. “A lot of our friends tell us they’re jealous that we don’t have a real job, which is the worst thing to hear when I think I work a lot harder then they do.”
Rob Resnick is the man behind the melody. He is the laidback, creative mind that creates all the beats and sounds that is Timeflies. Resnick’s history as a producer began at a young age.
“In middle school, I was in a few rock bands, and we didn’t want to pay for studio time, so I started building our own studio in our basement. It was really shi**y, but to be honest, a lot of the same stuff we’d been working with up until Scotch Tape.”
Resnick has acquired a newer taste for electronic and hip-hop music. He continues to use all of his influences in his music now.
Cal had a different approach into the music world, though around the same age as Resnick.
“I heard this seven-minute freestyle by Jay-Z and Big L when I was about a sophomore or junior in high school and I memorized the entire freestyle. Then people would ask me to do it.”
It wasn’t until he was asked to freestyle during his senior year of high school that he decided it may be something for him.
The duo has always had music pumping through their veins, beginning with piano lessons up until they met at Tufts University in music classes. They now live in the New York/New Jersey area and are performing all over the country. The eclectic group has used their experiences to create something contagious.
Their road to success has been paved with their ability to dominate the video sharing site YouTube. The duo has been consistently putting out weekly freestyles, originally named “Timeflies Tuesdays.” The videos are a long process scrunched into a short amount of time.
“It’s a different battle every Sunday or Monday to come up with the idea,” said Cal. Timeflies usually keeps their weekly freestyles up to date with current events going on around them. After the recent death of Whitney Houston, they put together a tribute song called “ I Will Always Love You,” where Rez, the producer of the group, sampled the original Houston track to make a whole new song. In another instance, Cal, the vocalist/rapper, took the chalky Valentine’s Day candy hearts to use the corny lines written on them as ideas to freestyle with.
Another notable freestyle they did was one for the late Steve Jobs, CEO and Founder of Apple, Inc. The song was comprised of sound bits that you would hear any Apple product make in today’s day and age, ranging from the standard Apple ringtone to a recorded speech of Steve Jobs himself. The lyrics of the song slipped in different Apple products and the hardware on them. Cal and Rez are doing something that isn’t typically done and that is showing the painstaking process of the music being made.
Rez discussed the song making process in more detail. “I’d say, like, 48 hours max [it takes]. We’ll start working maybe on Sunday night [and work some more] usually Monday afternoon and get it out late Tuesday.”
The guys chuckled at each other’s responses with a “what have we gotten ourselves into” undertone.
“It wasn’t initially intended to be a song every week. It was just ‘let’s show people what were doing in the studio,’ and then it quickly turned into this,” Rez said. “People caught onto the freestyles and then it was, ‘It’s got to be a full song.’”
Hitting the road has been their current step in captivating audiences across the country. They are currently amidst their mid-college circuit and are loving every minute of it, even if it does cut into their “Timeflies Tuesdays” process.
“We’re in a good position for that type of show because we just graduated and partied in college enough. So, going to colleges and having that mentality and that type of personality is fun,” said Rez.
Cal added, “It’s us. We’re the audience, so it’s perfect.”
The duo took Springfield College by storm, bringing just what they promised, “More Energy” and “Loud.” Cal put his freestyle ability on the line, rapping to a remixed version of the smash hit, “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, referencing rhymes to Cheney Dining Hall and President Flynn; they even amped up the crowd by mentioning the week every Springfield College student anticipates: Sti-Yu-Ka.
Timeflies is on the rise and for those of the students that attended, the chances they’ll see a show like that for free in the future are slim to none.
The two-man team hits the road again to continue opening for big name acts across the country.
The way they left Springfield College, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had more opening act offers for them in the near future.
Kevin Moss may be reached at kmoss@springfieldcollege.edu