For alternative rock fans, it may be surprising to hear that kind of band cover song from The Beach Boys. But alt-rock band Red Sun Rising’s new four-track EP, “Peel,” features a cover of the classic song “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” that gained popularity after being featured in the film “50 First Dates.”

Red Sun Rising will make a stop in Syracuse on Friday night at The Lost Horizon. They will be joined by Goodbye June, Dirty Money and My Manic Mind.

The band kicked off its tour in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this month. The Beach Boys, along with The Beatles, serve as some of the group’s biggest influences for tracks on its newest EP.

Red Sun Rising draws on specific components from these artists. Vocalist Mike Protich said that in The Beach Boys cover, they emulate the orchestral percussion work by mixing in hand percussion with a barilla drum kit sound.

He added that “Peel” lets the group try something dramatically different from their usual style when recreating The Beach Boys’ hit.

“It was a really cool exercise for the band to experiment in that type of production,” he said. “That was of our first challenge. Figuring out how they built that and recreating that … It’ll help us in the future with how we look at our songs and how we structure them.”

Fans can expect a new twist on some of the tracks that they know well. The rest of the songs on the EP are reworked versions of popular songs from Red Sun Rising, like “Left For Dead,” “The Otherside” and “Blister.”

Protich said the final product of each track isn’t much different from how the group initially writes them.

“We wanted to present the songs in the form at which they are created before production is put on them,” the band member explained. “I think they capture the emotion of the lyrics a little differently, in some ways better.”

When dreaming up these songs, Protich and his fellow bandmates start off with an acoustic guitar and focus heavily on the melody. He said taking a step back to go over older tracks with a new ear allows them to connect more with these songs.

For these new tracks, the band members aim to focus on the lyrics and tone of the songs.

Protich emphasized how much their loyal listeners enjoy the band trying out new things with their sound while on the road. To him, it’s not a bad thing if the live performance doesn’t sound exactly like the record.

After the tour finishes up, the band is planning on playing at a few music festivals over the summer while also making time to create new music. This past year, the group has been working on an upcoming album but has not set a release date.

“We’ve been writing like crazy and there’s already a lot of great ideas,” Protich said. “I guess a new record will be on the horizon at some point, we have to get these out.”

Published on March 26, 2019 at 11:10 pm

Contact Kerri: kmcanene@syr.edu