Prashan Jeyarajah (left), Adreesh Roy (middle), Chico Roy (right). Photo by Sunil Roy.

By Sloane Samberson
Managing Editor
@SloaneSamberson

Grungy love songs, raspy vocals, funky drum beats and intense guitar riffs, alternative rock band, Flood the Walls is a breath of fresh air for rock music. After being put on the shelf for two years, it has released its first album, “The Blueprint.”

Flood the Walls is made up of drummer and Coppell Middle School East eighth grader Chico Roy, vocalist and Coppell High School senior Adreesh Roy, and guitarist and University of North Texas freshman Prashan Jeyarajah.

“‘The Blueprint’ was the first song we ever wrote, so we thought it would be appropriate to title our album that,” Adreesh said. “None of the other songs really made for a good title. ‘The Blueprint’ represents the planning for your first album, it sets the stage for everything else. Like, this is how our band is going to be for now, but it could always change.”

For band members, the process of releasing “The Blueprint” was very smooth and stress free, for One Take Studios producer Mark Cozart handled it all.

“[Cozart] said, ‘Give me two weeks,’ and began putting our music on different platforms,” Chico said. “He started with iTunes then a week later put it on Spotify and YouTube. It was really nice of him to do all of that for us.”

Cozart’s nephew, Adam Dodson, helped in designing “The Blueprint” album cover.

“It took a couple of tries to perfect our album cover,” Adreesh said. “[Dodson] made an initial design, then we changed it because it started out really corny. We toned it down by changing the bright colors to more subtle ones. After six different designs, he had created the perfect one.”

Since the release of “The Blueprint”, band members have received a very positive response.

“I have heard many good things from people regarding how different the sound is,” Jeyarajah said. “One of our goals was to make people happy by trying out a new sound.”

For Chico, he is awestruck when complimented about the album.

“People will come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I listened to your album, it was really good.’ I get baffled on what to say like, ‘Thanks?’ I don’t know how else to respond,” Chico said.

Just like any album, certain songs are listened to more than others.

“A lot of people keep listening to the single, ‘The Blueprint’, and I see people listening to certain songs, which is exactly what I expected,” Adreesh said. “I did not expect a lot of people to download the album from iTunes, rather stream it on Spotify. It is surprising, but a few people actually bought the album, especially in an age where you don’t have to buy music anymore.”

“Fresh”, “Miss Guided” and “The Blueprint” are three fan favorites that have been downloaded most frequently.

Releasing an album has been very surreal, even nostalgic for the trio.

“It is weird; five years ago I would have never expected to have an album, ever,” Adreesh said. “Just knowing that other people can hear me, is so strange. It’s also funny, hearing myself on the album I sounded like such a child. I recorded that sophomore year and I am a senior now. My voice had changed a lot.”

For Jeyarajah there is a bit of remorse linked to the album release.

“I’m happy about the release of the album, but upset we didn’t release it earlier,” Jeyarajah said. “We had a lot of hype going for the album when we recorded it, but we waited a year and that hype died down.”

Flood the Walls is taking a hiatus as Jeyarajah gets acquainted with college and Adreesh completes his senior year. Fans, however, do not worry as it has hopes and plans for the future.

“If we were to do another album, I would be all in, but I would want take a different approach rather than keeping our style the same,” Adreesh said. “No two albums from a band are exactly the same, ever. I would take a less punchy, hard approach and take a more mellow approach, with intricate sound.”

While talking with band members, I was given an inside look on the experiences linked to and the meaning behind each song. Below I have provided that insight for you:

It Was Good for the Time Being– Based on a good friends experience, this is the second most intense song on “The Blueprint.”

You see a girl or guy and they immediately catch your attention. You really want to be with them, and once you are together, things are not meant to be. “You are thinking, ‘It was fun for the meantime, but it wouldn’t work out in the long run. We just don’t click,” Adreesh said. “With such a humorous story came such a dark song.”

Black and Blue– Is about not letting people get you down. At some point in high school you are going to feel like everything and everyone is against you. 

“I remember feeling like that during sophomore and junior year,” Adreesh said. “I hated being around people, I just wanted to close myself off from people. In the song I use the metaphor of, ‘everything was bruised on me.’ I cut myself off from a lot of people. For a good month or two I was just by myself, figuring things out.”

The Prowl– This song resulted from a “jam session.” 

“Chico was playing the songs opening drum beat and we just went with it,” Adreesh said. “After a while we made up lyrics to go along with the music. I don’t know why we wrote those lyrics, it just kind of happened. It was more about the music rather than the song.”

Miss Guided– Crazy, passionate love. 

“You know, like the new relationship feeling? That is what this song is about,” Adreesh said. “At the beginning you can’t get enough of each other.”

The Blueprint– Written back in 2012, “The Blueprint” is about loss. 

“At the time one of my best friends had lost a parent to cancer, and one of Prashan’s friends lost a friend from a terminal disease,” Adreesh said. “We felt really bad, we couldn’t imagine life without someone so dear to us, so we translated that feeling into a song. We made the song for them with a message of: you can find solace in this, we are here for you.”

The Maps– Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where a person thinks you are oblivious, and tries to take advantage of you, but you are aware of what they are doing. It is about being the stronger person and not getting taken advantage of.

Devil’s Got a New Disguise– “A wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Chico said. “Someone you think is going to be cool but you find out they are not who they actually are. They put on a really good mask.”

Rock a Little, Roll Away– It is about feeling the music. They reference a girl in that song, but it is more about the music itself, not a person. 

“This song is just so grungy,” Adreesh said. “When we first wrote it, we played it much dirtier than it sounds on the album. We used much more distortion on stage. When I start playing this song, I jive to it much more than any other song. I can just feel it.”

Testing the Waters– The most intense song on the album. You don’t want to get caught up in something, so you are testing the waters for it. 

“An on the surface example is you are wanting to date someone and you talk to their parents for the first time,” Adreesh said. “You think, ‘Wow her parents are a little insane, is she gonna be like that?”

Promises of a Compulsive Liar- “I was very mad at a girl who I felt played me,” Adreesh said. “I felt like she was not as committed as I was. I was putting in much more effort than she was. I felt as if she made a lot of promises that were completely untrue. When you get into a relationship, you are supposed to do certain things, and she didn’t do those things.”

Fresh– Flood the Walls’ opinion on teenagers in Coppell. 

“We feel like everyone dresses and acts the same,” Adreesh said. “Nobody is original anymore, and the very few people that are, I am friends with them. I look at certain people like, ‘Why are you all exactly the same? Be your own person!’ Before I wrote this song I had visited somewhere, and it was weird how different the rest of the world is. We live in such a bubble that you are surrounded by the same people every day and you don’t really notice how uniform everything is until you see it from the outside.”

You can buy “The Blueprint” on iTunes for $9.99 or listen to it on Spotify, YouTube and Google Play.