Greenville rockers REdEFIND celebrate new EP at Radio Room: Upstate Beat

Jordan Caparell, lead singer for the Upstate hard-rockers REdEFIND, has a message for any Upstate rapper who might hear his lightning-fast flow on portions of “Still Dreamin’,” the band’s new EP: He isn’t trying to step to any of you.

“I’ve looked at a lot of this talent that we have around Greenville,” Caparell told me in our interview, “and there are a lot of good rappers out there. When it comes to me rapping, I’ve got nothing on these guys. I really had to step my game up.”

REdEFIND, the quartet of Caparell, drummer Dustan Snow, bassist Drew Porter and guitarist Dru “Drucipher” Woodall, will play an EP release show at Greenville’s Radio Room Jan. 10. And the fact is that REdEFIND, one of the Upstate’s most popular bands, has evolved to a stunning degree on the eight-track release.

The band has created a massive-sounding collection of jagged, angular riffs and tricky rhythms that pounds like early morning construction all the way through. Snow and Porter are a spine-snapping rhythm section, and Woodall lives up to his name with fiendish riffs on “To Go, to Grow,” “Content Culture” and the merciless imposter call-out “Copycat.”

As for Caparell, in conversation he tended to charmingly downplay his vocal contributions to the album in favor of his bandmates.

“Dru, our guitarist, writes some wild stuff,” he said, for example. “It’s different. It’s not what you hear on the radio.”

But Caparell is just as skilled in his roles as singer and lyricist. His raging roar on “Clarity” drives home the song’s “What’s wrong with me?” fury. His old-school rap kicks off the “be yourself” anthem “PE Class” with flair. And his disarmingly creepy croon increases the impact of his take on the rise of the influencer, “Content Culture.”

“I feel like we’ve evolved on every album,” Caparell said of “Still Dreamin’,” the band’s fourth EP. “We have gotten so much better from (previous release) ‘Let’s Party’ to now. I think we have really tuned into our sound, and we know what we want to do.”

As for the release show on Jan. 10, Caparell said the band plans on playing most of the EP’s eight songs, and more.

“We want to incorporate all of our stuff from over the years, but we also want to play the new stuff,” he said. “I love this headlining show, because it’s going to give us a chance to play at least six or seven of the new songs.”