StageShottz Magazine got a call from Rachael Rine, the amazing drummer of the female rock band Cockpit.  This is an all girl band but they are definitely not a gimmick, these girls can rock as hard as any guys out there.  Cockpit is currently working on a new CD and hitting the road this summer.

StageShottz Magazine: Cockpit performed at Rocklahoma 2008, what was that experience like for the band?

Rachael Rine: We always have a blast playing and that’s why we do what we do.  We love getting up on stage and doing our thing and it was a pretty intense weekend.  We played the VIP parties every night backstage, and then we did that one side stage performance that you saw.  It was kind of a wild weekend with like the weather as you know; took out stages and I think like two people died that weekend.  It was pretty insane, but our performances went well.  We gained so many fans, we met so many cool new people and we had a good time.  It was intense, but it was a lot of fun.  We had a guitar stolen one night, while we were on stage, but we got the guitar back, which is the important part.  It was definitely a wild rock and roll weekend but we made the most of it and we had a blast.

SSM: Who were your influences that helped shape your career?

RR: Musically, we all pulled from a lot of places, I mean we’re all big music junkies.  We listen to all kinds of stuff, like 80’s rock that we love and that we grew up on and that it influences our music a lot, like Judas Priest, Motley Crue, and AC/DC.  Personally, I’m a big fan of 70’s rock, I love David Bowie, I love the Rolling Stones, and I love Slade.  I’m a huge Slade fan.

SSM: How did Cockpit come about?

RR: Cockpit came together—Linda (Lou) the singer was living in Philadelphia and she had come out here for a movie premier party that she was involved with.  We met as mutual friend introduced us and I had been looking for a band in L.A. for a while.  I just hadn’t found anything that I felt like I could sink my teeth into and really put my heart and soul behind.  So I decided to start a band and her and I started working together.  She’d fly out from Philly until she moved here.  Then we found Terrii (Kiing), our base player, and the three of us just started writing and working together.  We kind of went through a big revolving door of lead guitarist for a while, until we had Alicia (Blu).  She recently has moved to pursue school and other career options.  We wish her the best, we love her and if she ever wants to come back, she knows she can and we’ll be a five piece.  For now we have this wonderful new guitarist playing with us named Stephanie Pickard, who is phenomenal.  She’s just a mind-blowing guitarist.  So we’re having a lot of fun playing with her and writing with her.

SSM: What has the experience been like for you as an all girl band that definitely has your chops, breaking into a male dominated world that rock music is?

RR: Well, one thing that we have done is that we have never focused on the fact that we are an all girl band.  None of us sees Cockpit as an “all-girl rock band.”  Most all girl rock bands are gimmicky.  We just see ourselves as a good rock band.  So the only thing that’s really different for us is that our rehearsal rooms smell a lot better, our van smells a lot better and we’re a lot more careful at truck stops in the middle of the night.  It takes two us to carry an amp, not just one.  So it takes us an extra minute to unload and load the stage.  Other than that we just get out there and play, and that’s what we focus on.

SSM: So getting on stage and playing your music in front of all your fans, what does playing your music mean to you?

RR: The first word that comes to mind is freedom.  You get to get up there on stage and you get to be exactly who you are.  You get to share something that you’ve worked so hard on and really poured your heart and soul into.  You get to share it with people and watch them enjoy themselves and make them happy forget about their tough work week and have a good time.  To really just show people a good time and let them let go and have fun for a minute it’s a very fulfilling thing to do.

SSM: For the fans out there that don’t know about Cockpit yet, how would you describe yourself?

RR: Now that’s hard.  That’s like the hardest question, “Tell me about you”.  We’re a lot of fun.  We’re just a good, kick-ass, hard rock band that is a lot of fun and to make you smile.

SSM: You released your EP “Mission To Rock” in 2008, can you tell me about it?

RR: The EP started as demos, and it ended up coming out so great we pressed it into an EP.   We decided to put it on the market because so many people were asking for it. We’re currently writing our little butts off for a full length album.  We’re all really excited; we’ve got so much material and so many songs that people want in print.  We’re working on putting that together for all of you out there who’s been patiently waiting for a full length album.

SSM: Once the CD comes out and you hit the road, is there any band that you have never toured with but you would like to tour with?

RR: ACDC, Aerosmith, Motley Crue, Buckcherry, you know, the big ones.  We’ve already played with a lot of our idols and I mean gosh, we’ve played with Alice Cooper, how damn cool is that?

SSM: Nikki Sixx if you are reading this, we have the perfect band for the 2011 Cruefest.

SSM: Aside from the CD that you’re working on, what else does the future hold for Cockpit?

RR: We’re working on a full length CD.  We are working with this new iPhone application called “Hear It Live”, you can check out online which is a really cool thing.  They’re using us as their launch band for a new application where you see a Cockpit poster or a flyer, it has a little barcode on it and you could scan it with your iPhone, and that immediately takes you to the Cockpit page.  You could hear Cockpit songs, you could watch a video, or you could see where we’re playing.  You can also go add us on MySpace or Facebook; it’s like a cool social media network application that’s kind of like a one-stop-shop for music fans.  Linda and I just performed on a CBS Television Show a couple of weeks ago; “The Ghost Whisperer” you may have seen that, the episode is called “Dead to Me”.  That was a lot of fun.  We’re really looking to tour as much as we can, you know.  The road is home to me so, I get home sick and I need to go out a lot.

SSM: For your fans, is there anything else that you want them to know about Cockpit?

RR: That we love and appreciate every single one of our fans and we can’t wait to party with you guys on the road.  So come out and have a good time.  We are playing the Texas Rock Fest with Faster Pussycat, LA Guns, , George Lynch’s Souls of We and The Last Vegas, which are a kick-ass band that we toured with a bit, and it should be fun.

You can keep up with Cockpit at www.ilovecockpit.com.