Since forming two years ago as a teen cover band, Cult Status is starting to focus on creating original works.
The band includes Max Nelson as lead guitarist, Vinnie Muckey as the drummer, Joey Pahl as bassist, and Jack Perella as lead vocalist. They most recently played as a part of West Reading’s 4th of July Celebration and at Berks A Palooza.
On the verge of their junior and senior years at Governor Mifflin High School, the band is now in the middle of a booked-up summer and looking to book shows in the fall.
Muckey says it all started back in seventh grade with Pahl. The two decided to start a band and even tried out for the middle school talent show, but it didn’t work out when the guitarist was a no-show.
The two discovered that Nelson was a really good guitar player and decided to recruit him.
“Thank God we did,” said Muckey. “And we knew Jack was a good singer. We wanted to get the whole group together because there was a talent show coming up.”
They took home second place in a county-wide talent show. That was two years ago, at the very start of the band’s formation. The band has been playing locally ever since.
“It’s just the drive we all have as musicians,” said Muckey about how they stay motivated. “Especially at our age, there are not a lot of kids that want to play Johnny Cash, the Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and stuff like that.”
“We’re working on originals right now, but we don’t have any that we’re ready to play live yet,” said Perella, explaining how each of the band members comes from a different music background.
Nelson agreed, adding how he prefers classic rock. “I feel like that’s what makes us special – we come from different genres, it works when we play together.”
They perform at the local Java Hut and greatly enjoy playing at Sleepy Hollow.
“I like the outdoor gigs, those are always fun,” said Perella. “We played at Berks A Palooza not long ago, which was a grouping of a bunch of different bands. There were upwards of 30 bands that played. That was probably my favorite show so far.”
“We have approved a lot from where we once were,” said Nelson.
Perella said he’s started to take vocal lessons, and they’re all gotten better. With their personal improvements, their set list has seen improvements as well.
“For our first set list, we had like 5 to 7 songs and now there’s upwards of 50,” said Nelson.
The band’s name was inspired, in a way, by the ’90s film The Crow. “Vinnie and I went on The Crow’s Wiki page and found it achieved ‘Cult Status’ and we thought that was cool,” explained Perella.
Practicing at least once a week for severel hours, Muckey says, “We’re trying to get as much done as we can and basically we’re trying to get as many shows as we can. We really love playing live.”
Perella and Neslon have begun collaborating on original songs for the group.
“The end goal: we’re trying to get some original songs down for a demo,” said Nelson. “A lot of bars have been requesting originals from us rather than just covers. It would allow us to get into more places.”
The group mainly performs in the Reading area, with hopes to expand.
