Vegas’ The Cab taking control

It's going to be just like Christmas.

In August.

"When that CD comes out, I'm going to be, like, running down the stairs in my pajamas, just stoked to open presents under the tree," says Alex DeLeon, singer for Vegas rockers The Cab. "I'm so excited."

DeLeon's hyped about next Tuesday, when The Cab's sophomore album, "Symphony Soldier," gets released. It has been three years since the band dropped their debut, "Whisper War," which went on to sell more than 100,000 copies and began to establish real momentum for the boundlessly buoyant group.

But since then, The Cab has weathered van crashes on the road and both lineup and label changes, splitting from their former record company to exert more control over the direction of their career.

"We've had so many people tell us 'No, this isn't going to work, you're not doing it right,' " DeLeon says. "We had every opportunity in the world to be fake and to be who everyone else wanted us to be and just come out of the machine as this product. And we were like, 'No, we're not going to do that. We're going to stick to our guns.'

"We paid for this record completely out of our pockets," he continues. "We did it all on our own. We just really wanted to do it our way."

The end result is an album of R&B-inflected, love drunk pop rock with ringing, U2-esque guitars set against funky synth zaps and DeLeon's doe-eyed, ever earnest delivery.

The band worked with an array of songwriters on the disc, including such big names as Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Bruno Mars, who The Cab collaborated with on piano ballad "Endlessly," which sounds like the kind of tune that will have the airwaves in a stranglehold before long.

Polished to a sheen, "Symphony" chronicles substantial growth for this bunch.

"We recorded our first record when we were 17 and 18 years old," guitarist/pianist Alex Marshal says. "We were just so excited to be in the studio, doing what we loved to do, that we kind of went in every direction that everyone else wanted us to do. I don't think our music has changed, per se, it's just more us."

The Cab's already on the road, calling from California, supporting the new record before it's even out yet. And like "Symphony" itself, their experiences feel fresh and familiar all at once.

"It's awesome, because it's like I kind of get nervous again," DeLeon says of returning to the stage after taking a pause for recording. "It's like that feeling you get when you first start a band. Those butterflies are back."

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476.