Page 91 - ION Indie Magazine JulyAug 2023

The Motor City, Detroit Michigan, the city that has brought
us a ton of great musical talent: Eminem, Stevie Wonder,

Bob Seger, Aretha Franklin, The Ramones -- and that is
only the tip of the iceberg of great musical talent. The Lion
Within is another group out of Detroit, and while they may
not be as well-known as the others that have gone before

them, in time, they may be able to claim their seat at the
table of great musical talent from Detroit. Jason Caine, Dan
Chapa, and Jerri Allen make up the group The Lion Within.
They have released three singles and will be doing
upcoming shows with Drowning Pool and Scotty Austin of

Saving Abel fame. Jason Caine was kind enough to answer
some questions about The Lion Within.

Tim Board: How did The Lion Within form?

Jason Caine: The Lion Within started as a concept I had in
early 2020, right as the pandemic was beginning to hit full
force in the U.S. My band of 3 years had split up, and I
decided that I wanted to form a band where I was singing

and playing guitar, writing the lyrics, melodies, guitar parts,
and basic arrangements of the songs. Since everything had
shut down, it was like a forced situation of growth and
development. I began taking online vocal lessons through
Chris Liepe's vocal programs, studying every online bit of
info on proper singing and training that I could find. I began
writing lyrics that were based on things I'd been feeling for
years. I spent most of 2020 just holed up with an acoustic
and wrote 30+ ideas. As things started to settle a bit with
the pandemic, I started going through my options as far as
band members. It was really important to me that everyone
in the band was someone I genuinely liked as a
person…people that I could trust with integrity and truly
enjoyed being around. I'd been in bands with some really
talented musicians over the years but found that even
though the music was great and maybe the band on some
level was doing well, but still wasn't happy as a person
because of personality conflicts. A couple of people were
involved early on, and things didn't work out. As far as the
current line-up I contacted bassist Jerri Allen, whom I'd
known from years ago. Our separate bands would share a
lot of shows together and toured together. We always
remained friends. Jerri had recently separated from a band
he'd been in for 10 years, won awards with, toured with, and
happened to be a free agent. Drummer Dan Chapa was
someone I'd been in a band with before and being that I feel
he's one of the best rock drummers in Detroit, as well as

someone whose band philosophies and work ethic blend so
seamlessly with my own, it was a no-brainer to ask him. Dan
had been working with ex Talk Show vocalist Dave Coutts

yet was available to be a part of The Lion Within as well.