On the battleground of Las Vegas’ Liberty High School in 2005, a fierce war rages on. Sworn enemies Alex DeLeon and Cash Colligan are fighting valiantly for the affections of the same girl. With such an intense hatred brewing between the two high-school juniors, no one could predict that they would soon bury the hatchet and join forces in Colligan’s garage in order to bring their musical minds together.

But it happened. However after posting a Myspace demo of songs they wrote together, newly crowned vocalist DeLeon and bassist Colligan realized that they needed a full band to completely realize their musical vision. Luckily they were able to find drummer Alex Johnson, who brought a pop-punk and rock sensibility informed by bands like Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World. Combined with the duo’s love for Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson, this allowed The Cab to finally begin to take their music in an exciting new direction that would reconcile all of these eclectic influences. “I think people like to categorize bands by attaching them to a specific scene, but I don’t want to be thought of as a certain kind of band,” explains DeLeon. “I want to cross over to other communities and have as many people hear us as possible,” he continues. “I never want to be contained to one group.”

The Cab’s lineup was completed with the addition of pianist Alex Marshall and guitarist Ian Crawford. Although they started out as a twosome, these two building blocks were the final step to solidifying the band’s formula for something impressive—and according to their masses of fans, it was working. In fact, The Cab was already gaining an impressive fanbase through local shows, even without a professional recording. “That’s when it really hit us,” states DeLeon. “This was what we really wanted to do.”

Eventually the band passed a demo onto Panic At The Disco’s Spencer Smith and in the span of only a few months, the band found themselves inking a deal with Decaydance/Fueled by Ramen and writing their debut album Whisper War. Produced Matt Squire (Cute Is What We Aim For, All Time Low), The Cab’s debut makes good on DeLeon’s aspirations. Additionally, The Cab are already seeing the fruits of their labor: “I’ll Run” was written within hours of their first rehearsal as a full band and it has garnered nearly 500,000 plays on Myspace. The band was also recently featured on Blender Magazine’s “Hot List” and Alternative Press Magazine’s “Bands You Need To Know” issue. “We’re doing something different, and we can’t wait to get it out there to as many ears as possible,” Cash adds.

From final exams and graduation to rocking the stage with the likes of Fall Out Boy and Panic At The Disco, it’s easy to see that a promising future lies in store for The Cab—and their debut disc turn the heads and impress rockers and pop aficionados alike. “We have some songs that sound like Michael Jackson songs and some songs that sound like traditional pop rock songs with a little bit of soul, but overall the record has a lot of different styles to it,” explains DeLeon.

It’s true. From the unapologetically soulful pop jam “Bounce” and “High Hopes In Velvet” to guitar driven pop-punk anthems like “Take My Hand” and “ZZZZZZ,” Whisper War is a collection of upbeat songs that are so instantly infectious that you’ll have the album imprinted on your brain after just a few cursory listens. “Right now this town is for the taking,” DeLeon sings on the album’s final track “The City Is Contagious,” and when you think about it, that same attitude can be applied toward the songs on Whisper War and the band’s imminent worldwide domination.

So how do The Cab feel about their whirlwind success story so far?

“I don’t know if it’s sunk in to me yet,” DeLeon responds. “A couple of years ago, I was a kid going to local shows and waiting for hours to see Fall Out Boy and it’s so surreal being signed by the people I look up to,” he summarizes. “Everyone over there has been so welcoming and it really is like one big family; we couldn’t ask for anything more.”