Catch an interview with Nicola Wincenc and Lucio Westmoreland of Caverns and check out singles "Ghosts" and "Count To Five".
What brought the band together?
Nicola: We actually all went to the same high school together. More specifically, we were all part of a class that brought a bunch of new songwriters together and we all just kind of really dug the vibe and started playing over the summer and ended up forming the band together.
Lucio: It was a music type school, it wasn't just regular.
Nicola: We were nerds.
Which artists have inspired your sound?
Lucio: Well, we all like different music - and we like a lot of the same music too - but as a band, I think Pink Floyd was a big influence in terms of old bands and then, I guess, dream pop and heavy guitar riffs.
Nicola: Yeah, and I mean, we're down to get heavy, too.
Lucio: It's more of a cluster of a lot of eras and something that I think is entirely new; combining dream pop with heavy guitar riffs and old seventies sounding stuff as well, so there's a lot of new and a lot of old.
Nicola: I was going to say, in terms of what we sound like versus what we think we sound like as a band, compared to what other people have told us, we've gotten a lot of Jeff Buckley from other people and I like to think it's psychedelic Jeff Buckley and also intimate; Jeff Buckley on acid.
What words would you use to describe your sound?
Nicola: Jeff Buckley on acid. Our manager really likes the term 'sonic explosion'. We love colors so we associate our sound with lots of colors.
How does this sound compare to what you were doing as Suchaporn?
Lucio: Well I think the cool thing about this band is the sound is what everybody brings to it and so it wouldn't be the same if we had one member short or anything, but it's the same band, same guys. The band name was Suchaporn and we really loved the name because the music has like this element of craziness and freedom to it.
Nicola: It has an element of in your face too.
Lucio: And that name was honestly, we thought, kind of perfect, but people weren't taking it seriously so we had to do it right and respect our sound and give it a name that people could look at and not be like 'what the fuck?'. I mean, arguably, we're just as sexual and we're just as deep, the music's of the same caliber. We didn't particularly change it for any reason other than we really wanted to come out with our sound as a new thing.
Why choose the name Caverns?
Nicola: Yep, Caverns, we're deep; we run through your veins.
Lucio: That was actually part of the reason. Caverns we just thought was like a vague enough, complex enough, deep enough name after what the different parts of the sound are and, taking the visual association, we like the name and how it sounds.
Nicola: I think it's really good in terms of, if you really want to get into the name, that every song, you know, if there's any type of person who likes any kind of music, I feel like they can really kind of pick out some sort of different style or sound and so I feel like it can appeal to a really, really wide range audience. You know, people that like oriented music or people that like classical or people that like just straight up rock. I think that what you're going to hear from us with our new releases, there's a really wide range of that. The first song we released is really upbeat, it's pop-y, but the second song will give people really an idea of what we have up our sleeves and what we're going to be putting out in the next few months.
Is "Ghosts" indicative of the sound we can expect to hear on the EP?
Lucio: It's a lot of that and a lot of other stuff. It all has that dream pop combination with rock but we just do it in a lot of different ways and I think it stays pretty fresh and pretty interesting.
Nicola: I think that's well put. I don't know, I think every song that we'll be putting out, I think there's really something exciting and new that people will be getting from the band and it's not just another track that you've heard before. I mean, that's really what we're trying to keep in mind.
What do you tend to keep in mind while working on new songs?
Nicola: Yeah, we all are really passionate artists and we all really appreciate everything in all different avenues of art so I think one thing when we're writing and planning out music we really try to put our minds not just in one corner of art, you know, we love doing film, we love doing shows, we love just keeping up our inspiration and not just getting cornered.
Lucio: I think that the point you were getting at is we like to take in from as much as we can without being confusing, like drawings and shows and as many different art forms and genres as we can allow.
Nicola: I think we just like so many different types of music that it's cool to finally put all of our passion in music into one band and one song and one idea. I feel like that's why people who like all types of music can really relate to us.
Any current releases you're listening to right now?
Nicola: I mean, I was listening to the Drake record yesterday.
Lucio: I was bumping some Britney Spears yesterday too.
Nicola: Wait, what?
Lucio: Yeah, no, I'm kidding.
Nicola: We were excited when the Bjork and D'Angelo records came out. Those are two new records I really like. I'm really excited for the new Radiohead record.
Lucio: Yes, that one.
Nicola: Yeah, there's a lot of cool stuff coming out this year. It's going to be legit. Actually, after the Grammys, I didn't really listen to Beck's new album but I was yesterday and there's some really good stuff on there.
Lucio: That record's good.
Nicola: Yeah, it's good; it's not like typical Beck, it's a little more pop-y, but it's cool.
Lucio: Yeah it is. But I think, as a band, all five members, we all listened to the D'Angelo record individually and then when we got together we were all talking about it for a couple weeks so that record really definitely had an impact on all of us. There's a lot of good stuff coming out.
Nicola: We like music.
Lucio: I think that people will get that we are appreciative of music.
What do you want to say about your music?
Nicola: I don't think we want to impose on anyone; I think the idea with our music is to really get people to want to listen and, really, I think that people who listen to music will be excited to see our live shows because there's real energy that we bring.
Lucio: Yeah, I think the same. I don't think there's anything I want to tell them except to enjoy the music and come see us play if they like it, 'cause it's really about the music for us.
Nicola: I think the first few singles that we'll be releasing, if a bunch of people like different kinds of music and listen to one song, you know, listen to another one because you never know what you're going to get out of another one, they're all pretty different. I mean, the sound is recognizable, I think that we got that down, we've developed a sound that people can recognize, but I think the elements in each of those songs can really appeal to every type of genre so, if you listen to a song, listen to another one.