Interview – Caveboy

Interview By: Heather Young
Photo Credit: Remi A & Caveboy

Caveboy is an indie group composed of Michelle Bensimon, Isabelle Banos, and Lana Cooney, formerly known as Diamond Bones. The girls have just released their new single “In the Grottos”. We got a chance to catch up with the girls to chat about music and their newest adventures.

Your sound is very unique, what is your biggest musical influence? 

It’s hard to pinpoint just one major influence; we pull from so many genres over so many generations. We all grew up listening to the music our parents’ loved playing around the house so we’re definitely influenced by artists like Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac, but we also get really excited by the more recent artists who manage to fuse together such a wide variety of musical styles, artists like Florence & the Machine and Bombay Bicycle Club.

What made you decide to get into music? 

I don’t think any of us ever really “decided” to, haha! Music for us, and maybe this goes for any art form, seems to have decided on us? It was an activity and form of therapeutic expression, like a release, that we connected with at a very young age and haven’t been able to disconnect from since. It’s a very strong force that takes over our bodies and minds.

You each play an assortment of instruments, what was the first one each of you learned how to play? 

Isabelle: I was forced into violin when I was 4, but quit pretty soon after because my teacher was mean and kind of smelled. Luckily that didn’t break me, and I went on to find my dad’s guitar in the basement one day and found the strings and the way I could manipulate them to be pretty awesome. From guitar came my passion to learn as many instruments as I could.

Michelle: I’d always been a singer and was kind of pushed into the ‘pop star’ direction, but couldn’t seem to find any connection to that as I would sit alone at the age of 10 with my acoustic guitar playing and singing every Tracy Chapman song I could think of. I’d always used guitar and keys as accompaniment to my voice, until I discovered how much I loved them just the same.

Lana: I was fortunate enough to grow up in a musical family where there was always an eclectic array of instruments at my disposal in the basement. My dad always encouraged me to play around on whatever I could get my hands on. I tried piano first, then guitar, but the drums called to me in a way the others didn’t.

Where would you like to see your career in 5 years? 

We hope to reach more and more people with our music all over the world over the next few years; Touring, festivals, meeting new people, making new fans and friends.

How did you come up with the concept of the video for In the Grottos? 

We were brainstorming about the meaning behind the song along with the concepts and ideas of ‘Caveboy’ and since this would be our first visual representation of the band, we really wanted to hit the nail on the head. Childhood, youth, and nostalgia go so deep and are so important to us, we’re happy we found a way to represent that in this video.

Here at Canadian Beats we like to include a just for fun portion so your fans can learn something new about you, ready?

No…ok yes.

If you could spend a day with anyone, dead or alive who would it be? 

Isabelle: Dalai Lama

Michelle: Stevie Nicks.. no, wait. Lindsay Buckingham.

Lana: Oh man. George Martin circa 1966.

If you could tour anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

Isabelle: South America

Michelle: Morocco

Lana: USA

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Isabelle: Mean humans.

Michelle: Cat hair.

Lana: Finding raisins in something you didn’t think had raisins in it.

What has been your most embarrassing moment? 

Isabelle: I don’t think we have enough time for me to mentally go through my list.

Michelle: Ditto.

Lana:  It involved me mispronouncing a word in French and subsequently telling a stranger to take it up the butt. (sorry editor)

What’s the one thing you absolutely can’t live without?

Isabelle: These 2 ladies.

Michelle: Ditto. And my cats. I really can’t leave out my cats.

Lana: What Isabelle said + coffee

And last but not least, any thing you would like to say to your fans? 

THANK YOU. Thank you for supporting music and art in a time where the world can really use it. We love you hard. We can’t wait to meet you all.