Canadian Musician - January / February 2020 | Page 43

“We’ve gone against a lot of
advice in focusing so strongly on
on that,” begins Isabelle Banos, who
handles bass, synths, and backing
vocals in Caveboy. “It was the ‘how’ that
became a little complicated…”
Banos and bandmates Michelle Ben-
simon (lead vocals, guitar, synth) and
Lana Cooney (drums, backing vocals)
originally came together in Montreal in
2012 as Diamond Bones, showcasing
an early iteration of their now-signature
take on sparkling, synth-heavy electro-
pop that tips a cap to ‘80s innovators
while boasting a slick modern sheen.
Banos and Cooney had met in col-
lege and were playing together in anoth-
er project around that time; Bensimon,
who lived in Toronto, had seen them
perform and admittedly “thought they
were awesome.” Then, as has become
something of a constant for Caveboy
outside of the debut album conundrum,
things just naturally fell into place.
“They were looking to change
things up and find another member, so I
went to Montreal to jam with them and
just never went back,” Bensimon shares.
“It was this magical thing – this feeling
that nothing else would ever compare;
we just connected so well.”
Cooney takes over: “It didn’t take
very long once Michelle joined up with
us for me to realize this wasn’t just
going to be for fun anymore; it felt like
this was something that could actually
go somewhere, and I think all three of us
fully believed that.”
They did. Shortly thereafter, they
quit their respective jobs and devoted
their time, energy, and resources to
building a career in music.
They made significant strides in
their early years as Diamond Bones;
however, it was in 2015, when they
adopted the Caveboy moniker and
dropped their self-titled debut EP, that
things really started to accelerate.
In the years since, they’ve had
several singles chart on CBC Music’s
Top 20, performed major festivals like
SXSW and Osheaga, been tapped as
direct support for acts like Tash Sultana,
Japanese Breakfast, and Wintersleep,
and had songs featured in major media
like Orange Is the New Black and The New
Romantic. Plus, they were one of the
three acts chosen from a wider pool of
10 finalists to participate in the 2018
Allan Slaight JUNO Master Class career
development program, which only
seems to have galvanized their resolve.
the album. It’s been beneficial for
us to [focus on singles] thus far,
and a lot of people are adopting
that as the new normal, but does
that satisfy us? Does that make
it worth sacrificing all that we’ve
sacrificed?”
“That was definitely a highlight
experience in terms of our development
as a band and a business in a music
industry that’s literally changing every
day,” Bensimon says about the Master
Class. “It kind of kicked us in the butt a
little, and we realized we weren’t exactly
where we thought we were and wanted
to be.”
On both sides of that experience,
they were still writing and recording
music, working with a myriad of differ-
ent people in different places to try and
capture the essence of Caveboy the
way they’d unanimously envisioned.
Despite not hitting the target, they didn’t
consider it time spent in vain, either; if
anything, it just gave them a better idea
of what they wanted and how to get it.
All the while, they brought together
a crack team of industry players to keep
them on-course and continued to build
momentum by organically growing their
audience and sharpening their live show
on the road. What’s more, they’ve done
it proudly proclaiming their identities as
three queer-identified or LGBTQ-allied
womxn in a business that hasn’t always
been hospitable to such attributes.
In October of 2018, about six
months removed from their perfor-
mance at the 2018 JUNO Gala Dinner
and Awards as part of their Master
Class win, the band travelled to Toronto
to meet with producer and engineer
Derek Hoffman (Arkells, Ralph) about a
possible album collaboration. This time,
things clicked.
“We hit it off right away,” Banos
enthuses. “We’re very strong-willed and,
how do I say this? Picky? [laughs] We
just had such a clear vision of what
we wanted and were reluctant to bring
someone else into the creative fold,
but working with him was an incredible
experience. We like to say he kind of
became the fourth brain of Caveboy.”
Working out of Hoffman’s Fox
Sounds studio on the 10 songs that
would become Night in the Park, Kiss in
the Dark, the goal was to capture the
energy and unique spark Caveboy so
vividly exudes on stage. Early singles
like “Landslide,” with its brain-burrowing
vocal melodies and buoyant synth-pop
bounce, and “Silk for Gold,” featuring
a more sombre but equally-sticky and
substantial aesthetic, do just that and
will simultaneously prime fans for the
LP and turn some new heads towards
Caveboy’s creations.
“It’s been a really drawn-out journey
of so many lessons and mistakes and
successes throughout the process
that I think had to happen to make this
record that we’re so incredibly in love
with,” Banos summarizes, noting that
they never strayed from their original
vision despite all they’ve managed to
build on the back of countless hours
onstage and a steady stream of well-
timed singles.
“We’ve gone against a lot of advice
in focusing so strongly on the album,”
Cooney admits. “It’s been beneficial for
us to go the single route thus far, and
a lot of people are adopting that as the
new normal, but does that satisfy us?
Does that make it worth sacrificing all
that we’ve sacrificed?”
The way she presents the ques-
tions, it’s not only clear that the answer
is “no,” but that, as is frequently the case
with Caveboy, one member can confi-
dently speak on behalf of the others.
“I feel grateful every day that I have
two people that, yeah, we disagree
sometimes because we’re human, but
I can trust them with my career and
life,” Bensimon says candidly. “It sounds
extreme and dramatic, but we’d all jump
in front of a train for each other. The
trust in what we’ve built and this family
bond, it’s unlike anything else I’ve ever
experienced.”
Evidently, many of their fans feel
the same way, as they’ve followed and
supported the band on their journey
thus far while being satiated with a
relatively small body of recorded work;
indeed, Night in the Park, Kiss in the Dark
is the payoff they’ve been anticipating,
and considering all that Caveboy has
achieved leading up to it seeing the light
of day on Jan. 31 st , there’s every pos-
sibility they could be one of the hottest
musical commodities in the country by
the time the follow-up comes around…
Andrew King is the Editor-in-Chief of
Canadian Musician.
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 43