It’s not every day that a young local band spot one of their heroes on the street, grab a selfie, play him a demo and then find themselves doing an opening set at his star-studded gig that very night. But that’s precisely what happened to The Caymans when they were in Leeds recording one day and saw Pete Doherty of The Libertines.
As a young college band, the process has been exciting and given them a sense of hope that something big could be happening. The aftermath of the night’s events are still in full force.
“It’s been great,” said Jacob, the band’s bassist. “It’s definitely pumped us up and re-instilled our confidence. We’ve started speaking to managers. There’s even a guy from LA we spoke to. It’s very interesting”.
The band’s origin story is that of many creative outcomes. Cousins Jacob and Ewan encouraged each other to play during lockdown. They were then joined by frontman, Alastair, during their time at Calderdale College. The missing piece was finding a drummer.
“We met at a Noel Gallagher concert at The Piece Hall. And the rest is history.” said drummer, Toby.
It seems The Caymans can’t help but fall into significant moments when indie-rock stars from the 2000s are around. There’s definitely an underlying influence of the Britpop icons, Oasis, in the the bands’ songs, but their creative process at the moment seems to be ever expanding, as the teenage group have varied tastes in music. Rather than letting this become a barrier, they’re figuring out their own sound more and more every day. After the awe-inspiring Libertines story, they have a new-found confidence and sense of self.
“We’re lucky, because we all like different things. There are a few bands we agree on. Al writes the majority of the songs. We kind of throw a bunch of stuff in the mixing pot and hope it sticks, but we’ve started to find our groove a bit more in terms of who we are as a band.”
The lads are proud of their roots. Growing up in the Halifax scene, it’s clear they’ve forged musical alliances from a young age, and want to make sure the support between Calderdale musicians stays strong.
Jacob: “There’s loads of potential. There’s a lot of good bands. We’re all mates and we all shared a primary school. Or a drummer!”
There’s something homely about The Caymans. After the events that catapulted them into the media, they still give kudos to the Calder Valley and recognise the importance of the local community.
Jacob: “A lot of Halifax is quite pretty. I think we have a lot of things to write about here. And if you live somewhere that’s always sunny, you never write about the rain. We’re a very proud county. We like to be ourselves. It’s about taking influences and doing what you can with them. And helping other people – that’s important”.
The Caymans intend to give back where they can, even after this life-changing opportunity. Their spirit towards grassroots means hopefully they’ll be able to watch and help the local bands grow and take their first significant steps, just like they’re doing now.
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Words & Media: Niamh Robinson (Digital Content Apprentice, The Grayston Unity)
