The last time we chatted with Taylor, Madison and Logan, who are collectively known as The Cains, they had just released their first album, ‘Stay on Board.’ This past July they released their sophomore EP, self-titled ‘The Cains.’ They have had a very productive year and they took the time out of their busy schedule to talk with New England Country Music and catch us up on their developing career.
The group visited the UK last March with Country to Country, an annual, multi-day, country music festival created by AEG Europe and SJM Concerts in association with the Country Music Association. The Cains spent a week in central London and performed for festival attendees at the O2’s Saloon Stage and Town Square Stage. In addition to their C2C performances, The Cains also had the opportunity to open for the U.K.’s Bill Kirchen Band at London’s Tingwick Village Hall. While at C2C they met British singer/songwriter, Sasha McVeigh, who invited them back to the UK to go out on tour as her opening band, where the Cains then spent a month. Logan explains, “This trip was our first real touring experience. We got to experience a lot of the work that it takes. It was an experience that we couldn’t have gotten otherwise, so I’m extremely grateful.”
Bringing that enthusiasm back to the states with them, the group has been touring, visiting radio stations and making television appearances to promote their EP. The three agree that the EP has been their favorite project they have done so far. The Cains wrote, or co-wrote, four of the five songs on the EP. Like most artists, it is difficult for them to choose just one song that is their favorite. However, there are certain songs on the EP that the trio are drawn to.
“I really always liked ‘Smoke on the Hill.’ I like singing story songs that didn’t necessarily happen in our lives but it happens to people all the time, so it’s cool to sing about it.”- Taylor
“I really like performing Red White and Blue. ‘Miss Red White and Blue’ comes off as a power song. It was fun to write, it came together easily and the three of us had the same idea and it just started clicking, so we wrote that one in just a couple of hours.”-Madison
“The production that was done on Miss Red was something that the three of us went into with a vision. We recorded it and our producer bounced it back to us a day later. He just nailed it. Just to hear it on the loudest speakers come to life was amazing.”-Logan
The second single off the EP was just released to radio on January 5th. ‘Knock Knock,’ written by Jaida Dreyer, Stephony Smith and Dave Thompson, is the only song on the EP that was not written by the trio. The group was drawn to the tune when it was first pitched to them. Even though they only wanted to have songs that they had written, after hearing ‘Knock Knock’ just once, months later they couldn’t stop thinking about the song. “Every now and then we would start humming and we would be like, what is that?” said Madison.
After they recorded ‘Knock Knock,’ they thought it would be a great first single, but the program director of Sirius XM wanted to start spinning ‘Journeys End.’ It was not a bad choice for a first single, as ‘Journey’s End’ spent over four months on Sirius XM’s The Highway and earned the trio a Top 40 record at country radio.
This second single off the EP, ‘Knock Knock,’ has The Cains very excited and the song has had good response from their audience so far. “People are very intrigued, because it’s not your typical country song, at least from what I’m hearing on the radio right now. But, it is very catchy. It’s got a catchy melody and it’s a story song, in the vein of what we like to do,” Taylor said.
Because they did not pen ‘Knock Knock,’ it was important for them to go through the song and analyze it so they knew what it meant before they went out to perform it. Each of them has interpreted the song in a way that has touched them personally and in doing so it has affected each of them differently.
“There is a section in the song at the second verse, the phrase is, ‘It’s turned you cold and you are hard to hold when you are up in your head.‘ That is something I feel I have experienced. I have been on both sides of that. It puts things in perspective it helps me to think, stay out of your own head, stay where you can hear other people, because lots of times people will tell you things about yourself that you don’t believe.”-Logan
“The coolest part is the hook,’ Knock Knock.’ We just kept singing that to each other all the time. It was such a unique, weird chorus concept. It has great lyrical content.”-Madison
“A lot of times it’s hard for us to all be heard and not be overwhelming with a bunch of voices; and the way it is mixed you can really hear all of our voices separately. I was really happy.”-Taylor
The trio just completed the video for ‘Knock Knock.’ The video is a lot different from their previous videos and has a bit of a dark edge to it. The song was written from a perspective of a girl singing to a guy about a relationship, which he no longer wants. The group decided they did not want to go that route in the video so they chose the theme of being stuck in your own world, being stuck in your head and you cannot get out. It was an opportunity for the trio to be in costume; to become someone new because you do not see their faces. The anonymity of the costumes provided a way for them to almost re-invent themselves while still being authentic to who they are. The Cains do not have an exact date when the video will be released, but anticipate it to be sometime next month.
Next on the agenda for the very busy group, is a trip to Canada for a week. While there, they will be making the rounds at the radio stations and doing some television appearances. The trio have never been to Canada, in fact they have not been too far from Alabama. “We are trying to learn as travelers, to not compare everything to America and just to accept how it is. We really hadn’t left Alabama until we started doing music,” Madison explained.
The group is also looking forward to the warmer weather where they hope to be able to perform at a lot of fairs and festivals. In the meantime, The Cains are playing their music and performing inside where it’s warm, in places where music lovers can congregate, places where the trio can share the joy of their music. Taylor says it best about their upcoming year. “I think we are going to have a really busy 2016.”
At the rate their career has grown over the past year, there is no doubt 2016, and beyond, will be very busy years for The Cains. They are so grateful for all that they have been given, the gift of music and the ability to share that music with others. They are looking forward to the future as they continue touring and performing, while making their mark in country music today.
You can purchase ‘The Cains’ here on iTunes
Follow them on their Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Artist interview conducted by Lorraine Frigoletto, contributing writer for New England Country Music. You can follow me on Twitter.