Caamp: “It’s the best thing in the world, being in a band with your friends”
The band’s co-founder Evan Westfall talks touring, working with friends and how hockey prepped him for being in a band.
Photo: CJ Harvey
Earlier this year, Ohio-based indie folk group Caamp released their sixth album Copper Changes Color. Now, the group is fresh from playing shows across the UK and Europe.
The group was started by childhood friends, Taylor Meier, the band’s lead singer and banjo player, Evan Westfall. Although the band has expanded over the years to include Matt Vinson (bass), Joseph Kavalec (keyboard) and Nicholas Falk (drums). Ahead of their show in Utrecht, we had a chance to talk to Evan about touring, working with friends, and how hockey prepped him for being in a band.
While prepping to head to the venue, Evan reflected on how the tour had played out so far. “So far, so good. It’s been a grind, [touring] always is, but the crowd have been amazing every night and very respectful. We’ve been having a lot of fun at the shows,” he says.
When asked if he had a favourite show so far, Evan answers, “Milan was really special. None of us had ever been there before, and we had no idea what to expect going into it, and it was just a total surprise. The crowd knew every word, and just super friendly people there. We got to meet some folks after the show, and they were telling us their stories about their relationships with the music and stuff. It was just surreal that we had never been there before and never played there, not knowing what to expect, and then getting that response was pretty mad”.
When it comes to performing, Caamp usually don’t stick to a setlist. “Taylor’s been writing one right before we get out on stage every night just to give us a blueprint. It’s been nice, but we will still switch stuff up while we’re up there on the fly and stuff, depending on how the crowd’s reacting,” Evan explains. The choice seems rather reflective of the band’s overall go-with-the-flow mentality. Although there are certain traditions of sorts, they always come back to. “We like to have fun with Taylor getting back on the drums and playing. We’ve been doing a cover where Matt sings and plays the drums. Then we play our song Going to the Country every night. Just because it’s a fun one to end on, usually. But other than that, it’s kinda all over the place,” Evan notes.
While touring is certainly fun, there are things Evan misses when on the road. When asked what he missed most, he says, “Of course, my wife and my family and friends. But also just the basic amenities at home, you know. It’s a different hotel room or we’re on a bus too, so it’s pretty crammed in there and you don’t have your space really on the road”. He explains how the first week of tour is always tricky as you’re adjusting to the routine and don’t always have access to usual home comforts: “I like to eat a banana every morning and you don’t always have access to a banana where we are or simple things like that. I’m kind of a headcase, and it can throw off my mojo a little bit if I don’t get to do my exact routine”.
Speaking of routines, when it comes to getting ready for a show, things are pretty laid back. Evan explains that, while the pre-show ritual varies night to night, “One of the constants is, at least for me personally, I just have like a drink an hour before the show for the nerves. Nothing too crazy though”. Although that’s about where the routine ends, “We don’t sing any song or anything. Everyone kinda has their drink or two, a couple smokes, and just gets on with it really,” he concludes.
Over the past year, Caamp have not only released a new album but also the new single And It’s Gone, a track which serves as the main theme for Owen Wilson’s newest show, Stick. The song was actually originally meant to feature on Copper Changes Color. “That was one of the first songs Tay had written and brought into the studio. We recorded it, not thinking anything of it. It was gonna be an album track,” Evan explains. “And then, I think Taylor maybe met somebody at one point who worked at Apple, and they ended up getting in touch. They asked if we had any songs for the show. This was before the album had come out or anything, so I think Tay just sent through a few songs that we had recorded, and they liked that song. So, not a very glamorous story”.
As for the songs that did end up on the album, “It was recorded over like a year and a half, maybe. And it was super fun, we weren’t playing as many shows during this time, so we just had more time to be in the studio. We picked a few different studios around the country to have fun with and make vacations out of them. We recorded the first part a little outside of El Paso, Texas and then Portland, Oregon and Manhattan,” Evan says. “I mean, there were songs that Tay got in that we kinda had rehearsed going into the studio beforehand, and then there were songs that we just came up with in the studio as well. So it was a nice mix of different writing processes”.
In terms of writing, like with most things, Caamp doesn’t have one set approach, favouring leaning into whatever works in the moment. Evan cites his personal favourite track as Millions, which opens the album: “If an alien came to earth and asked me what Caamp sounded like, I would send them Millions”.
Evan also shares how valuable the band’s shared understanding of each other is to their process: “One of the great things about being in a band is having so much time with a group of people. There’s a lot of downtime and a lot of time to jam. That’s our favourite thing to do and how we all became friends and got to know each other was just through jamming at someone’s house,” he says. “So yeah, something always comes out, even just at soundchecks too. We get up and we’ll just start to jam on a riff, and a lot of times something like that will turn into the newest song. Having years of shared experience with a group of people, you lean into each other’s strengths, and you know what those are. And it’s a lot of fun to write and jam together”.
For Evan and Taylor, especially, who have known each other since childhood, their bond has been key to their creative success. “I think one of the main reasons we’ve been able to do this for as long as we have is because we started as friends. We used to play music all the time when we were little, but we weren’t as serious back then about it. We were just kinda having fun with it, and then, you know, we’d play guitar for an hour and then just say ‘let’s go drink a beer’,” Evan says. “We just got to know each other on a personal level first and became great friends. I think that’s super special, and now that’s how all of us in the band are”.
While Evan has played music for a large part of his life, it wasn’t always his primary focus, as his main passion was hockey. But following a fateful loss during his high school hockey playoffs, Evan had a shift in priorities. “I was really sad about hockey being over for the rest of my life, but then something clicked in me and I was like ‘band, it’s band time’. I texted Taylor that day and said, ‘let’s do this for real,’” Evan recalls. But, while he’d left hockey behind, the skills he’d developed working in a team certainly came in handy. “I learned a lot about being in a band from playing hockey, specifically, and team sports. So I was always used to having a group of guys around and all fighting the good fight for the same cause, for a win, or for a great show. But in high school, transitions from playing hockey to playing in a band were pretty seamless and just felt natural,” he explains. “I was a defenseman, and you know if we lost the game the defenceman would get blamed, but if we won the game the offence would get all the glory. And so I learned how to be a good team player and not care about all the glory that way as well”.
As for the future of Caamp and what excites Evan the most, he says, “More music. I mean, it’s the best thing in the world, being in a band with your friends, and we’re just fortunate that we’re able to do this as long as we have and continue to do it. We’re always talking about a new album or recording, and writing again makes me excited”.
Copper Changes Color is out now via By and By Records.
