• cayetana-28

Watch

CLOSE  

Released

June 4th, 2014

Director

Producer

Editors

Cayetana - Miss Thing

To say the core of any band is friendship is often to state the obvious. But to the funny and charming women of Cayetana, it holds special significance. In the 'boys club' that is indie rock, it took finding each other to get them off the sidelines and making music together. We're glad they did.

   We often like to feature bands that are early in their careers, but we don’t often get to feature bands that have only recently mastered their instruments. Cayetana: Augusta Koch (vocals), Allegra Anka (bass) and Kelly Olsen (drums) are veterans of the indie rock scene in Philadelphia--just not as players. “We all tried to play music in some form or another for a long time,” explains Allegra. “But for whatever reason, it just didn’t happen.”

Like engineering and tech, indie rock is a male dominated sector, and so it’s unsurprising and more than a little bit sad to note this story is a common one. “[Music] was always a boys club [to us],” says Augusta. “A great group of boys, but a boys club.” And so for years of these women’s lives music went un-played, songs went unwritten and their aspirations waited patiently behind the scenes.  Two years ago, they all ended up in the same room and before they really knew what instruments they’d play or how to play them, they decided to start a band.     

   When we discovered them, we knew working with a band that is so wet behind the ears might present some challenges, but we also saw it as a great opportunity to witness growth in real time. As good-natured as they are—and believe me, our shoot with them was a blast—you can sense that they are hungry to make up for the lost time, to “catch up” as they put it to us. We could see their determination to grow as musicians, and more importantly that they have a clear aptitude for it. So in February we decided to bring them to Miner Street and give them two days to track a new song.

   We began day one with the trio setting up in the live room. Jokes were swapped and tattoos were shared between the band and crew. Friendly faces arrived to wish them well, including Mark Quinlan from Hop Along (Volume 4, Episode 6). It seems that most people who get to know them end up rooting for them, and there were no exceptions here. The mood was fun and light as the band ran through their track, “Miss Thing,” a few times.

We peeled off Augusta’s guitar to make it a scratch and started focusing on bass and drums. As tracking loomed we decided to make a few changes to the arrangement, mainly to solidify the rhythm behind the song. This was where we got to witness some remarkable progress. When you’re still gaining experience, it’s easy to over-think and get stuck when asked to make changes on the fly. Cameras, of course, don’t help, and soon we found ourselves running through 4, 5, 6 takes, making tweaks to drum parts each time. “The pressure was all on Kelly,” reflects Brian in the production video. “And she really rose to the occasion. I probably would have cracked under that pressure.”

   We continued to plod ahead, and while clearly challenged, Kelly rose to the occasion. As the afternoon progressed, we began to see the sometimes subtle but always consistent support from Allegra and Augusta: looks of affirmation or understanding, words of support. “I always wanted to play the drums,” says Kelly. “But it was a matter of comfort. And I was only ever comfortable playing with these ladies.” A few more takes and we’d found what we were looking for. We crossed basics of our list and moved on.

   “I don’t know how anyone can ever be in a band where they aren’t happy with everyone.” says Augusta. “You have to rely on each other for emotional support, for nerves, for playing together, so I don’t know how people aren’t all best friends.” And they are, truly, best friends. It’s not just that they get along well, (which they do) or that they share the same sense of humor (which they definitely do) or even that they clearly care about one another. It’s that the friendship at the heart of Cayetana brings out the best in Augusta, Allegra and Kelly. It allows them to do more than they ever could alone. Watching “Miss Thing” come together was to see that bond in action.

   The rest of the shoot flew by, and by the end of the next day we felt witness to something special and something worth sharing. Every episode shoot is fraught with risk, but this one felt especially good to finish because of how rewarding it was. To affirm these women and their place in indie music, to help them achieve what they’ve waited so long to achieve, and to make some great music and video in the process. 

 
CREDITS

Director

Executive Producer

Producer

Field Audio

Still Photography

Director of Photography

Editors

Camera Operators

Production Assistant

Band

Audio Production

Engineers

SUPPORT FOR THIS EPISODE FROM

If you like this episode. You might also like...

Vol 4 Ep 5

Hop Along

EDU

Vol 4 Ep 6

The So So Glos

Vol 5 Ep 2

The Tontons

EDU

Vol 3 Ep 6

Ava Luna

Vol 3 Ep 5

Purling Hiss

RAW TRACKS

MIX STEMS

DRUM SAMPLES


LO-RES

16 bit / 44.1 Kbps

412.6 MB

389.2 MB

83.5 MB

HI-RES

24 bit / 88.2 Kbps

1.2 GB

831.7 MB

87.9 MB

TRACK SHEET

.XLSX

Thoughts?   Comments?   Remixes?
You need an account to do that Set up an account Never Mind

Please register for an account first. If you already have one, log in here.