Photograph by CJ Harvey
CAAMP co-founder, guitarist, and banjo player Evan Westfall grew up in Columbus with fellow co-founder and lead singer, Taylor Meier. Since their early days on the Central Ohio open mic circuit, the group has gone on to climb the Billboard charts, play on Colbert and Kimmel, and sell out venues all over the country. Before CAAMP stops in Cincinnati on Sunday, August 24, we sat down with Westfall to discuss what it means to play in his home state.
CAAMP’s tag line is “Ohio boys making beautiful noise.” What does it mean for you to play in Ohio on a worldwide tour?
EW: It’s the best. You’ve always got friends and family, and it’s cool to see them out there jumping up and down, rooting for you. And you just want to make them proud always, you know, and make our home state proud. It’s a big old celebration always playing in Ohio.
Would you say any of the Ohio/Columbus/Midwest music scene inspired any of your sound or process?
Yeah, absolutely. I think all the above the areas we grew up in, in Columbus and in Athens, Ohio, where Taylor [Meier], the singer, spent four years. I spent a year down there. Like the nature surrounding Athens, and the people there inspired Taylor a lot in the beginning. Also, our family and friends growing up in Columbus. There was always a great, diverse music scene in both Athens and Columbus. We got kind of came into our own in Athens and started playing our first proper CAAMP shows at open mics and house shows in Athens, and met so many great, like-minded bands and musicians down there. All of that was extremely inspiring and still is.
I can hear the inspiration of nature in your music. How do you think it comes across, and how do you incorporate that?
In the beginning, we started working really hard at the CAAMP stuff in Athens, and you’re in, you know, the hills of Southeast Ohio. There’s a lot of nature down there, all the beautiful trails and hills and stuff. At the time, we decided we wanted to try playing as a duo, so it was acoustic guitar and banjo. Campfire music is how we decided to build the brand—campfire, camping, outdoors, acoustic instruments.
Your new album, Copper Changes Color, came together over a two-year process. What was the process of putting it together and taking that time to do it?
We had some time off the road, and we more than ever, had just a lot of time to write and record. So, we had a fun time traveling to different studios and trying stuff out. It was a lot of time that we were able to, besides the first album, really gather our thoughts and build an album.
We just made the most of it. And, like I said, like we just tried a bunch of different studios just for fun, and kind of saw them as, like little vacations in a way and didn’t put pressure on ourselves to force anything. It just kind of let whatever we felt like playing or jamming that day kind of come out, and we saw every idea through.
Have you noticed any sort of evolution in your sound going from your debut album up until the newest release?
I think musically, this last album was, you know, a little more plugged in. We’re having fun with electric guitars and stuff and playing fast and but I think the heart of it, it’s all the same. We’ve always been making melodies and great vocals and lyrics, and maybe just with a different with like a mask on or something. I think the heart of it’s always been the same, but just having a little bit more fun with like different instruments and stuff different sounds.
What is the experience of being a more acoustic band in a world that’s filled a growing digital and electronic sound?
Personally, I love it—especially early on when we were really trying to stand out and prove ourselves. We’re on a festival bill with 20 different bands, or even at an open mic, that was kind of one of our goals. Why I started playing the banjo in the first place, was so we could stand out as a duo. We had confidence in the music. It was just a matter of getting people to latch on to it and remember us. And we thought it was a great way to tour early on. It was super easy to get around early on and stand out as an opener or at a festival. And not be completely broke. You can make a little bit of money and stay in a hotel room and not get completely burnt out every night. Nowadays, we’re a five, sometimes six-piece band, and we’re able to kind of have more fun instrumentally on stage.
You guys have been getting some more mainstream recognition in the past few years, with spots playing on late night shows, early morning shows, having your song “And It’s Gone” used as the theme to Stick on Apple TV, and being put on Barrack Obama’s 2022 Summer Playlist with the song “Apple Tree Blues.” What does all that mean to you?
It’s just gravy, you know? I mean our goals going into starting this band were “If we can make a living, we can pay bills by doing what we love, that’s all we ever would ever want from this.” So, everything else is just incredible. We laugh and talk about it all the time. It’s just insane what’s happening, and it’s not why we set out to do it, but it’s just fun and awesome. We’re super, super grateful for all those opportunities.
What are you hoping audiences get out of your current tour?
We’re at the point in our careers where the fans have made us what we are. We’re able to do what we do because of our fans. It’s almost like chefs at a restaurant, we just want the people to walk away feeling over the moon with what they came to see and more. It’s all about the fans at this point, and we just want them to be so super proud of us and feel like they’re getting their money’s worth at any show or when they buy a record. Our band has become other people’s at this point, it’s no longer ours. It’s for the people at this point, you know? We just want people to walk away extremely happy and like they can come to a show for an hour and a half to two hours and forget everything else that’s happening for a little bit.
You guys are doing a special collab with Ohio State Football this upcoming season, is that right?
Yeah, it’s incredible. Taylor and I were born into Ohio State. Being from Columbus, we have Ohio State families and are Buckeye fans, of course. It’s just so cool to be recognized by them. I know exactly when we won national championships in the past, and then I remember exactly where I was. Early on, when we were little, those were the people we looked up to—the athletes and the coaches. Before we really knew much about music, it was sports. We would go to games, and we worshiped that world and the people in that world.
Are there any local acts from Cincinnati that you want to highlight?
One of our best family friends, Paul Cavins, lives in Cincinnati, and he was, and still is, a great musician. He was in a band called Throneberry in the ‘90s, and he ran in the Afghan Whigs’ scene. Some of the first music that I really latched on to was recommended by him.
In my head, growing up, Cincy was like a music Mecca, and I think it is. I just remember being little and Bogart’s and the Woodward and places like that were, were sacred spots to me. He’s still an incredible musician and plays, pick-up gigs and stuff, so I do want to credit my “Uncle Paul” for recommending so much great music out of Cincy and really getting me into it. It’s always exciting to play there.
Anything else you want to let people know about the show?
It’s going to be hot, so drink water. We’ve had a couple pass-outs this summer, and we’ve had to stop the show a few times, and hate to see people drop in like that.
Also, I don’t think we’ve played our own proper show in Cincinnati for quite a few years now. We had an opportunity to play just over the river in Kentucky, but we specifically wanted to play on Cincy soil.
CAAMP will be playing at the ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park on Sunday, August 24 at 7 p.m. with special guests Sam Fribush Organ and Maggie Halfman.
Facebook Comments