Caleido consists of Callie Craig and Orkidea. With their natural love for music, and creating it have given us their newest EP "Field Trip" (out now!) I got the pleasure to talk to Callie and Orkidea about their new EP, their creative/writing process, and so much more.
Hey guys! Thanks so much for taking out the time to answer my questions, how are you? Caleido: Hey! We’re doing pretty well, just taking quarantine day by day.
How did you decide to become a band? How did you come up with your name? O: It was the year after we finished college, 2019, when we actually started the band - I tweeted and asked for the best app to use for tuning guitars because I was starting to pick up music again and Callie replied, and then a couple of weeks later I saw her post a Taylor Swift cover on her finsta. We were hanging out with some friends when we got to talking about our love for music, and right then we decided to start a band. We had a hard time coming up with a name. Nothing really fit, so I just decided to morph our names together. Caleido. C: We had a running list of words that we liked in our Notes app that were all contenders for our name. I woke up one morning to a few texts from Ork that said something like, “ok this is so stupid and you’re going to hate it but I came up with a fun name.” And of course I loved it and we became Caleido!
When did you start writing songs? C: I think the both of us have dabbled in writing songs since we were little. When I was a kid I would always write songs in my journal, and they just slowly became more sophisticated as I got older. I took a creative writing class in high school that introduced me to slam poetry and ended up loving that and continuing it in college. Those classes and experiences really helped show me how to craft lyrics.
What was the first song you’ve ever written? C: Oh no, I really do remember the first song I ever wrote in full. I was hanging out with my friend Claire when I was probably 11, and we co-wrote a terrible, way-too-literal song called “Picture Perfect.” It seriously haunts me to this day. O: When we first started writing together, we actually showed each other our worst songs so that we could set the bar low and have nowhere to go but up. It was embarrassing and hilarious.
How did you guys find your sound? O: Our sound is almost like a conglomerate of all the artists we love. I like taking parts of music I enjoy and pulling inspiration from there. C: Agreed! When we first decided to start making music, we went to a myriad of shows together. We’d introduce the other to artists we loved and tried to pull inspiration from those experiences.
Has there been any change in your writing since the earlier songs? O: Yes, I think we’ve gotten immensely better. We’re also working on not being too harsh when we write. C: Totally! Throughout the writing of the first EP, we were really hard on ourselves. We’d constantly second guess our lyricism and tip-toed around big ideas. We kind of chipped away at that project, whereas now, we’re throwing everything we’ve got at the canvas and not shying away from vulnerability.
When creating a new song which do you start first? Music or lyrics? O: I think I lean towards melody, I try to make up melodies in my head and then put lyrics to them. C: I think both! Sometimes I’ll write a poem that we’ll weave into a melody, sometimes I just sit down at the piano and start tinkering and add in lyrics later.
What’s your favorite thing about being able to create and write music? O: That I get to make music with my talented best friend. C: Awwww! She’s so cute. I would agree -- it’s funny that we used to tiptoe around things because it’s a really supportive environment. I can throw out any crazy lyric and it’s a judgement-free zone.
Do you think where you grew up has an affect on the music you play and the songs you write? C: Thanks to my parents, I grew up on the classics -- The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and especially Bruce Springsteen. I began loving pop, modern rock, indie, folk, etc. when I was about 13, and expanded those interests by going to local shows all throughout high school. I lived right outside of Chicago, so I had all of these amazing acts right at my fingertips. Then in college, I started doing concert photography, which led me to another plethora of shows and my appreciation for the art just kept building. O: My parents are both Albanian, so most of the music that played in the house growing up was traditional Albanian folk songs. Sometimes I think of a really romantic lyric in Albanain and then try to translate it to English. My dad is more westernized, so he introduced me to a lot of the greats like Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, and George Michael. I like the passion in those artists and try to encapsulate that with Caleido.
You guys recently released your newest EP Field Trip, what was the inspiration behind it?
O: We started going to shows once we decided to make music together. After about the third or fourth show, we started dubbing them ‘Caledio Field Trips.’ When we would drive to a new show, we would blast music in the car, garner inspiration for writing, talk about our lives, all of your typical best-friend-road-trip chats. So we really wanted the EP to encapsulate those field trips, whether it was reminiscent of the tracks we listened to or the conversations we had.
What was your favorite track on Field Trip to write and create? C: My personal favorite was Again - A few months back, Orkidea and I were sitting in a Starbucks near our apartment. I think she was reading or working on something for grad school, and I just started doodling. All of a sudden I was fully zoned out and was writing these lyrics about this situation - a friendship, a relationship, a situationship, what have you, that is deteriorating and you’ve hit your breaking point. The lyrics are describing a not-so-fun situation, but we gave it a total pop spin with some fun 2000’s R&B elements to make it a dance track. Watching that go from an angry, sad song written on a gloomy day to a pop song that makes you want to dance was so much fun.
Was the writing process for your early songs like “Again” and “Brand New” any different for the songs on Field Trip? C: The first song written for Field Trip was actually Lake Street. I wrote it in 2019 about a month after we decided to form a band. I was listening to the track “Inside Your Mind” by The 1975 when I was driving home from work and the lyric “Soon I'll crack it open just to see what's inside your mind” just jumped out at me like it never had before. I pulled over on Lake Street and just wrote this ballad which I showed to Orkidea a few days later in full. As we continued to write the EP, it became much more of a collaborative process rather than writing individually and sending to the other person. I think when we were writing Field Trip, I was quantity and Orkidea was quality -- I would send over these songs that were nearly complete, and Orkidea would add in gorgeous new lines that pulled it all together and really elevated the melody. With each new song, I think we have become even more collaborative. Now we’re writing songs together in full, which didn’t happen on the first EP. It’s really exciting to see that growth!
5x6 is one of my favorite songs on Field Trip, can you tell us more about how this track was created and the inspiration behind it? C: Thank you! That was actually the last song we finished for Field Trip, which is fitting as it’s the last song on the EP. One of my favorite ways to write is to pull inspiration from characters in books, television, and movies. I wrote this chorus after re-watching one of my favorite episodes, Girls Season 5 episode 6 (hence the name!). The storyline follows two ex-lovers who randomly run into each other, reunite for one night and romanticize the idea of running off together, but ultimately don’t take the unrealistic leap. As for the melody, we wanted it to be a fun send-off to end our first project together. The upbeat, clean-pop vibe just felt perfect.
Is there a formula you follow when creating music and writing lyrics? O: Not really! We have a shared folder in our Notes app where we write anything and everything down lyrics-wise. Could be a phrase, could be a verse, could be an entire song. Sometimes we’ll immediately build together upon seeing a note, sometimes we’ll sit down at the piano and dig through pages of notes until we find something we want to work on. I think it’s different every time!
When writing lyrics do you have a certain audience you want to reach?
O: I think for us, writing has always been kind of therapeutic. Whether it’s getting something off of your chest, processing a situation, or just letting yourself escape a little bit by dreaming up characters. So I don’t think we think about the audience as much when we’re actually writing, it just happens to resonate since we’re writing about supremely human experiences.
Out of all the songs you’ve ever written, which one was the hardest to write? C: There’s a couple of unreleased songs that may or may not see the light of day that are just so brutally honest. Besides the actual releasing of the songs into the world for everyone to judge you, the scariest part is putting pen to paper and being 100% real about how you’re feeling.
Is there an album in the near future? Would it sound the same as what you create now? Or would there be any twists to it? O: Not sure if there’s an album in the future, but definitely a new project! Definitely don’t expect a Field Trip 2.0 - we’ve been exploring different genres and styles of writing, so the next release could be a bit of a branch out. We’ll have to wait and see!
During the creative process do you listen to any bands or artists? If so, who? C: While we’re actually writing, I try to avoid listening to other stuff. My brain is a steel box of lyrics and melodies, I feel like I remember every song I’ve ever listened to. That can be tough when it comes to writing, because I never want to say the same thing as another artist. On the other hand, Orkidea really enjoys writing by building off other songs. So sometimes she’ll start with a lyric that’s resonating with her and she’ll build off of it.
Which bands or artists inspire you the most? C: You only need to take one look at my social media to know my answer...Taylor Swift. I could write a thesis on why she’s my biggest inspiration, but I’ll leave it at this -- no one is doing it like her! O: I’d say The Weeknd. My cousins and I used to crowd around the computer to listen to his songs while he was still dropping mix tapes on YouTube and MySpace. It’s a really cool feeling discovering an artist early and then seeing them evolve.
If you could tour with any band or artist who would it be? C: I would love to open for Bleachers -- Jack Antonoff is a huge inspiration of mine and let me tell you, as someone who has been to probably 10 Bleachers shows, those fans are dedicated. O: Lorde! She’s an incredible songwriter so I think we’d learn a lot. Plus, she’s our age, so it would be a lot of fun.
We’re all about finding new music, who should we be listening to right now? C: Ooo great question! I’ve been listening to a lot of girl in red, Samia, Claud, and Spacey Jane recently. I’m always looking for new music though!
O: Caleido. :) Thank you guys so much for all that you do and for featuring us!
Words by Melody
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Listen to "Field Trip" here
