a look into "the weight" with cashier

Recently, I had the very cool opportunity to e-chat with Louisiana rock band Cashier. With their debut EP The Weight released just shy of a month ago, we dove into the creative process behind the record and what The Weight really means to them. Give our conversation a read below, allow yourself to become entranced by The Weight, and keep up with Cashier on the interwebs so you don't miss a single thing.

words by Eva

photo via Instagram

With The Weight being your debut EP, did you notice a difference in your writing and recording processes with putting together a collection of work vs putting together a single track? What was the process behind deciding which songs should be added to the EP's tracklist? 

There was definitely a big difference for me. I feel like when writing this EP, I tried to make the songs cohesive, which is something I didn’t really have to think of before. There were no actual decisions of what songs should be added- I just wrote the EP as its own group of songs, so every song on it was specially written for this project. 

The title track "The Weight" is your final and most recently released single off of the EP — what does that phrase mean to you, and how did it come to represent the record as a whole? 

I think as we get older, we are more aware of our mortality and our role in life, our interactions and how they affect the version of us that is perceived by others. I feel the weight we carry can be heavy. How do we navigate life and the lives around us? What do we choose to focus on and how can we connect at all with other life? I’ve been thinking about the versions of self that exist through perception, and the similarities between aging and being born… there is a weight of knowing how life works and understanding that we create a being that exists solely in other peoples’ minds. 

How do you feel your past releases such as Angels All Around and Beginner differ from The Weight thematically and stylistically? 

Angels All Around was kind of a turning point for us. When we were making our first songs, we didn’t really have any direction or idea where we wanted to take the project or our sound; we were just making music for fun and seeing where it would take us. Angels kind of took me to a more serious place in terms of writing guitar music and I wanted to make sure I was doing my parts justice by writing engaging melodies on top of the track. We kind of are paying homage to the artists that have influenced us and our scene over the years, so a lot of our music is reminiscent of the 90s, which I feel is more evident in our new music. Thematically, I’ve chosen to focus on walks of life rather than storytelling, hoping that a wider audience can connect with the feelings of just living and experiencing life around them. 

You've both headlined shows and opened for bands such as TAGABOW and Whirr, is there anything difficult about performing live that you didn't originally expect? How does the energy between audiences compare between local shows and national touring? 

I’ve experienced a lot of different kinds of audiences. Locally, we have a lot of supporters and friends who will show up to any show and fill space and rock out. When you’re a supporting band, it’s a chance to gain new fans. If you’re opening for a band that thousands of people paid to see, that audience is bound to trust the taste of the band you’re opening for- so we gain a lot of fans that way. People are more unfamiliar with the music so it gives them an opportunity to

listen more closely to what we’re playing. Engagement is purely on a show to show basis. It can be super unpredictable depending on what day, time, what city, how many bands are playing, etc. We don’t mind whatever energy the audience wants to put out- we are just there to present our art and hope that people like it. 

Is there a local venue you would consider your favorite, or any Louisiana bands you look forward to seeing on the same bill as you? 

We love The Loose Caboose in Lafayette- it’s our favorite local dive and such an awesome place to play; very community driven and supported. 

When it comes to independent musicians, who are you listening to that you think more people should know about? 

We love the band Jeepo, Proun, Drook, World’s Worst, Pope… so many others.

What can your audience expect from your future releases and live performances? 

We’re hoping to hone in on our sound even more with an LP we are working on, and we’ve gotten a lot more confident as live performers. Hopefully we can execute the vision we are going for and get some new fans and friends along the way.