"Taylor and Evan are two good gentlemen, writing good music, and plan on Caamping til’ they croak," reads the last sentence on the "About" page of Ohio band, Caamp's, website.
I stumbled upon Caamp because their newest single, "Down the River" appeared on my Discover Weekly playlist. I essentially spend half of my life searching through Spotify to discover new artists, and I was amazed when I heard their sound. After listening to their debut album entitled Caamp, I was hooked.
Caamp consists of two friends, Taylor Meier and Evan Westfall from Columbus, Ohio. They began making music together during their freshman year of high school, when they were assigned a project in their class, (Backdrop Magazine). Taylor plays the guitar and sings lead vocals, and Evan plays the banjo and is on vocals as well.
Their unique sound can be attributed to Taylor's deep, raspy voice, similar to folk great, Ray LaMontagne, as well as Evan's natural ability with the banjo. Their lyrics are romantic yet raw, and together they create an effortlessly cohesive unit. After falling in love with their sound, I got the chance to interview them.
Did either of you grow up in musical households?
Neither of us grew up in musical households, we're both mostly self-taught musicians.
When did you both know you wanted to pursue Caamp as more than just a hobby?
We decided to fully commit to music and Caamp two years ago in the summer.
Taylor, I know you recently stopped attending college. Was that a hard choice for you or something you were really sure of?
Dropping out of school was the easiest thing I've ever done. I had known I wanted to pursue music for a long time and one day just walked out of class and did it.
What's your writing process like? Do you try and write every day or do you wait until you feel really inspired?
Writing is always different and we're always doing it. I (Taylor) write all the lyrics and Evan and I both contribute to melodies and progressions of the tunes.
Your song "Ohio" now has close to 650,000 plays on Spotify, is that pretty crazy to you?
The Spotify numbers amaze us every day and we're grateful there is an outlet like that for people around the world to hear us.
What are your goals for your music? How do you want your songs to affect people?
The music goals are pretty simple. We want to play our songs to people who want to hear them, we want to travel the world, play the coolest venues, and give people our best efforts as musicians.
Speaking of playing, are there any plans to go on tour?
We are currently working on dates for fall and spring tours around recording new material!
You can follow Caamp's new music and tour updates on the following:
Instagram: @caamp
Twitter: @CaampBoys
