Cavalier Rose Interview for Know Your NYC Bands

BeatCrave brings you band, Cavalier Rose, as part of our Know Your NYC Bands series. Although they are a fairly new band in the musical epicenter called Brooklyn, Cavalier Rose’s sound could fool anyone into thinking they’ve been a professional band for decades. They categorize themselves under the “rock” genre, but it’s obvious that this four-piece band (half male, half female) touches on so much more with your first listen. With Sia-like vocals that could easily slide into jazz or folk, there is a beautiful combination of grooving bass lines, theatrical drums that can crash or simmer with just the right amount at the right moment, and strong guitar chords underneath these haunting vocals.

Just two months after their formation, Cavalier Rose recorded their debut EP, Primary Colors, and it is available to dowload for FREE at their website now. I’ve already downloaded mine and the entire record is nothing less than jaw-dropping. Cavalier Rose plays The Delancey on June 17th starting at 10:30. If you’re in the area, make sure to catch them live! Seeing a band who deserves critical acclaim is one thing. Seeing a band like that in their earlier stages is another story that is very rare and humbling.

Just watch a video of their debut performance of “Lie to Me” from April below to see what I mean. Then make sure to check out an exclusive interview we were lucky enough to get with the entire band!

How long has Cavalier Rose been a band?

Sarah: 5 months?
Gibbs: Yeah, the four of us first got together sometime this past winter. In the beginning we hung out a bit and played together quietly in each other’s living rooms.  The first time we got together for a full on rehearsal was about 3 months ago.
Chase: We recorded and began gigging relatively soon after coming together.

Whose idea was it to form a band?

Heather: Chase n G
Chase: G and I decided to put a band together back in college.  Since that time (around 2004) G and I have continually been searching for the right mix of musical personalities.  With Cavalier Rose, we feel pretty confident we’ve found something special.
Gibbs: After living in Brooklyn for almost a year we found ourselves playing with Sarah.  We had all these ideas so we decided to look for a singer.
Sarah: We continued to write and record demos while we searched for our final piece. Chase and G found Heather – and the outfit was complete.

Where does your band name come from?

Gibbs: Chase thought of it.
Chase: Sometime shortly after we started playing with Heather, I was looking through some Dali works and came across an obscure sketch he titled “Cavalier A La Rose.”  I was struck by the simplicity of the image, especially in comparison to his more famous work. With regard to using the shortened “Cavalier Rose” as a band name, I especially liked the ambiguity of these words paired together.

It’s hard to not notice that the band is half male, half female. Does the balance of testosterone and estrogen seem to help the band or is it not even an issue?

Heather: Being a girl musician in NYC is a bit difficult because you’re always around ONLY dudes. Sarah came into my life and I was like – GEEZ, FINALLY – and I think maybe that’s what I feel about the added estrogen on stage. Jeez, finally. Plus, she’s just a total powerhouse and that powerful lady-hood is something that I respond to and want to be a part of. Yeah.
Sarah: We all get together and we can be ourselves; no holds barred. Male or female, the bottom line is that we all have a mutual admiration for each other and want to create great music.
Chase: If someone told me five years ago that, right now, I’d be in a band with 2 girls…I would have said they were nuts.
Gibbs: It just happened that way.

Congrats on the release of your EP! Where did you get the idea to record it on a farm?

Heather: Chase and G should field this. I just showed up with what I now guess is swine flu and sang from bed.
Chase: A couple years ago G and I met Dave Raymond, the owner of White Gates Farm, while we were involved with another project.  We loved the vibe of the farm and decided then that we needed to record there at some point.
Gibbs: Dave is so passionate about sound and the farm is such a natural place to capture it.  We like the idea of recording somewhere unique, so that it has its own world and sounds different from other recordings.  And its nice to be able to go hang with the sheep or walk by the river between takes.  Five lambs were born on the last day we were there.  You don’t get that in an isolation booth somewhere in a city.

Your sound is very genre bending. Which bands would you say are an influence on Cavalier Rose?

Gibbs: Everyone in the band listens to different music and we’ve never really talked about what we want to sound like.  Everyone’s individual influences are there and I think we tend to communicate on that level through playing together rather than talking about it.  Everyone in the band blows my mind in different ways when we get together, so I’d rather not think too much about where that’s coming from.
Sarah: The reaction from the EP and our live shows has been great. When people first see a new band, they want to compare it to something, just to put things into context. My favorite thing about the response this band is getting is that people are having a hard time categorizing our sound and when they propose possible influences, it’s all over the map.

You are a fairly new band from a city that is heavily populated with indie music. Has it been easy or hard to be a band from Brooklyn?

Heather: Brooklyn is a hotbed for creativity, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Chase: New York is great in that the city provides a lot of opportunities for bands.  There are many venues to play and there is a large potential audience.  With that said, there are also a lot of bands vying for slots at these same venues and for the attention of this same audience.  It’s a give and take situation.
Gibbs: I love living in Brooklyn.  It’s very exciting with everything going on.  On the other hand, I have a difficult time relating to the whole musical movement that has been going on here for a while.  It’s not that I dislike it, I just don’t feel a part of it.  I sort of feel like a senior in high school who just moved to a new town with a different school.

What are some of your favorite things about the NYC music scene?

Gibbs: You can go somewhere any night of the week and see music.  Last night David Byrne played a free show in Prospect Park.  We go to Terra Blues during the week and see great players like Michael Powers or Saron Crenshaw for free.  It never gets old.
Heather: I like that you can pretty much make your own rules and still get somewhere if you push it hard enough.

The economy is going through a tough time and the music industry is currently suffering. What helps you stay solid as a musician in times like these?

Gibbs: Playing all the time and following my own path and the paths of those I’m playing with; that’s all I can really worry about as a musician.  But you’ve got to make money eventually… it’s the only way you can keep playing all the time.
Heather: I don’t have a choice, actually. I have no common sense. I can’t do anything practical. Music is the only home for me.

Quick-Fire Round:
When you’re not playing a show, how do you like to spend your weekends?

Sarah: Outdoors…as much as possible.

Aside from your own, which album are currently stoked about?

Gibbs: I’m looking forward to hearing The Dead Weather’s debut album.

Who are some of your favorite local bands?

Chase: Dirty Projectors.

What’s your cure for a hangover?

Gibbs: I haven’t found a cure.

Tell us one thing about yourself we probably didn’t already know.

Chase: I love huge dogs and fly fishing.
Sarah: I secretly want to be a bass player.
Heather: I was a debutant.

Photography courtesy of Michael Lanzano