2016 is off to a great start for country trio The Cains. The three siblings, Taylor, Madison and Logan Cain, have been making quite an impact on country music with their recently released new single, “Knock Knock,” to country radio. The group offers a fresh and unique sound to the genre that fans are quickly embracing.
We got the chance to catch up with Taylor, Madison and Logan to chat about their new single, music video and much more! Check out our interview with The Cains below!
Country Music Rocks (CMR): You recently released your new single “Knock Knock” to country radio. Give us a little background, and tell us about this song.
The Cains: “Knock Knock” is the only song on the EP that we didn’t write. It was written by Jaida Dreyer, Stephony Smith and Dave Thompson. We got to go to Canada because that song had two Canadian writers, so that was really cool. This song stuck with us. We heard it six months prior to recording it, and we could not get the whistling out of our head or the phrase “Knock Knock.” We knew that this had to be important. For that to stick with us and for us to remember a lot of the words, we knew that was a big deal.
Fun Fact: While the The Cains were on a family vacation, their grandfather, 3-4 times during the day, would stick his head through the door and say “knock knock.” That makes for a great memory of the song on a personal level for the band.
CMR: The music video for “Knock Knock” was just released. Tell us a little about the video. Were there some fun behind-the-scenes moments?
The Cains: We kind of went underground to do the video in terms of we didn’t really tell a lot people. We didn’t even tell completely everyone on our team what we were wanting to do for the video. We just talked about it, the 3 of us, like what kind of story do we want to tell and how can we do this differently than what people will be expecting. I think we definitely nailed it as far as people not expecting it.
We were running around a lot. Taylor was in Chicago, we were all traveling around different places. I (Madison) was running around to Party City getting all the feathers they had, and all the Gothic stuff. It was fun. We were braiding our hair at 5 in the morning! The video was definitely more DIY than it looks!!!
I think it’s a cool concept that we came up with. The song seems like it would be someone talking to a significant other possibly, kind of complaining about a relationship. We wanted to show in the video that we were talking to ourselves and trying to remind ourselves, don’t forget who you are and don’t be so cold. You get used to this town and you get used to people telling you no a lot, so we just kind of wanted to remind ourselves “hey wake up, be excited about your career and don’t change who you are.” That was kind of the concept behind the video.
CMR: It sounds like you had a lot of creative control for this video. What was that like taking control on this project?
The Cains: I think that’s been a huge blessing. By and large one of our goals as a group is we’d love to land with one of these major labels, but right now, being independent, there’s an amount of freedom that we never want to take for granted. We have friends that have deals, and there are certain times when they can’t release music when they want or they can’t make a video exactly how they like. We are extremely grateful for our team, and the people that are with us that say “we believe in you from square one and if you want to wear feathers on CMT.com then you can.”
I think that has been a really big part in the transition of our career. We thought maybe we weren’t country enough, or we weren’t “this” or “that” to fit into a certain mould, but all along the way we’ve had people tell us it’s okay. It’s okay to be different because it’s needed.
CMR: You recently released a Self-Titled EP this summer. For folks that haven’t picked that up yet, how would you best describe that collection of music?
The Cains: We got to the point where we were writing and thinking what songs go to radio & what do we need to do. We just kind of took a break from that and said let’s make one album that we’re so proud of and that we can look at anyone and say, “this is exactly what we wanted to do, this is The Cains and this is what they sound like.”
We took some songs that we had written years ago and mixed them with songs we had written two days before we went into the studio. We just felt like these 5 songs was a nice blend of everything we liked, from “Journey’s End” that has more of the Coldplay/Pop sound with these huge melodies, to “Miss Red, White and Blue,” which is a very gritty rock, country vibe. Even though these songs are a little bit different, they totally show every side of the music that we like to create. When we go back into the studio, it’s so much pressure. How do you make a new favorite, over something that you love so much!!
CMR: How do you balance being siblings and working with each other day in and day out?
The Cains: It’s just little reminders, like what a gift that you get to do music. What a blessing that you get to have a career doing something that you love. I think that we are so grateful for each and every opportunity that it helps us not butt heads so hard. Maybe it goes back to the way we were raised as well. We just see eye to eye on so many things and so many issues, and at the end of everything we’re family. Family is most important. I would not pick something I like over them, and vice versa.
In a career like this, it doesn’t really have hours. A lot times we’ll do a full day of either recording, or writing, or interviews, and then we’ll come home and start prepping for our show. There’s no really off time. We have to make the time to spend time together where we’re not talking about music or our careers.
CMR: What is one thing about country music that resonates with you the most?
Madison: We listen to every type of music, but I get chill bumps on my legs more often listening to country music than anything else. A lot of times it’s a story song, it’s about family, it’s heartbreak. Whereas if you listen to a pop song it might just be a hook sung over and over in the chorus, it’s not that deep or relatable. My favorite thing about country music is that it takes you to another place. I can actually picture the songs, and I can walk through the stories in my mind. It’s totally different than anything else.
Logan: I would say that as well. Another think I like about country music is getting to do interviews and getting to do radio tours and different things. It seems whether it’s the fan base, the media, or other artists, everyone wants this strong family and community where everyone is accessible, and no one is too cool to talk to. You don’t hear that often about big artists in other genres going to do an interview at a local radio station. People don’t stop being people just because they’ve established a fan base or some sort of notoriety. I love that about country music and the artists that do it.
Taylor: I agree with everything that they’ve said. Being in this town we’ve gotten to know a lot of the people that have written some of these songs. I don’t know many of the stories and reasons why people write the songs they do in the pop genre or rap. But for country, it’s been kind of cool to know some of the people writing the songs and to really understand what they meant, and see what they were going through when they wrote the songs. We want to feel something country, that’s what we want to be known as. I feel like there’s a lot of people that inspire us that are already doing that, with their words and with their music.
The Cain’s single “Knock Knock” is available on iTunes now. Be sure to grab your copy and also call in & request their new single at your favorite country radio station.
Keep up with Taylor, Madison and Logan by visiting their Official Website, Like them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
