“Frank who?”
Kylie Gaspard is describing her inbox flooding with DMs from her friends about a guy named Frank sharing Beginner, a song by her alt-rock band, Cashier.
“They were like, ‘Frank Ocean!’,” laughs Gaspard, vocalist of the Lafayette, Louisiana-based band. “He listened halfway through, took a picture and posted it. I think it’s in a Rolls Royce. Really crazy, super surreal, and really awesome. He's everything.”
“He’s one of the best artists of the past 15 years, for sure,” says Cashier lead guitarist Jo Perillo.
A mega star like Frank Ocean discovering and sharing one of Cashier’s songs validated their DIY philosophy.
“It made me feel like we could pop off doing it ourselves,” Gaspard says. “It’s definitely reaffirming,” Perillo agrees.
Cashier weren’t always the alternative rock, shoegaze-leaning band that caught the ear of big-time celebrities. Before Covid, they were a textural indie rock band that Perillo says sounded like Alex G. Then the Big Muff showed up.
“I feel like that's like the sound of Cashier,” Perillo says. “We both have a Big Muff and a Rat. Basically, the Rat is, like, the normal sound. I have my Big Muff after and Kylie has hers before it, but just for the heavier parts. My always-on is the Fuck Overdrive by this pedal company called Smallsound/Bigsound that doesn't exist anymore.”
The other key piece of gear that helped push the band toward their heavy sound is a Squier J. Mascis Jazzmaster. Borrowed from a friend, Perillo’s Jazzmaster became Cashier’s version of Metallica’s EMG pickups or Kurt Cobain’s Small Clone.
“I've been borrowing it for seven years very graciously from a friend,” Perillo says with a laugh. “She just told me, ‘Oh, you can keep using it.’ It's a great guitar. I feel like it enabled Cashier to come into its own because I didn't really have a very rock-sounding guitar.”
It’s these things combined that have helped the band achieve the sound that they have on The Weight, their debut on the Philadelphia-based label Julia’s War Recordings. The EP is a departure from their shoegaze-influenced singles.
“Shoegaze is such an umbrella term now,” Gaspard says. “On The Weight, we’re more obviously alt-rock. The songs don't have much meat to them.”
So what’s next for the band?
“Hopefully the EP and our singles can feed everyone enough [for now,]” Gaspard says. “Contractually, next year there will be an LP. It’s definitely being worked on. I have the pressure of a deadline, so I can get it done.”
- The Weight is out now via Julia's War.
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
