A band called CAYSN takes the Utah State University stage

A Utah born and bred pop rock band is bringing their take on pop rock to the 2025 End of Year Bash. Known professionally as CAYSN, they have been writing, producing and performing original music since 2022.

Q: What’s the story behind your band name?

Caysen, guitar/vocals: Originally, it was just going to be me as a solo, and they were going to help with things, and then I was like, “I like these guys so much. We want to make it a little more of a group effort.” So, we ended up changing it to CAYSN, like it is now in all caps without the E, just so it gives more of an artist and project feel. 

Q: How would you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music before?

Caysen: I would definitely say pop rock, as simple as that, for sure. I guess my influences, at least with this, are like LANY and Band Camino. 

Gabe, drums: I’m a big Twenty One Pilots and Jon Bellion fan. If you listen to our music, it’s cool to find a little bit of the spectrum between that pop and alternative side all the way to the rock of like the Wildlife and Band Camino.

Q: What influences your music the most?

Caysen: Definitely personal experiences. Everything we’ve made and released has been a true story, like what we’ve gone through. The majority of the songs I’ll bring to them, and those are my experience of stories. But one of the recent songs was actually Gabe’s from a while ago, and then we revisited his experience.

Q: What does the songwriting process look like for you guys? 

Caysen: It actually happens in a few ways. I would say, at least at the start, for sure, I was bringing songs to the group, and they would add on their parts. More recently, it’s been we kind of get in a room together and just play an instrumental or like an idea and record it. And then it’s more of a collaborative effort, and then we write our own things and fine tune after that. 

Gabe: It is a very organic feeling of we’ll just be jamming on a couple chords for like an hour, and we’re like, “Oh, I liked that a lot. Let’s expand.”

Caysen: We’ll just record the whole three minutes of instrumental and it’s like, “Oh, we got a song.”

Q: What characteristics do you look for in an artist when collaborating with them on a song or album?

Gabe: I would say the obvious is, like, style similarity. I feel like the way we put our songs into two sides is we have our slower, softer, more simple stuff, and then we have our rock. So, I would say, first off, if they fit into one of those boxes, it’s great. Then especially, just like the hang — if they’re easy to work with — if they’re homies. Those two things — if those are the boxes that are checked, I feel very good about it. 

Q: Are there any songs you’re especially excited to play live?

Gabe: I think it would be “Butterflies.” 

Caysen: “Butterflies” and “Chemical” have been my favorite to play. 

Q: Do you have any pre-show rituals or routines?

Gabe: I do sound for a band called the National Parks, and they have a pre-show routine where they meditate, and I thought, “Oh, this is really cool.” So I kind of adapted a similar way of doing it with the band. We will sit in a circle — take some deep breaths — and we’ll try to internalize the feeling of being in the moment. I think that is truly what performing is about — is being in that moment and experiencing it with all the people there. It has helped a ton for clearing the brain and really experiencing what we’re trying to do. 

Caysen: Then we do like a little prayer, a little group prayer, before we go on. Something also we’ve added is we’ll pick a word to focus on. And I feel like since we started doing that, it gets the most out of us, even more so. 

Q: How do you handle nerves before going on stage?

Gabe: Before every show, I’ll throw headphones in, and I have a certain song that I listen to every time. I’ll listen through the whole thing and visualize different parts of the show. That helps me get my game face on, like, “Oh, I need to remember this part during this song,” or “I need to remember to hit this button during this section of this song.” It helps me really think through what I’m about to do.

Caysen: I’m a little different. I’m more just like if I feel the nerves, I got to jump and yell a little bit and externalize almost, instead of internalize. I just get super rowdy, and I’m trying to get going, and I get my little vocal mist going for my vocal chords, but besides that, I’m just jumping around, trying to hype myself up.

Q: What has been your most memorable performance so far?

Caysen: I’d have to say a specific song. We did our first Velour headliner last November, and during the song “Best For You,” I took my ear monitors out. I was like, “Okay, I’m going to see if they know this.” And it was super loud hearing them singing it back, and I was freaking out. I looked at Ethan, I looked at Gabe, and I was like, “What’s happening?” That is probably like, number one I’d say. That was insane.

Gabe: I had the same experience with “Killing Me,” where people were singing that song at us and I was like, “Woah these are lyrics I wrote. This is wild.”

Q: What’s your favorite city or venue to perform in?

Gabe: It’s hard to pick because everywhere is just so fun to play. Utah just has such great venues, and there’s such a great music scene here. I don’t know, maybe Utah State. 

Q: What’s been playing on your personal playlists lately?

Gabe: For me personally, Jon Bellion just dropped two new songs, and they are both incredible. I liked “WASH” by Jon Bellion a lot.

Caysen: I’ve been listening to a lot of Band Camino and LANY. Those are my boys right there — and surprisingly, Linkin Park, which I’ve been venturing into a little bit.

Q: What’s next for the band? Any upcoming projects or tours?

Caysen: Well, speaking of, we’re actually coming up to a little place called USU. We’re actually doing a little Utah blitz, I’d call it. We [played] Kilby, which [was] April 1, then we’re playing Cedar and Saint George, also playing Utah Tech, and then we’re coming up to USU. So it’s like a little live show swing. And then we’re always working on new music, always, always. 

Q: How would you say your music/sound has changed or developed since the release of your first official song?

Caysen: I’m not going lie, I loved Backseat Lovers when we started. I still do. I was so down bad to be a Backseat Lover, like, symbol or artist, I’d say. But I think as we’ve grown from like meeting Gabe and him being a Twenty One Pilots and production fiend, I’ve learned that it’s like, oh my gosh, lights, heavy sounds, fun, synths. Go from back seat and bare to production and core —like more of an experience, I would say. 

Q: Where do you see your music evolving in the next few years?

Gabe: I think we’re always trying to get better. It’s one of those things where if you could see the future, I’d get there. But as far as where the direction of the band is going, I think we’re always trying to find that sound that really separates us from everyone else. I think we’re finally starting to dip into it, and we’re really excited to see the development of that sound and trying to keep going further — songs like “Chemical” and “Butterflies,” where we feel like we’ve hit into this little jackpot of stuff that is CAYSN the band. I think that’s where we’re trying to head — is stuff that feels very original to us personally. 

Q: What advice would you give to aspiring musicians?

Caysen: I would say do all the things you want to do as much as you can early on and don’t be afraid of something being bad. Whether it be producing, whether it be writing, playing shows — just do it as much as you can early on. Like, as many swingers at the plate as possible is really important. That’s what I’d say. Never be afraid to fail. 

Gabe: My biggest piece of advice would be to just release the song. Like, everyone has so many songs that are sitting on their laptop that they’ve produced, that they’ve recorded and made so many versions of, and professionalism hits every single artist. Just release the song. I know it’s there — release it. That’s for sure my biggest piece of advice because if I would have told myself that two years ago, I’d be in a lot better place right now.