Photos by Michelle Lobianco
It’s the day after Halloween and the weather is unseasonably pleasant. Tom Lescovich, mastermind behind buzzworthy Brooklyn goth rockers Cindy Cane, glides into Alphaville looking drained but upbeat like a vampire retreating from the sun after a long night of bloody indulgence. That’s not too far from the truth, actually, as Cindy Cane played Rough Trade’s Halloween festivities less than 24 hours before. An appropriate culmination of a year of success and a well-earned achievement.
If you could re-score any film which one would you pick?
Tom: I wrote this record called Marvagio, it means “a wicked person” in Italian, and it was basically me saying “Thom York got the job for the new Suspiria movie, what would it sound like if I did it?” So I ran with that, so [Suspiria] would be fun.
You’ve had a pretty full calendar this year and are quickly building an avid audience. How do you feel about the speed at which Cindy Cane is approaching success?
Tom: It’s great. It’s tiring, it’s exhausting but that’s the point. 2019 has been [relentless] for Cindy, just going at it as much as possible because we’re capable of doing it but honestly, I couldn’t be happier. We are so incredibly lucky to have the support that we do, especially in our rookie season. It’s fucking crazy. I’ve always been a blue-collar, hard-working person in whichever field I’ve been in. I’ve never had the politics. Nepotism has never favored me. Everything I have has been earned. I am a huge believer in hard work paying off and the goal for this year was to work as hard as possible and prove that we can do it.
I want to make records. I want my nine to five to be in the studio creating or the space rehearsing. I want my job to be touring relentlessly. I’ll work overtime – eighty hours a week. I don’t play in a band because it’s cool. I want to tell my story in a way that fucking means something. I want to do something that may inspire someone else to do something great. I want to make art. I also love to play shows, the more the better. Put us on tour.
Do you personally identify as Cindy Cane or is it simply the name of the band? Where did the idea behind the name come from?
Tom: Cindy Cane was my karaoke moniker. My friend gave me the name my five years ago in Northeast Minneapolis when I lived there. We were at the Vegas Lounge karaoke seven days a week. It was our local haunt.
It’s very difficult to be chosen to play anything on the weekends when it was so packed so I needed a hotter name. I was like, “hit me with a hot name” and she said “Cindy Cane” and I was like “that’s great, where does this come from?” She went on to tell me that she wanted to be a WWF wrestler when she grew up and she named herself Cindy Cane, and that never came to fruition so she said I can have it. I put that name in and I got called twice!
How fluid is the lineup of Cindy Cane? Is it a revolving cast of characters or pretty steady?
Tom: For right now, what we played with last night, that’s the ideal lineup. For this record, at least. It’s definitely gonna change with other records. I wrote this spaghetti western called Calgary Cavalier and I’m gonna need more people. I want to say yes to everything right now so if someone can’t make it, someone can’t make it. If I can make it, I’m gonna do it.
For the New York Strangers record it’s the five of us up there. I want to build a three-piece female vocal choir and add that in for the November shows and start building that way. If I could afford a string section, I would have one. It’s kind of situational. Whatever the moment needs, whatever it takes to get us through that set. Those guys [Shane O’Malley Firek, David Van Witt, Evan Eubanks, and Sharif Mekawy], that’s a great lineup but it’s tough, too, because three of us are Aries.
[David], [Shane], and myself are born April 4th, 7th, 6 th [respectively], and we’re all like 6’3” so we’ve got big Aries energy. It’s really fun to run around on the stage with all that fire.
What kind of influences do the other members of Cindy Cane bring to the table?
Tom: Wisdom and skill. They all know what it takes to be total pros. They’re adults and they’re not in a band because it’s just a cool thing or for any other superficial reason. They’re in it because we can’t live without it, we don’t know what to do without it. It’s always been our dream and we’ve worked super hard to get to a place where we almost are. They all know that, they’re aware of it, and they’re very serious with it. They don’t fuck around. I think the biggest thing is just us influencing each other to be great, to push each other to be strong, to really be great and build something special. I think that’s definitely the most important part other than them all being pretty talented. And being good looking! I guess we all influence each other to dress sharp.
The popularity of gothic and occult influenced bands seem to be on the rise. LA’s Twin Temple, while obviously quite different musically from Cindy Cane, immediately jumps to mind. Do you think the current challenging social and political environment is encouraging people to identify with darker themes in art and music?
Tom: The world is getting a darker. I mean, maybe not darker, it’s always been fucked up but I think maybe people are finding it more acceptable to talk about certain things. It’s not so taboo anymore. People are a little less afraid to explore those zones and stuff.
And it’s trendy, so I think it’s the combination of those things. I think maybe we’re just a little bit more comfortable with talking about the occult or going into the darkness, bringing the darkness into the light.
Do you feel musicians have a responsibility to tackle larger social issues through their art, or should they be more focused on having a good time?
Tom: Yeah, of course. I think everyone has a responsibility to, especially people with bigger platforms.
For myself it’s kind of preaching to the choir because everyone that I surround myself is on the same page, they want the same things. It’s better to just lead by example and walk the walk instead of just talk the talk, especially from my status. If I ever grow to some bigger platform then I definitely would like to raise awareness as much as possible and be as selfless as possible. Because otherwise what else am I doing other than making this silly vampire music?
I do want to do something good for the world, even if it’s just raising awareness or just telling dudes to stop being such idiots or assholes. I’m not a huge shit talker, well I kind of am, but I’m not gonna go start trouble or anything. But I’m not afraid to tell some dude to not talk that way or something.
You’ve got a demo that’s beginning to make the rounds called New York Strangers. It’s 9 songs of static, synths, and spooky grooves and it sounds fantastic. How did it all come together? Is there an overarching concept or is it about a specific vampire?
Tom: The name of the record has a deeper meaning than most understand, but [New York] Strangers is just a movement of emotions that someone living as an artist in the city may feel. Darkness, lust, seduction, desire, manipulation, anger, hope. It can be an exhausting and soul sucking experience and I think I had experienced a moment of that and captured it with these tracks.
I use Cindy as a creative writing course and try to push myself to expand. I’ve never really recorded with drum machines or synths before so I gave myself the assignment of writing a story of a vampire and had to use drum machines and synths and capture the, or at least a, vibe of NYC. It’s very visceral and honest. I wrote and recorded the demo in a little under seventy-two hours.
It’s not necessarily about a specific vampire it’s just, like, all of us. It’s basically our experiences.
[The record] Starts with The Darkness, which is like kind of like a synopsis of the whole record then goes into Lust For Bood which is very clearly about wanting something. Scent Of Seduction, the next song, is now you see what you want. Let Me In is like, now I really see what I want, let me in!Master Manipulator is kind of a poke at the press. Once the lyrics drop on that I might get myself in trouble but yeah, just like maybe some nepotism or the internet and social media fucking you up.
The Curse is just obviously feeling like “fuck, I’m doomed!” and then The Cure is that hopeful ending. The lyric is “all I can say / I hope someday / I can be kind and pure / find the cure.”
So yeah, it’s the lifestyle.
I hear a Bauhaus/Peter Murphy influence in your sound, The Cure circa Pornography, and some The Jesus And Mary Chain as well. Was that 1980s post-punk vibe a specific target or did you gravitate toward it naturally as the concept behind Cindy Cane came together?
Tom: Yeah! When people ask what kind of band I have I just tell them it’s a Bauhaus rip-off band. It’s really not, but I think that’s a fun thing to say. I do love Bauhaus but I’m really just a poser. I love Marty Robbins and Grateful Dead. [The Cure’s] Pornography has definitely been used as reference in the mixing stage of the record. The 80’s post-punk vibe was definitely a specific target for this record.
I want Cindy to be a “production house” though, not a post-punk band. Not even necessarily a band at all. I want to make films. I want it to be a brand. I want to have a haunted house where I hire out ten different artists or set builders each year and soundtrack the experience. Cindy Cane On Ice at the Garden is the big goal so fucking watch out Billy Joel! I want to shift shapes whenever, however I want and that is the point of Cindy. I want to write classic country records. I want to write slasher flick soundtracks. I want to write dark jazz records like Boren & Der Gore Club. I want to write ten spaghetti western soundtracks in 2020. I want to be Mazzy Star. I want to be Brenda Lee and Gene Pitney combined.
The post-punk thing isn’t the first sound to come from Cindy Cane and won’t be the last, it just happens to be the one that is working the most efficiently and is carrying us through this year until we get to a point where we can do whatever we want. When you’ve got a hot goalie you’ve gotta ride them.
You’ve talked about the sound the band and how it will evolve over time. Are you worried about getting pigeonholed as a Halloween band before you can shift styles?
Tom: There will always be spooky undertones and stuff but I already have plans to build out different genres. Ultimately, I want to be sixty years old, living in Hollywood, writing soundtracks for movies. That’s what I’m kind of building towards.
I think if we do pick up a bunch of fans in the goth scene and then we pull out this country shit and they’re just like “what the hell?”, you lose all of the hard work that we just put in, but I don’t really care. I think that the people that I want to be there for the journey will get that, embrace it, hopefully.
What are some of your biggest influences that aren’t musical?
Tom: I guess a big influence outside of music would be Universal Studios’ theme park. I love roller coasters. One of my old bands was doing a six-week national tour so I bought us all Six Flags season passes and we went to all six across the country. At Universal everything’s so thematic. When you’re waiting in line to go on The Mummy ride you’re in these tombs and all this cool stuff and I think that’s super influential to me. I’ve always said that I want to do haunted houses where I want a ride like at Universal Studios. I think that’s super influential to me.
I’m interested in all sorts of art. My buddy got me more aware of [the graffiti scene] and I love that. I love seeing things pop up. I’m influenced by a lot and impulsively I guess I like whatever. But those influences come together, kind of coalesce.
I’m trying to get more into fashion, especially living in New York. Last night I was running around in a dress and Under Armor, wearing all the big coats and flashy shit, which I love. I want to get more into that, so that’s influential to me. We’re not a model punk band or anything, we’re definitely not that, but aspiring to be is fun. I don’t necessarily care to be famous or anything but I want Cindy to be famous. I want Cindy to be a fucking rock star like David Bowie so I think fashion is definitely influencing that. Freddie [Mercury], Elton John, their looks are so sick. I have a pretty unique body and I can move in weird ways so I think I should take advantage of trying to take a crack at dipping into fashion.
What’s your favorite vampire of all time?
Tom: I don’t really listen to too much goth music. I don’t even really like vampires that much. The Hunger with David Bowie? Haunted house stuff I love. It really gets me when I got called Twilight on the street. I was like “come on!” I don’t know what’s worse, Twilight or True Blood. I think True Blood would be worse, it would’ve hurt my feelings a little bit more.
Our bass player [Shane O’Malley Firek], his band is called The Ferdy Mayne. I think that might be my favorite just because it’s circumstance. [Ferdy Mayne] was in…The Fearless Vampire Killers, a ridiculous erotic porn vampire movie that came out in the late 60s. There’s a whole bunch of them. I riff on those a lot. I’ve been taking the [New York Strangers] demos and taking clips of these old vampire movies and piecing, chopping them together. I like that aesthetic.
What are some of your top albums or artists of 2019?
Tom: The new Angel Olsen record is fucking crazy! To have two arrangers and 14-plus excellent string players, so insane and the absolute dream.
The Foxygen record [Seeing Other People], I love that. I really like what those kids are doing, I think they’re genius. They really get it and they dial it in pretty well.
What’s next for Cindy Cane? Any big shows, or a target of when the record will release?
Tom: I’m just figuring out a release plan for [New York Strangers]. I know I could release it I just need I need someone’s credit card! I think I know what I have to do, who I want to do it with, and who I feel would do a great job for the band. I want to build the product, I want to package it, and I want to go door to door and hit the road and sell the shit out of it. It’s taken me a long time with a lot of shitty songs, a lot of shitty records, and a lot of shitty bands to get to the point where I’m like, “actually, this one’s not that bad. Let’s go and do this. Let’s give this to people.” I’m excited about it, it makes me really happy and excited. I’m not just doing a thing to do it or because it’s cool to have a band. I breathe when I do it, I feel alive and well.
We’ve got a couple shows in November. We’re playing at The Dance over in Manhattan for the Gnarcissists’ record release and then we’re playing two nights after at Baby’s [All Right] with my friends Blood from Austin. It’s their EP release. They’re fucking so good, they’re the best band that I’ve come across in 2019, for sure. Discovered them at South by Southwest and in a weird situation and I fell in love immediately.
I think we’ll probably do maybe one show in December. I might do the weekend before Christmas, Cindy’s Nightmare Before Christmas. We’re doing New Year’s Eve in Atlanta with our friends Material Girls, they’re very good. We played with them five times up here this year and they invited us down for New Years. That’s gonna be a blast.
Going into 2020 we’re just looking to find someone that believes in [the band] enough to help us. We’re pretty ready, we don’t need too much direction. We know what we need to get done, we just need some help financially to do it right. The record’s called New York Strangers, so it’s gotta be a New York record label. There’s some cool record labels in Los Angeles I would be interested in working with but this record’s gotta be released on a New York record label, it has to be. New York is the sound of it, it would feel wrong to not do it. However long that takes we’ll have to just ride it out.
We’ve only been a band such January [2019]. We’ve done an impressive amount of stuff in ten months, but it’s hard to be taken seriously by industry people through an email because we don’t have the first step, don’t have a record. We played Baby’s nine times already this year and it’s like “well, put out a record, you idiots!”
I’ve never really found anyone that I’m like, “all right, you can do at least a good enough job as I would, if not better” I work super hard, relentlessly, and I’m not gonna give someone my money or my art my to just call it in. We’ll see how much patience I can run with before I’m just like “fuck it, it’s out and it sounds like shit!”
New York Strangers does not actually sound like shit. The record sounds pretty great, professional and cohesive, like a band coming into its own just before launching towards wider acclaim. Until New York Strangers is finally released the world will simply have to experience the music live and with Cindy Cane’s extensive touring there is plenty of opportunity. Follow the band on Instagram and stream the demo for The Darkness on Spotify. Demos for other Cindy Cane projects are also available via Bandcamp.
