Cape Orange: "Success Might Just Look Like People Connecting to the Music"
For June's feature interview, Cape Orange discuss songwriting, everyday chaos, and why the messier parts of life often make for the best songs.
FEATUREDINDIE ROCKINTERVIEWS
DEMI WAIT, REYA CASAJUS
6/11/20264 min read
Photography: Demi Wait
Words: Reya Casajus
Cape Orange are a London-based band whose music could be described as nonsense humour about the disorientation of everyday life. On the surface, their songs can sound light, even playful, but they’re usually pulled from more familiar places like long work shifts, overthinking things on the way home, the restless feeling of trying to figure out where you’re supposed to be.
That mix has started to define them, especially around their track “A Bit Behind,” which turned a normal conversation about work into something much bigger.
The idea for the song came from real frustration. As the band explain, “the song actually started as Jessie heard Jen moaning about work, saying how behind she feels (compared to all the more well-off corporate customers she serves all day long), and wrote the bass line and chorus hook from that. We filled in the rest, and it all sort of fell out.” They didn’t set out to write about jobs or pressure, but once it happened, it clicked in a way they didn’t expect. “I don’t think we would have written a song about jobs etc otherwise, but didn’t realise how much they affect all of us.”
That honesty and humour run through everything they do, particularly when the conversation turns to “success.” Rather than offering a neat, polished answer, they opt for something more ironic. “Huge world tours, hot blokes following us around, of course. One of us goes into rehab, we have a huge falling out, sue each other in the process, then maybe a huge reconciliation that is heavily publicised, leading to a nicely sold-out stadium show and world tour, and win an Oscar for the accompanying docuseries. That’s the loose plan.” Then they shift tone just as quickly: “But also - success might also look like people connecting to the music in whatever way they like.” A moment that stuck with them recently was simple: “We met a girl the other day who said she listens to Come Round on the bus home from a night out, and we thought that was pretty fucking fab.”
Even the name Cape Orange came together in a practical, slightly rushed way. “We wanted a place name. So people can GO somewhere when they come to a show.” There were personal references too: “Jessie also loves the film Cape Fear. Jen wanted a colour in the title like Pink Floyd. (Also, we booked a first show with no name and were down to a deadline).”
The band say things started to feel serious somewhere around the fourth year of doing it, though the process still doesn’t feel overly formal. Creative dips come and go, and when they do, the solution is usually internal. “Erm, to be honest, I don’t want to be cringe but probs each other. When someone is dry on ideas, someone else will have something that pushes you out of it.” They add, half joking but not entirely, “The day our creative cycles finally sync will be a dangerous day.”
That dynamic carries into their studio work as well. Being close friends helps them move quickly, even if it gets blunt at times. “Being so close is good and bad. We can pick each other up when it's not going well, but can also say it how it is.” Their producer has noticed it too: “Our producer Harri always laughs at how we are so honest to one another. But it works, and the music sounds good, so it's all fiiiiiiiiiiiine.”
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For a band often described as fun or chaotic, there’s a clear awareness that the reality behind making music in London is less glamorous than it looks. “Some of the biggest bands you know are working multiple jobs to make it work. Musicians are probably some of the most skilled multitaskers you know.” That balance between humour and reality sits at the core of their identity. As they put it, “You have to be collectively delusional to pursue this career. Also, we aren’t brain surgeons. Might as well have a laugh while doing it.”
When it comes to what they want people to take from their music, the answer isn’t tied to a specific emotion. It’s more about recognition. “Doesn’t matter the emotion, but as long as they FEEL something.” With “A Bit Behind,” that feeling is slightly more specific: “We hope people just feel a little less alone in not knowing 100% what they are doing. (We have no clue).”
In the studio, one track stood out as the most fun to make: “Probably Dancing.” It’s been part of their live set for a long time, and recording it became about capturing something already familiar. “We have had it in our live show for soooooo long that it was just about trying to capture that energy on the recording. We were standing in the corridor of the studio building, recording shouts and gang vocals.”
Looking ahead, they don’t sound too concerned with precise planning. There are festivals, shows, and a vague idea of what comes next, but it’s all delivered in their usual tone. “Oh, I guess after the festival shows this summer we’ll be in Monte Carlo by the end of this year, celebrating and planning our world domination... something like that x”