Kid Cadaver Play By Their Own Rules

Kid Cadaver's music first found itself to my life a year ago when I attended a Titan Radio benefit concert at Cal State Fullerton. The young trio managed to grab my easily fleeting attention and even induce a few foot taps with their brand of upbeat neon pop and indie rock. 

Since then, Kid Cadaver—who are mostly an L.A based band hailing from the San Fernando Valley, “We're Valley girls,” jokes lead singer and bass guitarist, Raymond Venta— have managed to find their way back to Orange County whether it be at venues such as The Slidebar or The Constellation Room—the latter being where I recently chatted with the band as they geared up to headline a show this past Monday night. 

Raymond Venta (lead vocals/bass guitar), Jeremy Harris (vocals/lead guitar), and Kenzo Cardenas (drums) have been producing catchy indie rock since 2012. In their four years as a collective, the band  built a steady following and even managed to grace the airwaves of both KROQ and ALT 98.7's local musician showcases. 

Kid Cadaver's infectious upbeat sound is enough to make you jump up and down and toss your cares away, at least for the few minutes while listening to them. And that's exactly what millennials need in these times of unrest and high unemployment.  From Kid Cadaver's name down to their buoyant sound, the band embodies the struggles of a youth transitioning into adulthood. “It's a coming of age kind of thing, like the kid part of you dying,” Venta says about the band's “Kid Cadaver” name, “the coming of age in this generation is way crappier than it was before.” “A lot of the lyrics are darker but we always counter balance it with high energy happy sounding music.” 

After releasing two EP's, 2013's self-titled release and 2015's Roam, the band says they've decided to ditch the industry standard of whole project releases. Instead, Kid Cadaver is playing by their own rules, “It's better for our sanity to be able to release a song every couple of months,” says Venta, “Doing the EP thing and trying to juice that is just drying.” Harris says the project structure actually hinders their creativity, “There's a lot of pressure for the songs to fit together and now you can just be more free about it.” 

Kid Cadaver is scheduled to go on tour come October with new music releasing next month. While the trio are accustomed to touring on the road, one member is more accustomed to road living than the others. “I live in a van now” says Venta with a laugh, “I've always wanted to do it.” Venta even documents his van life on his YouTube channel. Living in a van never sounded so romantic as Venta's twitter bio boasts, “Homeless musician traveling around the universe to write songs with strangers.” 

Musical influences for the band differ from each member yet their choices are telling of Kid Cadaver's unique pop yet indie sound. Rihanna, Sex Bab-Omb from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and the Soronprfbs from the film Frank are Venta's current influences. The Story So Far, Third Eye Blind and Gin Blossoms, are Harris' while Frankie Cosmos, Yumi Zouma and Brand New round up the favorites for Cardenas. 

After chatting with the band, the trio brought their cheerful neon pop/indie rock blend to a youthful OC crowd at the Constellation Room on Monday night. Cardenas banged his drum kit with rhythmic fervor throughout the set while Venta and Harris layered each other's vocals with perfect harmony which brought the entire Constellation Room to chant to their farewell song “Keep Well.”

Expect the band's upcoming tour to be filled with new found energy and fresh new music on Kid Cadaver's terms. “We just want to put the music out that we want to do,” says Venta, “down to the most microscopic fibers you've just got to make what you want to make.” 

You can follow all things Kid Cadaver at kidcadaver.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *