Meet Caden Gray of Sob Sister in Culver City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caden Gray.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My career as an artist began at the age of twelve on the national tour of the Broadway musical The Full Monty. I then began working in television during my teens appearing on Hannah Montana, Victorious, Out of Jimmy’s Head, Zeke and Luther, Maron, and Glee.

I began writing music around the age of fourteen and continued to do so while I pursued acting. As I got older, I began to realize that music and creating a world through music spoke to me much more than reciting someone else’s words and ideas. I moved to Boston in 2014, where I got my Bachelor of Music at Berklee College of Music, majoring in songwriting. While at school, I began releasing work under the name SOB SISTER and recorded my first album my final semester of college. After school, I returned to Los Angeles and finished/released that album titled “Pansy” and began playing out around the area.

Since then, I have released three EPs: “Beard”, “Recultivated”, “Nobody Dances Anymore”, and I am putting the final touches on my second album- a fifteen song, two-act epic titled “How I Do My Hair Now”. I began writing this album while still in college and it will be the longest I have worked on any creative project in my life. This new record was an exercise in welcoming collaboration into my work, and I had the opportunity to work with my close and extremely talented friends on the project. I consider myself a DIY artist and have discovered a small but passionate scene of musicians and artists that I love and am inspired to work with.

In addition to music, I express myself with some eclectic sculpture and collage work.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It’s always a struggle to find stability in your life while you pursue something incredibly inconsistent and unstable. Balancing having a job that pays my bills while still remaining focused on what’s important to me is a daily struggle. The main thing I remind myself is that I have to fight to make work that is authentic to me and would be something I would be proud leaving on this Earth to represent myself when I’m gone (whether anyone pays attention to it or not). It’s worth having a day-job to create a situation where I can be taken care of financially while making work that I hope can one day take care of me financially. I don’t have to be Beyonce (I of course wouldn’t turn it down), my goal is now to one day be able to wake up and be creative on my own schedule, under my own rules.

Can you give our readers some background on your music?
I call the music Sob Sister makes Mope Pop. A more verbose answer is alternative pop/rock music with a theatrical flair. I use pop structures and sensibilities but channel it through a melancholy rock, sometimes folk tinged lens. Lyrically the songs tend to be sad or bittersweet but always melodramatic. Sob Sister is lonely boy glitter rock with a tear sliding down the middle of every song. That being said, there is often a juxtaposition between a happy sounding song with a sad set of lyrics.

The band itself is something that expands and contracts depending on the other musicians involved. Sometimes it’s a solo project where I am alone singing my heart out with just my guitar to accompany myself, and sometimes it’s a fleshed out band complete with background singers and fully realized arrangements. Musicianship is something very present within both the live and studio incarnations of the music, I love to challenge myself as an arranger and instrumentalist and work with people with similar attitudes.

What were you like growing up?
I was always interested in reading as much as I can (still am), obsessing over movies and performers, I loved musical theater. I was very outgoing yet sensitive. I was very creative and was always making something. I loved and still love to learn as much as I can about the things I love. Always have loved being surrounded by the art that inspires me.

Contact Info:

• Website: sob-sister.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @sob_sister
• Other: https://sobsister.bandcamp.com/

Image Credit:
Joey Hirsh, Ricardo Castro Goytia, Jesse James Johnson, Anna Kuo, Caden Gray, Kristopher Swick

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