Check Out Cinnamon’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cinnamon.

cinnamon, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We are cinnamon, a grunge/alternative band in Los Angeles. We started cinnamon in 2024, but three of us, Nick Morrison, Luke Maze and Nate Kidd, have been playing together for over a decade in various different bands like Deli Kings and The Hoodoos. The three grew up together in Richmond, Virginia, but one by one made the move out to Los Angeles. They met our LA-raised singer, Harley Quinn Smith, when she started dating one of the boys’ childhood best friends, Austin Zajur. After being incredibly emo and discovering the band My Chemical Romance at age twelve, Harley began to have dreams of being in a band herself, which years later led to creation of her first group, The Tenth. She then took some time away from music to focus on her acting career, but began to really miss the creative outlet of making music and how unlike acting, she didn’t have to wait to be chosen or cast in a project, she could make music on her own terms and her own time. At the time of cinnamon’s conception, all of us were looking for that outlet again, and were just waiting for the pieces to fall into place. We released our first song, “Star”, in February 2025, and have since then released four more singles, “Why”, “Is this as good as it gets”, “Enemy” and “King of the World”, with another single debuting on October 8th called “Creature”. We’ve been playing shows and festivals in and around LA for the past year, and our next move is venture outside of SoCal. We are named after Harley’s beloved, late rabbit, Cinnamon. Our influences include Hole, Pixies, Mannequin Pussy, the Smashing Pumpkins, Fontaines DC and many more.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It took us a while to get to the place we are now. Luke and Harley first had the vision to start a band, and then convinced Nick to move out to LA to do it with them. We focused on songwriting for the first year, and then a year later, Nate moved out to LA too and we started playing shows as a five piece with Michael Southcomb. So getting everyone out here took some time and a lot of trust, but now that we’re all in LA, we’ve been able to really go for it.

Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Don’t hold yourself back by waiting for someone to give you the platform to make and share your art. Sometimes it feels like we need permission or an opportunity to put ourselves out there and to create, but those are limits we are unnecessarily placing upon ourselves. The beautiful thing about music is that anyone can write and release their own songs. You don’t need a label or an agent, you can create and share your art by just releasing it into the world (and the internet). Don’t deny yourself that creative outlet because you’re waiting for someone to give you the go-ahead. Give yourself the permission to express yourself creatively, and afterwards if you want to share that art with others, do it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cinnamonband.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cinnamontheband/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Cinnamon-band/61580771563116/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@cinnamontheband?si=18YBL4E5TebzbV8A
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3e7l9IzWpCMatHXj1e4WUk

Image Credits
All photos by Kaylee Scott @photosbykayleee