Yorkshire lads 'The Caymans' get to play for hero Pete Doherty

This was hours before the group was due to play at The Wardrobe in Leeds back in January.

The four piece band - Jacob, Euan, Alistair and Toby - were speechless upon meeting Pete Doherty, one of their music idols, who then asked if they could show him some material, cheekily adding do you sound like that live?

Impressed by the foursome's talent Doherty offered them the show opener in Leeds hours before being due on stage that night. They played in front of their biggest crowd yet, a sold-out 400 capacity room and supported their indie rock heroes who helped inspire them to form in 2023.

Jacob Brown who thinks of himself as the head figure of the band formed The Caymans with his cousin Euan Wilson-Youngman and friends Alastair Bentley and Toby Walker. The cousins met Alistair at college and Toby at a Noel Gallagher concert at The Piece Hall in 2022 and the rest is history.

I had the pleasure of meeting with the lads - who all attend college - for a chat Friday at their chosen location which had to be Loafers in the Piece Hall. And straight away it was clear to see their talent and dedication to getting to the top of the indie music scene.

Drummer Toby told me the about the band's musical influences, 'We have quite a few writing our material we take inspiration from Inhaler, The Arctic Monkeys and some of our drum sequences are heavily influenced by Simply Red. When writing our material we tend to write in the moment and go with the flow'

Speaking to Jacob I asked 'How did the foursome come up with the band unique name ?'

'It took quite a while really, we all had lists and lists of names, we were reading through them aloud, and when Al read out the caymans we all said stop, we searched it on spotify and when we saw there was no one else with that name we decided on the spot that would be us going forward'

The band have plenty of guidance from mentor/manager the highly commended Aaron Casserly Stewart who is no stranger on the music scene being part of music legends 'The Sound Of Blackness' among other roles in the music world and is also events programme manager at The Piece Hall.

The lads can't thank Aaron enough for taking them under his wing and gifting them his musical knowledge and the help he is giving them.

The Caymans keep going from strength to strength and have just released debut single 'As I Please', you can listen on your preferred digital platforms now.

if you're heading to The Piece Hall this summer for the music gigs you can catch The Caymans playing at select gigs in the Live Lounge. They next play at The Focus For Hope Fest on the 6th July and tickets are available now.