What Is Piña?
Words: Cassie Johnson/ Photos: Nolan Mueller
Hanging out with Piña really means sitting in a living room, eating ramen, and joking over the noise of a television show someone flipped on. What’s weird about interviewing your friends is that you don’t know when you should ask the “official” questions or just keep talking about normal life and jot the funny comments down. Piña, which is normally Spanish for “pineapple,” is described by drummer/guitarist Sean McCoy as a group of young people that came together to vent their creativity.
“We played our first unofficial show with [our friend] Uriah at Kimbros,”
Sean recounts, slurping on his ramen. “The playlist name was piña, and Luke said, let’s just call ourselves Piña.”
Luke Saison, who holds down the bass for Piña, pipes in on the “unofficial show,” saying his friend Jonas called him asking if another band he’s part of could play. “All those guys were busy, but I still wanted to play a show because I hadn’t played a show in forever. I gave him the name of a band and just hoped that I could get people to jump in.”
Apparently most of the shows Piña has played have been last minute:
Kelsie: That's the story of every single show we’ve played!
Sean: “Hey you guys wanna play a show…tomorrow?!”
Kelsie: “Do you guys wanna drive to DC for a show?”
Fortunately being young has its perks of a flexible schedule. Sean, Luke, and singer/kazoo-player Kelsie Saison eagerly want to play music at any turn they can. Even though the show at Kimbros was their first gig as a group, they’ve been friends for several years and serve on the worship team at their church. Kelsie, as Luke’s big sister, has known him since he was born, and the two of them have been writing music together since they were young.
After much debate, the trio concedes on when they started creating as a group. “We started writing music together around the end of summer 2016,” Sean says. “Our first show was all covers, but we didn’t really take ourselves seriously until about September…or October or November.” That sounds about right - the three of them tend to joke around a lot, finish each other’s sentences (sometimes with a completely irrelevant thought), and reminisce on memories they have of each other.
Sean: I got to know Luke and Kelsie through our youth group in Franklin. But I didn’t really get to know Luke until we went to Columbia together in 2014.
Me: I remember that, Luke; that was when you shaved your head! Your dad said your head looked it was on upside down.
Luke: Oh yeah! Because of my beard…I’m glad you guys remember my hairstyles.
What’s important for this group is the purpose that music serves. “For me,” Luke says, “music is more of a release than anything else. One, you can be creative. If you’re feeling goofy, you can do something goofy musically. If you’re feeling sad, you can really make yourself feel sadder through the music, and if you want to get out of it, you can make yourself feel happy through the music. Also, I love listening to music or being at a show. Another artist will say something that I didn’t know how to say myself. That’s my favorite part about music. When someone says something that I felt but didn’t know how to say.”
Kelsie and Sean agree, adding in that it’s fun and a way of community. Rather than remaining robotic and unfeeling in their respective circles, they desire color and the unexpected in their lives. Music allows them the freedom to feel and create and to express themselves. What they’ve realized is that we were created to create. They don’t shy away from that realization, but rather seek to live it out.
Piña’s style of music is passionate and minimal, and when you listen you’ll find yourself naturally dancing with the band.
Sean: The base is hip hop. Then other stuff goes on top.
Luke: I knew I liked you.
Kelsie: I think we all want to be Lauryn Hill.
Luke: Not uneducated, but miseducated. Hip hop with our own flavors.
Kelsie: We’re trying to keep it minimalist. We want to focus on a rhythm section.
Their live show varies - both Sean and Luke are multi-instrumentalists, so they’ll switch between drums, bass, guitar, and even a kazoo. Kelsie’s vocals are jazzy and soulful, bringing in beautiful and captivating melodies with her soprano range. In her words, “sound sprinkles.”
When asked what adjectives they would use to describe their shows and their music, they gave me a slew of words: unexpected, accidental, groovy, experimental, alternative. Anything that can make others dance.
“We’re trying to make our own genre,” Kelsie says to sum it up.
When you see Piña or listen to their music, listen for those sound sprinkles. They don’t do anything short of being themselves, which adds to the unexpected, fun, and talented nature of what they create.
