The story goes that Clay Cages, an emo band from Nashville, formed in a storage unit in 2013. Since then, the five-piece has unpacked its sound via its debut, Tension (2014) and latest, a concept EP named The Lenses We See Life Through. The 5-track set illustrates how a person’s outlook on life changes—each song represents a different stage of life, from birth until death. Vocalist Danny Fields, guitarists Matthew Schumacher and Hayden Wadell, drummer Austin Rolison and bassist Daniel Farrin derive their sound from a plethora of genres—from post-rock to classical to hardcore—but at its core, the songs are about love, loss and reflection.

Schumacher tells Myspace about the band's influences, the biblical origins of their name, and that time everyone played toy drums at their gig.

Hometown: We all came from different areas around the south. Danny, Daniel and I grew up in the greater Atlanta area. Austin is from Jackson, Tennessee, and Hayden's from Louisville.

Homebase: Right outside of Nashville

How did you all meet?

We all moved away for school and ended up meeting by chance through some mutual friends in the dorms. We all had intentions of pursuing music and it just kind of worked out in our favor that we had the chemistry we did.

What does your name mean?

The name Clay Cages is a sort of humanistic take on the bible verse, 2 Corinthians 4:7, relating the clay jars in the verse to cages.

Describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before.

It's always hard to objectively describe your own music. I've heard people relate us to a more early 2000s sound along with the post rock, emo influence.

Tell us a bit about The Lenses We See Life Through. What’s it about? What inspired its creation?

It’s a collection of songs that play on the idea that a person’s perception of the world changes from one chapter of their life to another — the "lenses” refer to that changing perception. There's repeated imagery of stained glass, the concept of permanence, stability, transience, etc. throughout the EP. We tried to illustrate these different stages of life, starting with birth and ending in death, with these ideas of perception.

What’s your favorite song on the album?

“Holidays and Strangers.” It is the last song on the record and it's the one that touches on the idea of death. Death has always been a weird subject for me, and I feel like this song portrays the idea in a different light. We also experimented more with the instrumentation on this track. I'm very proud of how it turned out.

Were you always into music, even growing up?

I became involved in music at a pretty young age. Nobody in my family played, but my dad got me into The Red Hot Chili Peppers when I was like 8. I was pretty much enthralled from that point on. Danny and Austin, however did grow up in a family of musicians. Danny's sister is an incredible piano player and Austin uses the drums his dad played when he was in a touring band.

Who are your biggest musical inspirations?

They’re all slightly different. We try to be influenced by as much as we can without being derivative of any one sound. A few bands that we all heavily listen to though are From Indian Lakes, Moving Mountains, Pianos Become The Teeth, and The Dangerous Summer. I'm sure some of that is evident in our music.

Does being from Nashville — a city known for its country music — influence your sound?

There is definitely a lot of country music in Nashville as well as our hometowns. While I wouldn't ever describe our music as southern, there are subtle differences, even within our genre, between northern and southern bands. I'd say the influence lies more in our lyrics than our instrumentation. Growing up in the Bible Belt is something that resonates with all of us and we touch on that idea in some of our new songs.

What’s one of your best experiences as a member of Clay Cages?

One time we played Exponent Manor in Nashville, and a big group of friends snuck little toy drums into the show. During the ending of our song "Wake," everyone brought them out and played along with the floor tom part. I specifically remember seeing people crowd surfing and banging on these toy drums in a tiny living room. That was a lot of fun.

Quick Hits:

I’d love to collaborate with … Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. It wouldn't exactly make sense for the style of music that we play, but that man is a genius.

For fun (when not playing music!), Clay Cages … goes camping. We hardly ever play in Chattanooga without camping around Lookout Mountain beforehand.

The album that changed my life: 

Matt: Pneuma by Moving Mountains. “It completely derailed my taste in music and served as a great introduction to the post rock genre. It's one of those records where you hear something new every time you listen to it.”

Danny: mmhmm by Relient K.

Austin: From The Bird's Cage by HRVRD

Hayden: Is a Real Boy by Say Anything

Daniel: By The Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers