Psychedelic noise pop duo Caddywhompus, born in Houston but raised in New Orleans, have been turning heads with their frenetic, math rock sound. Landing a spot on Flavorwire’s 10 New Orleans Bands You Need to Hear, as well as opening for high-profile acts including Sleigh Bells and Givers, the band has evolved into a household name for Houstonians and New Orleans residents alike. We spoke to guitarist and vocalist Chris Rehm about city rivalries, ice cream, benefit shows, and more:

FPH - We remember you playing solo stuff as Afrodisiac years ago in high school. How did that evolve into what Caddywhompus is today?

Rehm- Sean and I used to play music all the time in Houston with our band The Riff Tiffs, back in high school. Sean, our drummer, was going to college then, and I met up with him one day and we started jamming. We were planning on making an electronic/noise band. But I never ended up getting anything but a guitar, and he didn’t get anything besides drums. We were in a band called Caddywhompus in high school, which is where this began. We played two shows and had one song and it was really weird (laughs).

FPH - We heard your gear got stolen recently…

Rehm- Yeah. Well we were loading our equipment in New Orleans, and we had to bring it into this elevator down to a lobby area. And we were bringing our stuff back, and at some point someone ended up taking all of my pedals and cables and I freaked out. I didn’t know what to do. We checked everywhere, there was nothing on the surveillance camera. Probably around a thousand dollars worth of stuff was taken. So I mentioned it online, saying that all of our stuff got stolen and we were going to do a benefit show called “Stop the Hate.” If you’re not in town or something and want to donate, you can here. And I was totally expecting to be focusing on getting the benefit show to be as successful as possible. But in two days, we ended up getting all of the money back online, right before the show even happened. It was really nice to find out that people were that supportive. It ended up just being us and three friends at a house for the benefit show, but that was quite a bit of fun.

FPH - So do you prefer playing in Houston or New Orleans?

Rehm- Ooh. They’re so incredibly different. But even though Houston is home for me, I’m always in New Orleans and love it. I like going on the road though, I love touring. It always changes. People always ask me that and I don’t know what to say. Somehow I always end up insulting some city, so I just don’t have an opinion on that…

FPH - What do you find yourself listening to these days? Any bands you’ve been impressed with lately?

Rehm- I’ve been listening to a lot of classical actually, and a lot of drone. It’s interesting. And with classical music, especially with songwriting, I love the depth. I find that it represents such a range of emotions that no one even gets close to representing now with modern rock music. Emotion we’ve never heard in music in that is pretty inspiring to me.

FPH - Releasing anything soon? What’s next for Caddywhompus?

Rehm- We just released an EP, The Weight, which dropped a few weeks ago. As of right now we don’t have any more releases planned. We have a few new songs that we’ve been playing, but we’re still thinking about how we want to release them.

FPH - What would you do if you didn’t have a music career?

Rehm- I’ve been thinking I would probably sit down and devote time to learn how to do code, how to make websites. Learning how to use HTML, all of that. That seems to be fun, and you could make some cool product online. I have a friend who does it, he does really well and enjoys it.

FPH - It’s going to be toasty at Summerfest. In the spirit of scorching hot Houston weather, what is your third favorite ice cream flavor?

Rehm- Daiquiri.

FPH - Never tried that one…

Rehm- You should. It’s like margarita but way less sweet. It tastes exactly like a daiquiri, it’s delicious.

Caddywhompust will be playing at the Rudyard’s Stage at Free Press Summerfest, Sunday, June 5th.