Meet Caverns: the band that rocked Marc Jacobs’ runway

Talk about a big break: Caverns hadn’t even released a full-length album when the New York City-based band was asked to play Marc Jacobs’ “One Night Only!” runway spectacle during Fashion Week this season. But the guitar-bass-and-drums trio, led by long-haired erstwhile model Nicola Wincenc, slayed, holding their own alongside Brian Newman’s famed jazz band as they launched into a rousing rendition of the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.”

Ahead of Caverns’ appearance atHighline Ballroom this Tuesday, we asked Wincenc about playing in a fashion show, covering the Beastie Boys and meeting Debbie Harry.

How did you get the Marc Jacobs gig?

A friend of mine actually reached out because she knows Marc Jacobs, and she was like, “He needs a band to play some shit tomorrow, can you do it?” We literally got like nine hours notice, so we had our drummer come in from Boston, went into the rehearsal that morning, and performed that night. We didn’t even know there was going to be a jazz band there.

Whose idea was it to play the Beastie Boys?

We’d been asked to play “Sabotage,” and so we prepared that, and Marc Jacobs came in that morning to listen to us, and there was that big band playing all this bullshit cruise-ship jazz, and Marc was sitting down, listening to it, and he was like, “Scratch all this, let’s just have them play with the band.”

What was the experience like?

It was cool: we were just doing our thing, but in front of all those people. And it was like being untouchable, in terms of playing just pure badassness while all this ridiculous fashion stuff is going on. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like fashion, I’ve modeled, I have lots of clothes, but fashion shows can be so boring.

Did you get to meet any celebrities?

Actually Debbie Harry, Blondie, walked up to us and was like, “You are some bad, bad boys.” We were like, “Oh my God — that’s Blondie! We’re not worthy!“