How ERRA’s JT Cavey Learned to Scream

Our guest in the new episode of How I Learned to Scream is ERRA frontman JT Cavey.

Since 2016, Cavey has been ripping it up with Alabama’s ERRA, leaders of progressive metalcore. He made his debut on that year’s Drift, the band’s third album, shredding his throat to some of your favorites, such as “Skyline,” “Irreversible” and “Drift.”

Prior to joining, he fronted Pennsylvania metalcore band Texas In July from 2014 to 2015. And in 2021, he even rejoined the band and has been pulling double duty every since.

Onstage, he’s a monster who puts good use to a baseball hat with athletic performances, brutally countering the ethereal vocals of ERRA bandmate and guitarist Jesse Cash.

“I sometimes catch myself getting way too excited,” he says of some shows, such as ERRA’s Sonic Temple set that took place before we filmed this episode. Pacing is important and you can’t come out and go too hard or you’ll be winded by the time the second song starts.

Before he became a vocalist, he was really drawn to Disturbed at around 11 years old. They offered something darker than the rock he had heard already in his life and that was the spark that lit the ever-burning flame.

Bury Your Dead, The Ghost Inside and Killswitch Engage were some of the bands he admired circa 2010 as he began to experiment with more extreme vocals, recording vocal covers in the basement at home. Except… the neighbors heard him. Awkward! He worked out a schedule where he was less disruptive to those living nearby.

One common complaint about extreme vocals is that you can’t hear the lyrics. Not when Cavey is behind the mic though.

“Enunciation is literally my No. 1 priority in my technique,” he says. “I listened to a lot of hardcore and mid-range vocalists growing up, so when I was learning my technique, I was like, ‘I want the lyrics to be the most audible they could be while still remaining at the intensity and grit that I’m looking for in vocals.”

Elsewhere in the video below, Cavey talks about cupping the mic, what to do when you get sick on tour, pre-show rituals, what his first tour was like vocally and more about figuring this whole screaming thing out!

ERRA’s latest album, Cure, dropped last year on UNFD. They’ll be on tour this summer with Architects and all dates and ticket information can be found at the band’s website. Follow ERRA on Instagram, X and Facebook.