A few years ago, it might have been easy to mistake Cayetana for a band of happy coincidence; a group of three friends who met at a party in Philly and all wanted to start a band, even without much familiarity with their instruments. But in listening to their 2014 debut LP, Nervous Like Me, it’s clear that Cayetana has an inevitability and incredible intention to their sound. Augusta Koch’s lyrics, threaded through unrelenting drum rhythms and warm melodic bass, transition seamlessly through feelings of helplessness, leaving and anxiety, and it’s as though you’ve never ever heard anyone singing about any of those things before.

This sense of unbridled earnestness and self-assuredness, which also comes through in conversation with Augusta, has not gone unnoticed since the release of Nervous Like Me, which received critical acclaim as well as ringing endorsements from the likes of Philly music giants Katie Crutchfield and Mark Quinlan.

Now Cayetana is now about to embark on its first headlining tour, which includes a stop in Boston later this week at the Middle East Upstairs. Ahead of that, we got a chance to chat with Augusta about writing their next record, what it’s like to be a musician when your friends are having kids and trying to reconcile their music with the pop-punk label with which they’re often labelled.

Allston Pudding: So you guys were just in the studio recording some new material. What can we expect from that?

Augusta Koch: We’re putting out a 7-inch through Asian Man Records that’s all set to press, so that should be out in October or November. It’s just two songs – a New Order cover and then a new song, so we’re pretty excited about that.

AP: You guys gained tons of attention and critical acclaim for Nervous Like Me…how did you approach recording new music the second time around? Was the process any different?

AK: Definitely. Nervous Like Me was some of the first songs we ever wrote, so the one song will be us moving in the direction of our new record, which we’re working on writing now. So we’re definitely more used to recording now, which is nice. We’ll have a lot more fun with it I think, because we’re a little bit more relaxed since we’ve already done it.

AP: For sure. I remember reading the story of how you guys met and realized that you all wanted to start a band, and you didn’t know your instruments well, but you just came together and started writing anyway. Has your creative process evolved? What does that look like for you now?

AK: We’ve just gotten so much more comfortable. We went from being like a new band to now this is what we’re spending all of our free time on. We actually just got a practice space we can use instead of practicing in my basement, which was hard because I live with five people so it was annoying for them. But now we’re able to practice with each other like five times a week, which makes you a better band.

And it’s more comfortable now, now that we’ve been touring so much and together so much that the creative process is a little bit different. We’re jamming more now and everybody is coming up with different ideas, like Allegra’s gonna start singing backup vocals a lot more.

AP: Nice! When it comes to basements in Boston, we have a pretty big problem when it comes to house shows and cops – they’ve really started to crack down on the DIY scene around here. Do you ever see the same problem in Philly? Whether it’s house shows or even things like band practice.

AK: To be honest, we were kind of lucky because we’ve been practicing at one of our houses since we started a band, and we never really had crazy problems. The block that I live on is on a really little side street, and it’s all families who are all really supportive. And I also think the type of music we play isn’t super loud, so we always try to be respectful.

The cops haven’t been so bad about house shows, either. They get shut down sometimes, but I have some friends in Boston who told me about that [issue with DIY shows and cops] and it seems a little wild. I heard they were making fake Facebook posts to find out where the house shows were – it’s definitely not that excessive here.

AP: Yeah, they’re getting pretty sneaky around here. You’ll get the occasional shady friend request asking you about the “punk concert.”

AK: [laughs] Yeah, like ‘Where is the punk show tonight?’ It’s funny to think of someone doing that at their job.

AP: Cooking up fake profiles like “Joe Scumbag” or whatever.

AK: That’s hilarious.

AP: Luckily, you guys won’t have to worry about that when you come to Boston. Speaking of touring, you did some pretty substantial tours with The Menzingers, Waxahatchee and more bands – but this is your first headlining tour, right?

AK: Yeah! We’re about to leave next week.

AP: Are you expecting anything different from it this time around?

AK: I mean, I feel like it’ll be a really fun and laid-back tour for us, because [openers] Chumped are really good friends of ours and [opener] Thin Lips is a band from Philly – all awesome people. So we’re kind of thinking of it as less stressful, just because it’s like one big group of friends who are all kind of at the same level. So I’m not thinking of it so much as a huge headlining tour, but more like a tour where we finally get to pick the bands that we want to play shows with. It’s really exciting.

AP: So are you guys working on writing that second record right now?

AK: Yeah! We’ve been off for most of July, so we’ve been working on new songs. Then once we come back in October, we’re gonna really buckle down and try and finish the next record.

AP: It’s funny –  a lot of people, when I read about your band, a lot of people would classify Cayetana as a “pop-punk” act. I often think about how different bands like yours are from the “pop-punk” that soundtracked my high school days and how different things would have been if I had acts like you guys around – like three women singing about the same things I was thinking about, singing with agency and urgency. So I guess I’m wondering what has influenced your songwriting, in terms of both subject matter and musical inspiration?

AK: Hah, I so get the pop-punk thing you’re saying, so thank you for that. Because I mean, what I grew up listening to, and when I think of pop-punk, I think of pop-punk like bands on Asian Man [home to bands like Alkaline Trio, Lemuria, etc.], . But I feel like we all listen to different music, like Allegra likes New Order and Joy Division and more melodic things, and I really like stuff with good lyrics, like Leonard Cohen or The Weakerthans, Mountain Goats, that kind of stuff. And Kelly kind of likes everything. So we have a lot of different tastes in music that I think influence us, but not really just one influence.

We pretty much just write about the experiences that we’re going through at the time, and since we spend so much time together they’re usually aligned. I spend more time with them than I do anyone else. So we’re all kind of going through the same things, like being in our late 20s, early 30s and trying to have jobs and relationships and friendships, but they’re changing. You’re supposed to be an adult, but you feel like you’re 17.

AP: You mentioned having a real job while doing music. It’s interesting because I feel like not too many musicians talk about that because there’s this sort of mystique around being a musician and having that be your calling – people don’t really talk about what they really do, so it’s awesome to hear you writing songs about those types of feelings.

AK: I think even our new song that’s coming out on Asian Man, that’s what it’s about. I’ve been a waitress at a beer bar for like six years, because we don’t make money from Cayetana really, so we can’t live off of it. Actually, for these next few tours, since they’re all in a row, Allegra had a full-time job as a case manager at a health clinic that she had to quit. I have to pretty much leave my job and Kelly is the same. So you know, it’s very stressful, especially when some of our friends are having kids and we’re like “oh, well, just gonna do this instead.”

But we’re kind of all on the same page where we’re really lucky that people actually like our band, because we never thought that would happen. So we might as well do it now. We all kind of help each other work through that feeling of what success means to us. The band won’t be forever, but we might as well do it while we can. Being broke when you’re this age kinda sucks [laughs].

AP: You guys all live in Philly – a big epicenter of the East Coast scene. Has participating in that community served to support you guys in going out there and doing this thing, or shaping your musical experience in that way?

It’s comforting to know that some of our friends, especially in South Philly, are musicians, and have been doing this for a lot longer than we have, and can serve to be supportive. Especially when it comes to decisions like quitting your job or leaving your partner – it’s nice to have people around that you can talk to realistically about what you’re doing. Feel like you’re supported and call them if you have a question about, like, band taxes or something. So I definitely feel very supported. I don’t know if it would’ve happened in a different city. I would hope it would!

AP: Any hidden gem or undiscovered bands in your scene that Allston Pudding readers should definitely check out?

My roommate Mimi, she was in a band called Nona, but she just started a band called Eight, which is really amazing. It’s the drummer from Three Man Cannon, which is a band from Philly, and Cat from Amanda X. They’re amazing. I just saw them play their first show a few weeks ago, but it was really great.

Cayetana plays the Middle East Upstairs on Friday, August 14, with Chumped, Worriers, and Thin Lips. Snag tickets here.