Catnap Orlando band
Catnap Credit: courtesy image

Orlando alternative-rock trio Catnap, contrary to their name, are not snoozing — in fact, they’re currently a blur of momentum.

The young band, who only played their first show in late 2023 at the Orlando Girls Rock Camp Fest, are releasing a new mini-album — their second — Songs From the Darkroom, on Friday. Soon after, they’ll hit the road to perform the new material with shows in Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville.

The trio of Nina Friend (guitar/vocals), Julia Deason (bass, vocals) and Angie Benbeneck (drums) have a lot of history, meeting in middle school and starting on music in various incarnations right off the bat. This included early forays by Friend and Deason writing music for violin and cello.

“In middle school, I started playing guitar, Julia started playing bass and then we reunited with Angie, because she was a childhood friend of mine and she had just started playing the drums,” remembers Friend. “We just started playing together, guitar-bass-drums. And I think that’s when we were like, ‘Let’s start a band.’”

“Our epiphany was probably writing ‘Talk!’ That was like, the moment we were like, ‘Oh, this is good, we should probably keep writing more,’” recalls Benbeneck. “It was the first song that we wrote that was actually catchy.”

And thus with a lineup solidified, some songs already written and a name suggested by a helpful parent adopted, Catnap was born. Soon enough, the band ventured on to the stage — a uniquely friendly one — for the first time at the all-day Orlando Girls Rock Camp Fest, which mixes and mingles bands coming out of that summer’s camp with more established bands from all over Central Florida. We witnessed the set, as well as a second show at Stardust Video, and the three musicians were completely locked in and at ease, belying their lack of live experience.

“I was so excited when we played our first show, I could not stop smiling,” remembers Benbeneck. From that first show, the band found a place within a burgeoning scene of young guitar bands that play shows together and, crucially, encourage one another. The members of Catnap eagerly rattle off names of creative comrades.

“Misspell is awesome. We love them. Every time we play a show with them, it’s just like a big hangout and it’s really fun for us. Same thing with S.MO.P. They started in the Girls Rock Camp, and I was there when they were writing their first song. I got to see the lyrics being written in real time,” says Friend. “We have a lot of fun with them.”

Catnap’s sound is heavy, hazy and catchy, bringing to mind the freewheeling days of early-1990s alternative rock like Helium and Juliana Hatfield and Tsunami and Belly — well before leaden bores like Candlebox and Puddle of Mudd ruined everything. This sound is all over their debut EP Talk! from 2023. The band cops to influences both expected and not.

“When we first started, I think we were very obsessed with the ’ 90s,” admits Friend. “Smashing Pumpkins was a huge inspiration at first. But I think recently, we’ve expanded our interests and music.” Deason, meanwhile, cites a collective interest in newer shoegaze and emo bands.

Songs From the Darkroom is out on lucky Friday the 13th via Bandcamp and streaming, proof positive of their expanded listening palette. It was recorded in a proper studio, Greenwood Recording, with Kyle Hoffer  — who has previously worked with Cathedral Bells and Hail the Sun — for a bigger, more intricate sound.

“We’ve never done anything like this before,” says Benbeneck. “We recorded our first EP in my house with one of my parents’ friends, so this was a very big change of scenery. It was a lot of work and a very long process … but when we were all in the room, listening to it come together, that was really awesome.”

“As for the writing process, I would say that the lyrics on this EP are the most vulnerable lyrics that I’ve ever written, and I’m really excited to share that with people. The Talk EP is just 14-year-old us and this one shows a few years older us,” says Friend.

As we mentioned, this EP will be heralded into the world with a trio of shows where the band will be playing with friends made through previous gigs — notably OGRC alumni S.M.O.P. as well as Fawn and Misspell at the Orlando show at Conduit. But there will also be forays into Tampa — the Orpheum with Mossheads and Indigo Lane — and Jacksonville — Hard Love with Anthony Mikus, Kicklighter, Gnomes of Neptune and Echo Foxtrot. 

We ask about the influence of their Orlando music peers on Catnap; of late we’ve noticed younger Orlando musicians seem to be really pulling for and supporting and inspiring one another in ways that maybe some previous generations were a bit more averse to do. (Trade secrets? Who knows.)

“My favorite part of watching local shows is honestly just watching the drummer, because I play the drums. I’ve taken so much inspiration from them,” says Benbeneck. “More than with bigger bands, I feel more connected to them. It’s more relatable than some bigger band.”

“We started the band when I was in eighth grade, and right around freshman year I started going to shows at Stardust, which is near my house. And that was eye-opening for me,” says Friend. “I had never been to shows before, and I went to my first Stardust show, and I was like, ‘OK, this is what I’m going to be doing every single weekend, where I’m going to go with my friends, and this is where I want to play.”

Looking past this week’s burst of activity, the three musicians are just taking things one gig at a time. To that end, there may or may not be a chance to see them at a newer Winter Park venue in the near future. Much like the titular Darkroom, we just have to see what develops.

Catnap with S.M.O.P., Misspell, Fawn: 7 p.m. Sunday, March 15, Conduit, 6700 Aloma Ave., Winter Park, conduitfl.com, $16.

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This article appears in March 11-17, 2026.