Cain Culto Is Not Interested in Making Things Easy to Categorize on His Debut Album, CULTO

There’s a lot to unpack when interviewing an artist like Cain Culto. You have to talk about his upbringing as a worship pastor, an almost too perfect backdrop for the rebellion that followed. You have to talk about his roots, a cultural palette that stretches from Colombia and Nicaragua to Kentucky, and inevitably makes its way into the rich musical pastiche of his debut album, CULTO. Then there’s his musicianship, his ear for production, his penchant for eye-popping visuals and a flair for theatrical live performance. But before you get to any of that, there’s really only one way to start the interview. “So, should I call you Cain Culto or Andrew?” Find Cain Culto Tickets Here Born Andrew Padilla, the artist created Cain Culto as an alter ego through which he could explore parts of himself that had long been suppressed, particularly his queerness. The name draws from the biblical Cain, an outcast of sorts. But rather than accept that story’s tragic conclusion, he saw Cain Culto as an opportunity to reclaim it. That resistance to prescribed identities has since become something of a guiding principle. “I do resist being boxed in so much just as a personality trait,” Culto tells Con...