Cake Like: The Story of New York's Pioneering All-Female Indie Punk Band
In 1993, an unlikely musical story began unfolding in the heart of New York City. Cake Like was born when Kerri Kenney and Nina Hellman crossed paths at New York University's Experimental Theater Wing and decided, almost on a whim, to start a band together. They were soon joined by Hellman's roommate, Jody Seifert, completing a trio that would go on to make a genuine mark on the indie rock scene of the 1990s.
What made Cake Like particularly remarkable was the fact that none of the three members had any prior musical experience when they began. Rather than viewing this as a limitation, the band embraced it as a creative freedom, developing a wholly original sound that defied conventional rock formulas. Their music took on a distinctly literary quality, with songs that unfolded like poetry layered over erratic, jagged guitar-rock. Kenney handled bass and lead vocals, Hellman brought her voice and guitar work to the mix, and Seifert anchored everything behind the drum kit.
Their raw energy and unconventional approach quickly attracted serious attention. The legendary avant-garde musician and composer John Zorn took notice and signed Cake Like to his Avant Records label, which released their debut LP, Delicious, in 1994. This was a significant endorsement from one of New York's most respected and adventurous musical figures, signaling that the band was something worth paying attention to.
The momentum continued to build when Ric Ocasek, the celebrated frontman of The Cars, stepped in to produce their follow-up EP, lending a polished yet sympathetic touch to their distinctly unpolished sound. Then came perhaps the most surprising chapter of their story: rock icon Neil Young signed Cake Like to his own Vapor Records label. Under this new home, the band released Bruiser Queen in 1997 and their final album, Goodbye, So What?, in 1999, cementing their place in the indie rock landscape of the era.
Sadly, Goodbye, So What? proved to be an apt title. The band dissolved in 1999 when Kenney relocated to Los Angeles, bringing the Cake Like chapter to a quiet close. Yet the story never quite ended entirely. Years later, Kenney — now widely known as Kerri Kenney-Silver for her acclaimed comedic work on The State, The Ellen Show, and Reno 911! — revealed on The JV Club podcast that the band technically still owes Vapor Records one more album. With a sense of playful nostalgia, she mused that the possibility of a reunion record is "out there, floating around."
Nina Hellman also went on to a successful career in acting and theatre, appearing in the cult classic film Wet Hot American Summer and providing voices for several episodes of The Venture Bros., while Jody Seifert built a career in the fashion industry. A glimpse of the band's spirited personality can also be found in a deleted sketch from The State television series, titled The Muskrats, in which Cake Like performs a school fighting song. This rare footage was released to fans on The State DVD box set in 2009, offering a charming reminder of the band's playful, irreverent spirit.
Though their active years were brief, Cake Like remains a fascinating example of what can happen when artistic instinct overrides technical training. Three women with theatrical backgrounds, no musical experience, and boundless creativity managed to attract the support of some of rock's most respected figures and leave behind a body of work that still resonates with fans of 1990s indie and punk rock.