Cassia Interview: Playing Live Is An Insane Feeling

Cassia are starting to make an impact on the indie music scene. The summery tunes they produce have been the perfect soundtrack to our summer this year. We caught up with the band to see what's in store for the future.

Where did Cassia start?

Well Rob and Lou (Guit/vox and bass) started the band really in what is now our studio. They were jamming and writing together after leaving school. Leff (drums) joined officially on a night out in Wetherspoons in Macclesfield, everyone was pretty pissed so it’s pretty amazing that it ended up actually happening.

We saw your set at Truck & loved it, how did you find it?

Ah thanks very much! That's awesome. Yeah it was insane! We never really know what to expect at Festivals still so when we saw the stage we were like holy shit!! This IS going to be amazing. I don't think we thought that the tent would fill up like it did though! That was an insane feeling, definitely the biggest festival crowd we’ve played to so far.. The vibe was really good, had a mint time.

How did it feel being the winners of the band app for Truck?

Yeah it was awesome! We never expect things like that to come through so when it did we were so psyched. It’s generally really tough to get on bigger festivals and then even harder to get on bigger stages so was just class. There’s been a massive progression since last year which we’re feeling really good about!

How is the rest of your festival/gig season looking?

Actually awesome! We’ve done loads of mint festival so far. Y-Not, Dot2Dots, Great Escape were all sweet! Got 110 Above this Sunday (8th of Aug) which I think we’re on the MainStage for so that’ll sweeeeet as. We actually have some we’re not allowed to announce yet which are like dream come true territory. BUZZING FOR THAT! They’ll be announced pretty soon now though.

100 Times Over seems to get the best reaction live, what do you love about playing it?

Yeah definitely out of the ones we’ve released so far! We just love the song really, so when it starts picking up towards it feels absolutely sick. To end the set with people bopping and singing to it is such a mad feeling!

What's the first record you ever bought?

I can’t remember what I actually bought first. I never really thought I’d be in a position where people would ask so I didn’t note it down! My dad has some serious records at home and listened to loads of Talking Heads and Beach Boys records, Police.. Dusty Springfield.. he had a crazy diverse collection so there was loads.

I think one of the major records that I bought was actually a traditional African kind of thing, that started the wheels in motion to what we’re up to now I think.

What's been the highlight as a band so far?

There’s a couple that come to mind. For me, it’s the first times something happened that are crazy. Getting intro track of the week on Radio 1 and hearing our tunes on Radio 1 was pretty intense.

Which venue would be your dream to play?

Well we’re aiming for arenas, so I suppose the MEN or whatever it’s now called Phone4U would be good. Fancy a bit of wembley too!

Your outfits always look really cool, does a lot of planning go into this before a show?

Hahahahaha thats really funny, do you think so? We always think we’re pretty useless with that stuff so it’s cool to hear we look BADASS! Not really, we like colour but so try make it colourful. Leff wears swimming trunks on stage because its comfy, I guess Lous cap is becoming a trademark now. I think maybe the closest thing to planning is Rob’s shirts, they’re pretty tasty!

What's your typical rehearsal like?

Well it varies really! Depends what we’re trying to do. Sometimes we just run the set and pick out issues, then get distracted and jam. Sometimes we practise/write new stuff with headphones on through Leffs laptop, then get distracted and jam. Sometimes we just have a mess about, I think it’s good just having jam practises sometimes as it means you get better at playing music with each other and broadens the ideas you bring to the tunes and stuff!

Is there an album or EP looming in the future?

There is an Ep looming yeah! It’s called ‘Movers & Shapers’. That’ll be out over the next couple of months! Album wise - we’re working on stuff, don’t know if/when one will be released in the near future but we like the idea of it!

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