What is your name and role within Cassels?
Jim. Vocals and lead guitar.
How did you start?
We grew up in the middle of nowhere so from a young age I turned to music to alleviate some of the boredom. As the older sibling, I eventually managed to coax Loz into playing drums with me, and I’ve been coaxing him to carry on ever since.
Where are you based?
I live in London, Loz is at uni in Hertfordshire, and we’re originally from Chipping Norton near Oxford.
Please give an example of your music writing process?
I spend ages obsessing over riffs and words until a song is formed, I then record a scrappy demo of said song and send it to Loz, and I’d say 7 times out of 10 he replies with ‘it’s shit’ and we don’t play it. Then I go back to the drawing board and the process repeats until he gives his blessing and then we start learning the song together. I’m pretty much always writing words in some form and I generally flip back through my notebooks for lyrics when I’ve written some music I’m happy with.
What are you working on right now?
Our debut album. Currently at the mixing stage, and starting to get to the point where they don’t even sound like songs any more because I’ve listened to them so many times.
What is your gear setup?
I play a Fender Mustang through various pedals and then split into a Laney LX120RT and an Ampeg PF350 with a Hartke AK115 cab. Not the best amps in the world but they’re reliable and not too heavy (I live in a top floor flat).
What do you like to do outside of music and does it affect your music?
Not much. So no.
How would you describe your music genre?
I don’t know, I think applying genre’s to music is generally a waste of time as my definition of ‘punk’ is likely to be significantly different to, say, our mum’s definition of ‘punk’. But yeah if you must apply a genre it’d probably be ‘punk’.
Do you know any music theory?
None whatsoever.
What are your plans for the future?
Release the album, tour a bit, and then see how we feel.
How did you get into music?
See above.
What are you listening to at the moment?
Pile.
Who are your top 5 influences and icons?
The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Slaves, Royal Blood, ’68.
Please feel free to include any extra info.
soundcloud.com/cassels-official
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tTRgwk8L4eDg74OI9dKL2
