Cast - Interview
StudentPunch had the chance to have a chat with an excitable John Power prior to the reformed, Cast playing Glasgow’s King Tuts on Saturday night. The sold out gig attracted a mixed bag of fans old and new, eager to hear the band’s new material as well as their back catalogue stuffed with instantly recognisable classics. John talked with us at length about the history of Cast, their recent reunion and the sound of the new album with a brimming optimism for the future.
Are you looking forward to playing tonight?
Yes, we’re always looking forward to playing, if we’ve got a gig to do we look forward to it and it takes precedence over everything else. I’d like to think I could hold back a bit tonight, you know for tomorrow because I played last night and that but I imagine that once we get up there the energy levels will kick in and we’ll just start chomping at the bit.
The thing is, it’s quite exciting times because we’ve got a lot of new songs, obviously we’re not playing them all tonight, just about three. We’re three quarters of the way through our new album and it’s exciting to get that out there, but obviously the old stuff kicks in as well, but I’m really ready to play the new stuff with the band as well as the old stuff.
When you reformed was it a nostalgic thing at first?
No it wasn’t, although it turned out to be that. We turned out doing the 15th anniversary tour for ‘All Change’ but the whole reason we’ve reformed was because I rang all the lads individually because I’ve been writing an album over the last two years which seemed to be a Cast thing, you know, the songs sounded like a band thing rather than a solo, rootsy thing. And I thought ‘this is a Cast album, this’, but I thought I better give the lads a shout and see if they wanna get involved because they were all the original members and that and you know, deep down we all do give a shit about each other. But I hadn’t really seen them for years, a long time, so when I rang up and asked if they wanted to do a new album they said well hang on John, why don’t we do a few dates? Because we don’t know if we’re gonna get on or what it’s gonna be like. And then, our old manager said why don’t you do a tour for the 15 years since ‘All Change’, and it turned out anyway that Universal were gonna do a repackaging of it so I mean, that wasn’t planned it just all seemed to come together and the obvious thing to do was to do an All Change tour and see if people were still interested. I really thought we were gonna do three or four shows and maybe after the course of six months it would settle in but I didn’t think that the interest we had would be so warming, it’s been great.
So 15 years since ‘All Change’, obviously the music industry has changed a lot, I’ve noticed that you use ‘PledgeMusic’, what do you think about it now?
Yeah, Pledge are helping us to try and get back connected with fans because I’m out of the loop and I’m not really a tech dude you know with the internet and Facebook and all that so Plegde is helping us get back into it, because the industry has changed completely, it’s not what it used to be, and probably that’s a good thing. I mean, the people who were involved in the industry were only money minded anyway.
Really, bands only get noticed when they’re on their third or fourth album, but we’ll probably, ironically, (well, we’ll see), but wouldn’t it be ironic if we did our best album now, you know? But bands don’t get given the time to develop these days. The Pledge thing is kinda working and I’m sort of half –arsed about Tweeting, I mean I don’t like it but I do sort of once a week if I’m in the studio. The medium for communication has changed.
Are you proud to have been part of the Brit-Pop era?
I suppose I am a little bit, yeah. There was some good bands then, although I did turn my back on it, I turned my back on Cast, I turned my back on the songs and I never played them for a decade really. I started playing them again and dropping a few into my solo sets when I knew I was gonna be touring with the lads again.
Am I proud? When I play Alright, Free Me, Sandstorm and Walkaway, I mean, you know, the strange thing is, the band are a lot better than we’ve ever been given credit for. We were in that middle ground where we were successful, we were a big band but we weren’t a household name, I mean people knew the songs once they heard them, so we kind of got a bit of a slamming in the press and I think rightly or wrongly, I mean people do have their points but we’ve never had any help in getting us where we are. We’ve only ever been slagged off in the press but the band are a great band, really good musicians with a great dynamic and we’re hitting our peak.
How has the touring experience changed since Cast started out?
We’re still having a laugh like, it’s nice to be on the road and on the bus again. Because I did a few years just playing shitholes and boozers, you know, I never stopped playing it’s just that I didn’t have a manager or anyone behind me and I just kept writing. So it’s nice to be on a nice bus again and playing venues and it’s nice for people to know that we exist and it’s great. I’m really trying to make the most of singing those songs again with the band because I let it slip through my fingers, really. It’s not a regret, but I’m aware that we’ve had a second chance slightly. Not in the sense of getting hits or anything like that, but just to stand on stage again with the band and play those songs to people who really love them. It’s a good feeling. And life doesn’t get any better than that, I mean I know that because I chased the false idols and I did the drugs and tried to be a knob! But you’re just young, you’re in your twenties and that’s how it is. So now at this stage you can see how important and what a good thing it is to be able to sing those songs and make people connect with music. It’s a beautiful thing like, don’t wanna get all gushy on ya, but I’m thankful to be back going, Jesus, this is what I do and I’m pretty good at it. It’s great to have a chance again.
Do you keep an eye out for emerging artists?
I should do but I’m too engrossed in my own ego! Nah, when you’re writing an album, and anyone will tell you this, it’s terrible, but you tend to just listen to what you’re doing. I mean I’m just doing my own thing, if I catch things on the drift, then yeah, but I mean that’s for the young ones, they’ve got it all to prove to themselves, and it’s their generation, you know, it’s not mine. What I find is that we’re meeting people who are younger, who were maybe twelve when we were about and never came to see us live and that’s great to see.
What’s it like working with John Leckie again?
Brilliant, John’s a beautiful guy. I never stopped working with him, he did a solo album with me, and we’ve kept in touch. I love John like, I love him as a person and we’ve got that history. This’ll be my fourth record with him and there’s not many people like that anymore, he’s got such great enthusiasm and he’s still doing it, it’s such a sweet thing to have like, you know it’s like what I am with my music. He’s a legend.
What can we expect from the new album?
Well I think it’s gonna be the best thing we’ve ever done and I’m not trying to sell it you, you know why, it’s got a looseness that feels really good about it. It’s not trying too hard to be anything, it’s just got that loose groove about it. It’s a bit more on the swing side of things, although it’s not gonna be a jazz record or anything like that, but there’s a swing in the rhythms. The band are playing great.
It’s got all the rhythms that have influenced me in life, I used to turn my back on my old stuff, you know I was in The La’s and Cast and there’s all this music so you try and make one thing to be something specific but this is just all my musical experience thrown in with Cast and the band are doing their thing as well, and it’s great. It feels really exciting, I don’t wanna big it up too much because nudge, nudge, wink, wink, you know! I’ll let you make your own mind up if anyone ever hears it.
I think it’ll ironically be the best thing we’ve ever done. Which is a hard thing to say because Sandstorm and Fine Time are our seminal songs and that’s our seminal record but I feel that this has got something that we never quite touched upon and that is a looseness and a confidence within itself. It’s not forced. And whether people hear it or not, it’ll be a dynamic record.
Are you looking forward to playing T in The Park tomorrow?
Yeah it’s strange, we’re first on, we weren’t, I dunno what’s happened. I thought we were gonna be playing a tent fifth on or something but we got the thing through two days ago and it turns out we’re opening on the main stage, which’ll be fine. I mean, the jocks always have it, they were the first people to ‘get’ Cast, they really were, we were selling out King Tuts and ‘Fine Time’ was storming months before it was a hit down in London or even the North of England, the Scottish people really always loved us, and I remember the last time we were at T in The Park, fucking hell it was amazing! There’s footage of it on YouTube…
When was that?
That was the first time in ’96, and it was going nuts, I couldn’t believe the crowd. I was looking at it before and it was just fucking moshing, and that was on the main stage so if we have a little bit of that again it’ll be ok.
Are you going to see anyone while you’re there?
I don’t know, probably, I’ll walk around and see what happens, I don’t like to be held down to plans because they’re forever changing aren’t they?
Get exclusive downloads and updates on the upcoming Cast album here: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/cast
Sophie McGraw
