Manchester indie trio Cassia explain that they “feel full and content” every time they work on new music. After a year’s gap, with more musical maturity and their consistently cheeky sense of humour, they are back with new music and hope that listeners feel equally full and content when they take a listen.
The band return after their 2019 debut album ‘Replica’ with new single ‘Do Right’, kickstarting the band’s career in 2020 and blooming into a new era for their music.
Speaking of the track, they said, “It was written in Cape Town where the landscape and culture helped to sculpt the sound and inspire the concept behind the lyrics. The idea for the song was triggered by a conversation I had with my friend Jeremy out there, he described to me in such detail devastating happenings around the world and it made me realise my own lack of awareness. I didn’t know a whole lot about what he was talking about and I felt ashamed.”
Drawing on this shame, Cassia still put a positive spin on the track describing its message as “doing what’s right for yourself.”
Delving deeper into the music-making process for the release they say, “It was a stream of consciousness while I wrote the lyrics. I drew on the idea that even if you find yourself inattentive to what is going on around you, you can still make that conscious decision to positively change what is happening now. I think understanding that you aren’t yet completely awake is the first step to living a much more fulfilled life.”
Speaking of where the triad – Rob Ellis, Lou Cotterill and Jacob Leff – currently stand sound-wise; it would suffice to say that the band have honed and improved their signature brand of jangly-pop-rock.
The band explain it further as, “Cassia is better than before and our music is better than before. We’ve seen so many places, met so people and experienced a lot of things which has helped us open up our writing process. When we go to a new place we try to find out what the place is about so you tend to come home well-rounded, after having been exposed to new things and that, in turn, positively impacts our music. “
On the topic of cultural exposure, they reveal “Our influences always vary. We keep looking into Spotify to discover new music. We don’t’ find ourselves inspired totally by a single artist but find that we retain the impact a particular artist may have on us – with their musical style coming to mind out of nowhere while we work.”
Having embarked on a huge tour in the past year, it’s for certain that their influence extend far beyond people. Asked about places they’d like to tour in the future, and places where they have loved performing in the past, they reply; “We’d love to do shows in Thailand, South Africa or even India.” And by unanimous choice, the trio choose Texas as their favourite place to perform.
On that note of bucket lists and memories, we harken back to highlights of their career. They say, “Reading was ridiculous but playing live on Radio 1 was the most intense thing ever. It was uncomfortable, nerve-wracking and yet the most unforgettable moment of our careers. “
When it comes to their future, Cassia seem to be taking it one day at a time. Speaking of what’s next, they are easy-going. “We’re quite happy with where we are now.’ The trio expand, ‘We haven’t released anything in a year so we’re excited and proud of this new track. It’s possibly leading into a body of work but we don’t know yet.
Chatting to two of three of Cassia, they constantly bantered and talking to/over each other, it’s no surprise at all that they turned their banter onto the interviewer. When asked what one question they wish they were asked in an interview, the sense of humour that laid peppered throughout our conversation comes out play as they pose the question “what’s something you’ve always wanted to ask in an interview but you’ve been too worried of offending people?”
With some needling they eventually answer the question they were posed and say “We want to know what people think about us when they see us from an outside perspective. So we’d love a question that gets us an answer to that.” Cassia hint at the answer for anyone looking – that they hope they’re perceived as ‘really cool, nice and successful pop stars’, “like Oasis – they’re nice.”
Having held onto their end of this unofficial bargain, they once again circle back to their earlier curiosity; I reply I’d love to ask someone “How fake are you?” Imagine; the one time I get to say it to someone, it’s to a trio of genuine artists – who have a laugh at my answer- with their feet planted firmly on the ground even as they soar the skies with the “unstoppable force” of their music!
