Picture not taken by me
I give to you another band of pure musical talent, the New Cassettes. A five-piece band from Northampton, England have been leaving audiences wanting more since 2005 and have received critical acclaim from plays on Radio 1, BBC6 and XFM, and have been a MySpace featured artist as well as the Radio 1 front-page feature.
Recently the band returned from NYC after spending a few exciting weeks mixing their brand new album 'Winterhead' which I must say I am very excited about.
Its always a pleasure when I get the chance to interview local bands like the New Cassettes. After watching them grow from strength to strength it really is wonderful to see the boys really making something of their talents and what a great bunch they are.
I got the low down on the band and their recent events with one of the members of the band Owen Reed.
Q. Could you give me a little background into the New Cassettes for those that
don't really know you and for those that really do not trust Wikipedia?
Owen: NC are a five piece alt-indie band from Northampton, the birthplace of
talent. over the last 6 years we have grown into a musical machine churning out fast catchy rock tunes with a pop twist. We have an american management and ties with MTV and Hype music.
Q. During your many years as a band you have played many festivals, toured far
off shores and even supported some pretty big bands. What moment in this span of time would you say was the best for you and why?
Owen: Everything has been a highlight, we have been fortunate to do many
things. One slightly drunken afternoon by the pool in our 5* hotel by
the beach in LA I thought "this is awesome, I wanna do this forever,"
That clearly was a high for me. We don't normally have 5 star
treatment anywhere, sometimes you are lucky to get £50 and a crate of
beers after a show.
Q. You have now released two albums. What would you say were the highs and lows
of creating an album?
Owen: The first album took an age to make, its more of a collection of songs
from over a few years. Our new album Winterhead due for release in
January was totally different. We just recorded every song that we
made as we went along. Highlight of the album was getting to mix it
together in Stratosphere studios in NYC with Adam Schlesinger
(fountains of Wayne). It was great for us all to be in the room
together and having a collective input to the finished sound.
Q. How has your music changed since you started? What were you initially
trying to do that differed from other bands?
Owen: I don't think we were trying to do anything different, we just make
music that we think sounds good. We started off very repetitive and
catchy to grab a live audience, now are music has grown into a more
grown up sound with deeper lyrics.
Q. What are your methods of working? How do you go about putting songs
together?
Owen: A song can be born in different ways. It can go from an initial riff
jammed out in practice and evolves into a song over the evening, or
one of us will make up the basics of a song structure and the rest of
the band will add there own dimension.
Q. What can we expect or hope to expect from New Cassettes this time next year?
Owen: Releasing Winterhaed that has been ready to put out for a year now,
the music business is slow at making things happen. Also UK and US
tours are being planned out and I'm keen to get an EP out soon after
the album as we are writing quite a bit at the moment
Q. Lastly, is there any advice you would like to give for any new bands
starting out on the road to making it 'big'?
Owen: Don't chase the labels, record all your own work and stick at it. Don't jack it in when you are rejected, just make music for yourself and hope that people will enjoy it. One day it will pay off.
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