It was great to have a chance to talk with Cassia before their concert in Warsaw. The band from Manchester came to Poland, not only to eat pierogi but also to play songs from their debut album called “Replica”. It is incredible how passionate and energetic they are. During listening to them you do not doubt that they are having a lot of fun. Their songs are full of joy and happiness.
You have been performing on big stages and festivals like Reading, Leeds, All Point East. So how does it feel to perform in front of the big crowds and by the same way being more and more popular with every day?
Lou: Scary. Scary but more fun. We are kind of used to big crowds now. As we were saying yesterday, now we are playing for smaller crowds, which is fun and intense because everyone can stand right close to you. During big ones you can’t see everyone. It is like a big blur. So, it is a kind of less known for the recognizer.
Rob: Yeah, it is a great feeling to play the biggest stuff. The big crowds - we are up to it. We went from nothing to playing big crowds. It is always a constant process.
Yesterday you started your long tour in Europe, then the UK and Ireland. But when the tour is over, do you have your favorite place to relax, turn yourself off?
Everybody: Home
Rob: Home, we are pretty much touring for like a year and a half, let’s say. We have been on and off.
Lou: Studio is a quiet, nice place to hit up for a little bit. We are still doing this. You know, there is a lot of food, you don’t have to spend any money – it is always good.
Jake: Yeah, the studio is good actually. You don’t have to worry there. But I think, we will not have much time to relax after this tour. They want us to write music again.
Rob: I think, in relaxed state, it was always like – you have to do this at a certain time. It is how it has always been like in the past. It is nice to come up from this. I think we have been traveling for something like two or three weeks right now. So many drives. Now we will be in Europe for a while... drive each time - it is pretty crazy.
Jake: It is kind of strange, isn’t it? Because they keep dropping us off at home for something like half an hour or 40 minutes. Then we have to pick up again. So, it is very strange to say to your parents “Hi dad, hi mom, see me in three weeks. You know, bye!”.
Also, you are doing meetups with your fans, and Instagram chats – which are full. How is it to be so close to your fans?
Everybody: Very cool.
Rob: It is nice to know and meet them. You know what I mean, it would be quite weird to just play all these shows and probably don’t meet people which come to see us. So, it is quite nice to meet them. Also, we have got a group of the same people coming to our shows as well. Yeah, it is super awesome, I think it was a good idea.
Lou: Yeah, it is funny. Funny to see people, you often got a lot of statistics, like “You have got this many Instagram likes at your site”. You can forget that they are people behind it. But when you meet them, you are like, “Oh, people do like our music!”. It is very cool.
What was the moment in your carrier which made everything go that way?
Lou: I don’t know if it was one moment. Maybe.
Rob: I think we have always been working, so it wasn’t just one moment.
Lou: Now I have a reflection period.
Rob: I think, when we have started, we’ve got a BBC Radio One track of the week and then everything started taking off. Probably it was that moment, let’s say.
Jake:: I think it was earlier. I remember when we started like “Let’s try to do this”. We went to BSTK. We have made lots of money. I remember, we had a festival called “Y-Not”, which is quite a good festival and somehow, we’ve got it really early on. I remember thinking - “Maybe we could do this”. And then we started working hard.
Do you have a dream venue?
Jake: It would be like a normal venue.
Rob: We have played in an old cinema in Leipzig, that was pretty cool. It was really old and funky. But I don’t have a venue like “Oh I want to play there”.
Jake: On the back of the yacht. In the middle of the Caribbean
Rob: With champagne. Relaxation without driving.
If you would describe your album called “Replica” in one word, what word would it be?
Lou: Fantastic
Jake: Amazing
Rob: Groundbreaking
Jake: Rushed
Rob: Unfinished......?
Lou: Vibrant
Rob: It is not the way to describe it
Lou: Why not? It has a lot of vibes.
Jake: It is more than one word. What about “need”? We are really bad at this.
Rob: Maybe stick to “groundbreaking”.
Jake: Just stick to genius.
Lou: Vibrant is a good one.
Jake: So yeah, we gave you about like forty.
Can You say something about the atmosphere while recording your debut album in the studio?
Rob: Intense. Intense and stressed. But at the start very relaxed, because we were enjoying it. Probably we hit week 3 and we realized that half of it is not even written and recorded. We went in without written songs. We came from a tour straight to the studio. I think one of the songs was fully formed on the last day. So, that was pretty crazy.
Jake: It was funny because there were a few weeks around the beginning of the year and the main block at the end. We were like “It will be like ages, it will be fine. We will be smoking, playing football and all that stuff when we were supposed to be working”. On the last block, we realized we have got so much to do.
Rob: Yeah, we were in separate booths doing things, not really speaking to each other and without sleep. It was great and it was fun.
How does your writing process look like? Do you need a special place to write, maybe coffee or anything like that, or is it just a moment?
Rob: I think, because of our nature, we are just doing things and then bringing them all together. We never had much time to experiment till now, so it has always been like, we were working on something individually and then we were all working a little bit on that. So, yeah, coffee is always good. The album stuff, it's changing, this sort of track is totally different... you know, that kind of chorus, we replaced it and it’s kinda cooler...
Jake: Yeah, coffee is always good when it is nighttime. I am really inspired at night for some reason, I don’t know why.
Rob: Well, I rush to get home. I am like “I am going to do this”. Then rush and finish something. I hate not finishing things right now. I want to release something and listen in the morning and then decide – is it crap or not?
Do you have somebody or something that inspires you?
Jake: I think we inspire ourselves...
Lou: I think, our producer inspires me. He always tells us these crazy stories about how was it to hang with Michael Jackson and other people back in the day. It’s quite inspiring. It makes you want to get to that level and be like that. It is cool.
Jake: It’s ridiculous when you are listening to these stories. You stood there and he is like “Yeah, Michael called me and said this” and I am like “Fuck Off”. It’s ridiculous.
Rob: I think it is always more inspiring when you meet someone. I don’t get inspired by somebody, I need to meet him, talk to him. But Matt is pretty inspiring.
Lou: Yeah, he inspires good ideas.
Jeff: I get inspired by the concerts. I am like “Wow, they are doing so much cool stuff”. Then I have so many ideas.
Do you have a guilty pleasure song?
Rob: “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John
Jake: ABBA, “S.O.S”
Lou: Harry Styles, maybe. I maybe feel guilty, because I feel like I shouldn’t like Harry Styles. But I like his solo carrier.
If you could choose anybody - with whom would you like to share tea and why?
Jake: I would love to share a tea with Amy Winehouse because it would be a bitchin session. That would be a very enjoyable cup of tea.
Lou: Well.... with whom I would like to share a nice cup of tea... with Kevin Parker from Tame Impala. Just to take away his ideas, in the studio, for example in Malibu, and just drink a lot of tea, play music.
Rob: I don’t know if I want to share a tea with somebody I like. I just would share it with somebody I know. I don’t know. I have never been in a situation like “I want to meet that famous person”. I am not thinking like “What if this happens...”, I just rather do that thing.
Lou: But it doesn’t have to be anybody famous.
Rob: So, with you guys, or Jimmy Hendrix.
Jake: Well, we have Jimmy Hendrix, Amy Winehouse and Kevin Parker.... solid choices.
Would you like to add anything?
Jake: Well, we are playing in Poland tonight in Bardzo Bardzo. Buy our records. Follow us on Instagram.
Lou: Please, buy our album and shirt!
Rob: How to say goodnight in Polish?
Dobranoc
Rob: Well, Dobranoc
Interview and photo: Zuzanna Majewska
Editor: Grzegorz Aleksander Biały
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