“What benefit is eloquence if I can’t call and tell my friends that I love them?”
Welcome to In Conversation, a special interview column on the site where we sit down with artists and dive deep into everything music. This week Dobbin and Joe chatted to Liam Torrance (guitars) in Casey.
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Dobbin: We’re recording on the eve of the new album’s release, How to Disappear. We love it and our reviewer had a fantastic time with it, and a really emotional response. Many will ask about the way the sound has shifted, but really, you’re also the same band. You’re sort of a captain of the instrumentals; how, in your perspective, have they changed, and what drove that change?
Liam: We felt that when we came back, we had to re-imagine what Casey was going to be after those four years. We had a really big gap where none of us really created for Casey, it was all for ourselves, individually. For us to make the same album again would be a bit of a cop out. So we kinda went back to 2014 and 2015, back to how and why we started Casey. Some of mine and Toby Evans (the other guitarist)’s biggest influences are those post rock atmospheric bands, like Hammock, This Will Destroy You, God Is An Astronaut, all those kind of big, 10 to 12 minute songs, that’s kind of why we started Casey, we loved those soundscapes. But we also wanted to modernise that and play on Tom Weaver’s vocals. He’s done loads of work on his vocals compared to 2017-18. So we mixed our love for post rock with poppy choruses and hooks, and it quickly turned into a different sound. But as you said, it’s still Casey, perhaps a bit modernised and newer. We kind of just ran with it – no idea was a bad idea, nothing was discarded, if we liked it, we did it.
Dobbin: I love to hear about the post rock influence, that time era was a fantastic time for the sound, and I’ve got a lot of fond memories of it. “Unique Lights” is a good example – that song is 6+ minutes, so you have actually gone there on this record!
Liam: Yeah, definitely!
Dobbin: Hammock makes so much sense too. They sound like… well, “Hammock”, dreamy music to fall asleep to. You’ve got that, but you’ve also got riffs. There were some other projects during the Casey hiatus, I have the impression that they were very heavy? Such as Mourn and Exit Dream.
Liam: I can speak for myself and Max, we were trying to fill a void of pure creativity. I know Wes, who used to play in a band called Climates years and years ago, we’ve always been in touch, and that was the closest fit to me for what Casey was. I’d be rubbish in a heavy band, I don’t write anything like that, I can’t be playing any downtuned guitars… so that was the closest thing for me. Logistically, it was just impossible, because Wes lived in Manchester, me and Max would drive back and forth, and the studio was in Liverpool, which is like the other side of the country for us… We had to let that go when we came back to Casey. I think Casey is a project that needs all of our input. If I’m distracted by other things, this album wouldn’t be what it is now. Adam Smith (bass in Casey) did Mourn and also played in Cardiff-based ASIDHARA, who are a crazy crossover trash band. But we knew that it wouldn’t be fair to give Casey less than 100%, so unfortunately we had to sack some of that stuff off.
Dobbin: A gear question – I got the impression from your guitars that they were sort of “tech metal” guitars. Of course, those categories are sort of bullshit, but there’s usually something to it.
Liam: So Toby is an enormous Dream Theater fan…
Dobbin: I knew it!
Liam: That’s his main influence, for anything kind of sonic. Sometimes he will bring a riff to practice and I have to say “I ain’t playing that, that’s your bag”. We both play Music Man John Petrucci JP60s. Really expensive, nice guitars, and I only bought one because I was lucky enough to play Toby’s for a tour. Mine is definitely wasted, but Toby’s isn’t, because he can solo until the cows come home. I guess we were just bored of buying guitars that had to be set up every tour. I do agree that they look like they shouldn’t be in Casey, but from a musician’s perspective, it’s just an instrument that just plays. And it does pose some questions, which I kind of like, people aren’t expecting us to play them, it starts conversations.
Dobbin: You have one guitar doing high end, especially on these songs with big finishes, that format really works. Which of those two do you do?
Liam: We kind of chop and change, in all honesty. We’ve said this previously, especially with songwriting, we really play to our strengths. I’m a big fan of really big, open, low-mids-y driven chords. Sometimes it’s me, sometimes it’s Toby. It just depends who writes those songs. I’ll hear a lead and I’ll say “there’s no way I’m not playing that part”, and we have to flip a coin to see who gets to do that. We don’t stick to roles, nobody’s a lead guitarist. Sometimes Toby has to do backing vocals, so I get the harder part at that time and sweat the most.
Dobbin: Speaking of live stuff, for the setlist for your upcoming US dates, you already have quite a few of the new songs in your live sets. Are there any extras that will come in?
Liam: An extra song we are playing on this tour is “I Was Happy When You Died”. We were kind of hesitant to put too much into this upcoming tour. It’s not really our tour, we’re not naive – a lot of people will want to hear some older stuff. So we’ve tailored it to all fans. We’re also closing the set with “How to Disappear”. There’s four new songs and five older ones, so it’s a nice mix. In March for our headline, we’ll have a lot of newer songs then.
Dobbin: When I got into Casey, I first heard “Great Grief”/”Atone”. I thought they were a great transitional duo. They might sound a bit more ‘old era’ I guess.
Liam: That’s what we were trying to do, bridge the gap between old and new Casey. “Atone” is a bit heavier and is more in the vein of Love Is Not Enough, whereas “Great Grief” was bordering on what we did on How to Disappear. It was very much a stepping stone to ease the listener into what we’re doing now.
Dobbin: You were in the US last year, how are you feeling about the upcoming run?
Liam: It was strange for us, fear of the unknown, you know. A lot of bands creep into that scene by doing a support run, but we went straight in with a headline. We didn’t really know what to expect. Some of the shows were just unreal, some of them were what we expected. We played some towns and cities were we knew we wouldn’t be as popular. But that’s the point of getting out there, the cool aspect of playing somewhere half way across the world. For us, it’s just amazing to be out there anyway. Our pastime is just to find some cool food spots, have a few beers, maybe meet some people outside the show. And it’s great to be able to do it with Acres, who we’ve know for a really long time, and Holding Absence, who we’ve known through their old projects, even before they were Holding Absence. It’s a tour package we can slot into without any pre-tour weirdness, so we’re super excited to get back. And we love it, we love America, we love mainland Europe.
Joe: Back when you broke up, you were one of the only prominent acts who did that sound as well as you did. And now you’re a big influence, for example, we spoke to Bloom, who are more Counterparts-y melodic hardcore, and they said they loved Casey. Have you noticed bands who are influenced by you?
Liam: Yeah, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all, that’s exactly what we did. I think it’s really cool. I don’t know if I see too many bands like us, but I see bands changing, for sure. Not “to fit in”, that’s the wrong word, but to be in that space. I see a lot of maturity as well, that’s a great thing. A lot of bands we are touring with are now sounding like they always wanted to. A lot of bands are also really heavy, and we like touring with an eclectic mix too. One band I talk about is Static Dress. We were lucky enough to work with Olli Appleyard for Exit Dream, his work was unreal. So the space is getting bigger, more eclectic. Fuck the people who want to listen to the same thing all the time. And if we can make these bills a bit different, the space will be even better.
Joe: One random question, what is the album cover?
Liam: The album cover is a random person’s driveway in Australia. We were lucky enough to have a bunch of friends out there. We asked Martyna Bannister, who we’ve worked with for years and years, and our really good friend Candice, to shoot some stuff over there.
Joe: It reminded me of the Counterparts You’re Not You Anymore cover, which is also a random house.
Liam: I think we loved the colours and the picture in general. We narrowed that down from 200, 300 photos, as every band does. So yeah, that’s just an unknown person’s house in Brisbane…
Dobbin: And it’s an emo thing, the American Football house, The Hotelier house… I encourage fans to be normal about people’s houses.
Joe: Are people going to be visiting the Casey house?
Liam: The first EP we put out literally just a picture of my mum and dad’s unmade bed. They weren’t happy with that… I think the best covers are ones that draw a certain intrigue, and don’t give it away. I guess if you are in a super death metal band, then you kind of know you’re going to have something grotesque and weird. I like bands that put out covers that don’t give much away.
Listen to the full chat here, and order the new album here: Hassle Records (UK/US) / Greyscale Records (AUS) / the band’s site.