Interview

Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Nick and Tyler from Cassino. Since they were about to play I figured I would keep it short. They were able to free up about 10 minutes and this is what they had to say.

EP: What do each of you do in Cassino?
Nick: I am Nick, I play guitar and sing.
Tyler: I am Tyler and I play guitar.

EP: I am sure you get asked this a lot but what exactly lead to the forming of Cassino?
Nick: I don’t know. We just got tired of what we were doing, got tired of the music we were making in Northstar. So we wanted to go do something else. We wanted to do something a little better than what we were doing musically, as musicians. I don’t think our point ever got taken, you know? We never really got our point across.
EP: Do you have any idea why that was?
Nick: I don’t know it was just kind of…yeah, I don’t really know.

EP: Are you guys playing with a full band right now? Is there going to be a band eventually?
Nick: Hopefully. When we record the record, we will look into getting a band when we actually do the record.

EP: After these couple days with As Tall As Lions what is your plan?
(Both guys just look at each other and laugh)
Nick: Heh, we don’t really know. We are looking to find a way to make a record. We will probably just end up doing it ourselves. It just takes time I guess; we don’t really have the money or the label support.
EP: Are there any plans as far as label goes? Do you want to sign with a label or are you guys just doing your own thing right now?
Tyler: The plan is to record the record on our own and get some kind of distribution.
Nick: We aren’t against record labels there just hasn’t been anything that has come to us that we really want to do. I don’t really see the point of signing like a five record deal. (Nick’s phone rings) Can I answer it?
EP: Yeah man.
Nick: My stepsister is here. Do you mind finishing the interview with (Tyler)?
EP: Yeah man that’s fine.

EP: Do you really know what is going on with the other two guys from the old band? Do you talk to them much anymore?
Tyler: Jake had a baby and he is going to school and working. Gabe was playing with other band from Huntsville, and I don’t think they are really doing anything. Other then that, I don’t know, he is probably just working.
EP: Is there any bad blood between you guys?
Tyler: Nah.

EP: This new music venture is different as compared to past ones. What led you guys to make this kind of music? I had read somewhere that everything was too loud. Was that what Nick was saying when he had mentioned that you guys never really got your point across?
Tyler: Yeah. I guess we just got sucked into this whole genre…
EP: Emo?
Tyler: Yeah. Really I was sick of playing that stuff we were playing way before we broke up and we just wanted to do it different. I like it and you can actually hear everything when we play because it is just two acoustic guitars and a keyboard. I think a lot what we were really trying to play got lost in guitar sounds and volume.


EP: I know what you mean; you kind of rewrote them to perhaps make them sound like they were originally supposed to sound before they were corrupted by volume…
Tyler: Yeah. There is nothing worse than two people playing bar chords and they are playing the same rhythm on acoustic guitars or playing rock songs on acoustic guitars.

EP: Where do you see Cassino next year? Or in two or three years?
Tyler: I don’t really have any expectations. I just want to keep being creative and productive. I guess eventually to have this as our main source of income, which is kind of why we want to put out our own record. It is not easier to do that, but in the long run it seems like it will be better for us. I don’t think we are ever going to be super huge.

Thanks to both Nick and Tyler for taking 10 minutes to talk to me.