This is part of Casablanca’s interview segment within their Let Me Introduce You To…
AMBY: Which three songs would you say define the Casablanca sound?
Casablanca: Three songs that define our sound; it’s a really tough question and one I wouldn’t answer in the same way multiple times but at the moment I would run with these three: Hard To Explain – The Strokes, Mr.Brightside – The Killers, Born to Run– Bruce Springsteen.
Hard To Explain – We first actually formed as a band when we were about 12 years old, and I remember the first conversations I had with Callum were all about The Strokes and Franz Ferdinand. I think we were probably too young to be able to lay claim to having grown up with those records, but they certainly formed the foundation of both our friendship and the sound of the songs we were writing together and that’s not really changed a whole lot.
Mr.Brightside – The Killers are really one of the few bands that we all agree get things right more or less all of the time, and I could pick any number of their songs to put on here but whenever we sit down and think about our album track-listing the question that always arises is ‘where is our Mr.Brightside?‘
Born To Run – Overwhelmingly the bands that the boys listen to all tend to owe a hell of a lot to Springsteen, be it Arcade Fire, The Killers, The National etc. So even if this song in particular hasn’t directly impacted upon the others, as they rarely listen to Bruce it will have done inadvertently. I listen to vast amounts of Springsteen, however, and at 18 this song means everything, lyrically speaking, and even if a lot of the escapism within Bruce is political, I find myself able to relate to it emotionally and it’s probably because of him that most of our songs are to do with hope.
AMBY: Those are three, great tracks. And as far as your own music goes, you’ve released the excellent song Yes. What else is to come?
Casablanca: Honestly I have as much idea as you do, I just emailed our manager asking him what we’re doing so hopefully I’ll find out soon, but in the immediate future we’re just writing.
AMBY: Well, I’m looking forward to hearing more songs! How do you guys feel about jumping into the music industry at such a young age?
Casablanca: We’ve been in a band together since we were around 12 years old, and while the scrutiny has never been intense there’s always been interest from Major labels so we’re not really too new to it and we certainly don’t feel like we’re jumping into anything, it’s been a part of our lives for so long it just feels very normal. Not to mention, having gone to a school with so much success in this industry (Theme Park, Yuck, Cajun Dance Party, Bombay Bicycle Club, FrYars etc. went to our school)… it feels a lot less daunting.
AMBY:Oh, I can see how that’s far less intimidating then. So if the band could have dinner with three of your influences, who would they be?
Casablanca: I’m really not sure, a vast majority of those people who influence us musically are not the kind of people we would want over for dinner. I think Jack White is a cool guy, it’d be sweet to have him over, Ludovico Einaudi maybe? He looks a lot like Larry David, hopefully he’d behave somewhat similarly. I saw this band Eels a couple of years ago and they looked really super weird so let’s just chuck them in the mix and see what happens.
AMBY: Would be a very humorous dinner, wouldn’t you say? Have you ever considered writing a song called Maybe?!
Casablanca: Haha, I fear Carly Rae Jepsen has nailed that word down pretty firmly as hers but who knows? Song names are just about the hardest part of the process apart from the band name I’ve gotta tell you, so I may have to run with it at some point.
AMBY: I hadn’t even thought of that… Maybe Casablanca can redeem the word “maybe”. Because right now, it’s at an all-time low! Lastly, tell us something about each member in the band.
Casablanca: Callum is a huge fan of marmite. Tom Herzberg is in the long, long process of being taught how to shave properly by Tom MacColl. Tom MacColl is going through the long, long process of trying to teach Tom Herzberg how to shave properly. I use my jedi knight robe as a dressing gown.
To be introduced to this awesome band and read more on them, click here.
Alicia Atout