Simply the Best with... Cassia

It's an exciting time for Macclesfield three-piece Cassia. The self-styled Calypso Afro-Rock group are signed to burgeoning indie rock label Distiller Records and have made a name for themselves with a vibrancy in both their music and live performances. This has made then firm festival favourites, as well as conquerers of mighty venues such as King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow and Manchester's O2 Ritz in career-affirming shows that have heightened the band's profile hugely.

The arrival of the band's debut record, Replica, in April 2019 felt like perfect timing and capitalised on the group's increasing popularity. One publication labelled the record a 'pure sun-kissed, joyous record', while another said it 'makes you want to dance until you can no longer feel your feet'.

Not only this, Cassia have prolifically delivered acoustic performances from locations around the world via a string of online videos, and with social media playing such an integral part in the career of any modern day band, this strategy has served them exceedingly well.

With a string of live shows in the diary for Autumn 2019, we drafted in Cassia to be the first to feature in a new series we're calling 'Simply the Best'...

Best live show you’ve ever played?

Cassia: "It’d have to be the O2 Ritz Manchester last November; our own headline show, over 1000 people going nuts. There was such a build up to it, I remember we had loads of our guys in our dressing room. And then they all left and it was just us three in the small corridor behind the stage listening to the crowd out the front. Everything fell away and it was up to just us to play a class show." 

Best tune you’ve ever recorded?

C: "I don’t know if we could pick one really. I love different ones for different reasons, maybe 'Loosen Up'. That recorded really well!"

Best tune ever recorded by someone else?

C: "This is crazily tough. Don’t think I can answer that, I love a lot of music done by so many different people. I think the Pet Sounds record by Brian Wilson is incredible, the nature of what he was doing back then was crazy."

Best artist of all time?

C: "Again, tough to say. A couple who we think are on a level above pretty much everyone else are The Beatles, Beach Boys (Brian Wilson), Pink Floyd, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles… there’s actually loads so I’m going to stop there!" 

Best outfit for gigs?

C: "I like a solid pair of jeans, a hempy ass tee shirt and a light jacket that I can take off and lob across the stage half way through. I read somewhere that every show Chris Martin from Coldplay plays, at some point he takes a piece of clothing off during the set. We're not massive into dressing up all weird for shows, we don’t do that normally - usually I just wear what I have on that day."

Best friend in the industry?

C: "Crystal Fighters were amazing to us when we toured with them. They’ve been to our London shows and bought our record, which we'd have never imagined happening before."

Best advice you’ve been given as a musician?

C: "Stop doubting and hating on yourself. Kind of weird actually, but I was watching Kanye West interviews (I think with Zane Lowe) and he was talking about this kind of thing. It came round at a pretty good time, that, so thanks Kanye for the advice."

Best venue you’ve ever been to?

C: "Best venues we’ve ever played… Thekla in Bristol is cool, it's on a boat so you can’t go wrong. We’ve also played in this 100-year-old cinema in Leipzig, which was absolutely nuts. The Ritz was awesome in Manchester."

Best gig you've been to?

C: "Went to see Tame Impala recently and that was pretty mad, we also saw Snoop Dogg when we played Y Not Festival for the first year. We were just buzzing because we got to play at a festival, so that was really class."

Best city in the world to play?

C: "For us, currently, it’d probably be in the UK as they’re the biggest. Three stand out in particular: Manchester, London and Glasgow. 

Best moment of 2019 (so far)?

C: "Dropping our album I’d say, that was awesome. We did a Maida Vale session live on the radio a couple days ago too. First time we’ve been properly shitting ourselves for a while, so it felt good when it went alright. Also met Dermot O’Leary afterwards which was sick, he’s really nice and my mum was very proud."

Cassia head out on tour in Autumn 2019, and you can find Cassia tickets below.

Cassia Birmingham tickets - Hare and Hounds, Thursday 24th October

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Cassia Liverpool tickets - Zanzibar, Friday 25th October

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