A stage of reform in music is always risky business, be it with a new outfit or a continuation of the same. This year has been rife with such a thing, from American Football all the way to Braid and Sunny Day Real Estate. Thankfully, these guy’s haven’t been the only success stories over the last year or so, as the former members of The Boxing Lesson gave birth to Casual Strangers, with the inclusion of Katey Gunn on vocals, lapsteel and triwave. What emerged was an ambitious and diverse brand of psychedelic-rock, as expressed most fully on their self-titled debut full-length. From the intense insecurities of ‘’Banshee’’ to the sunny escapism of ‘’Caribbean Cask,’’ no venture was too far nor convention ever perceived as an issue. As the band gear up for the promotion of Casual Strangers, read below for their answers on the new album, the working of the female/male dynamics, and the induction of Jaylinn’s mum into the Women of the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame in North Texas.
Firstly, congratulations on the debut record. Could you start off by telling us a bit about the inception and writing for the album?
We’ve been a band for about a year now, so this all came together pretty quickly. Paul and Katey had started writing songs together, mostly for personal entertainment. At the same time, Jake was released from prison and wanted to reconnect musically with his best friends. We started having these loose jam sessions and before we knew it we’d created this totally off-the-wall, psychedelic album. We found a new freedom in writing songs outside of our comfort zone, with weird sounds and lyrics, because it’s fun and unexplored territory for us and for modern rock music.
What were the inspirations for Casual Strangers and your music as a whole?
Inspiration for us is musical discovery, going to a record store, and picking up a record purely on vibe. That feeling of excitement is in each of the songs on the record, that’s kind of why it feels like a badass playlist. That feeling of “What’s going to come next?” really makes you listen.
More importantly, what would you hope to inspire in potential audiences?
We hope to inspire a sense of freedom from the norm. Let your freak flag fly, as they say. Hopefully it gives people some confidence to be true to themselves, and to lighten up and have some fun.
Where does the name Casual Strangers come from?
Casual Strangers comes from the collective consciousness. To be fair, it was Jake’s idea. But we all agree that we live in a time where you know more information about people, but you don’t really know many of them any better than a stranger walking down the street.
In a letter sent to the site Republic of Austin last year, it stated how the album was to be ‘conceptualized.’ What are the concepts running through the record?
The main concept running through the album is alienation and the flip side to that, the moments where you feel a kinship or connection to someone, no matter how brief or confusing. That notion along with themes of psychedelia, sex, space, and rebirth make the whole thing feel like a dream within a dream.
One of the most effective and intriguing elements of the record is the female/male vocal dynamics. How do you feel the gender combination works within the band as a whole?
The male/female dynamic balances everything. The yin and yang in the lyrics, music, and band chemistry. Rock music is so heavily male influenced and that’s probably why it’s not the most popular music anymore. As much fun as it is to totally rock out, there is a power in harnessing that along with female energy. The combination creates a complete story for us.
The paradox between the expansive nature of ‘’Space Blues’’ and say the more straight-up ‘’Put Your Mussy On My Mussy’’ really adds interesting dynamics to the record. Do you ever feel pressured to go for something more complicated, or is there an intention to try and write a diverse range of tracks?
The reason it is so diverse is because we tried to not put any pressure or limitations on our ideas. When you free yourself from what a song is “supposed” to be, you start experiencing songwriting as more of a zen thing. The song is allowed to have an identity outside of the ego of the songwriter. One thing leads to another, and it just is.
I read that Jaylinn’s (synth, bass) mom has recently been inducted into the Women of the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame in North Texas. What is this Hall of Fame and why was she inducted?
Jaylinn spent many hours as a kid in honky tonks in Wichita Falls, TX watching her mother perform, playing to crowds of dancing cowboys and ladies. She was a staple in Wichita Falls, owned her own night club, booked, and played with many famous musicians namely Jerry Lee Louis. She sang and played bass with a few different incarnations, namely Connie Kelley and the Cavaliers, which was an all-girl band. She even sewed all their outfits. Last year, the Museum of North Texas History had an exhibit of the Golden Age of Honky Tonk and in it the Women of the Honky Tonk Hall of Fame, where Jaylinn’s mother was an honoree.
What was the reason behind starting Casual Strangers and not just continuing as The Boxing Lesson?
Casual Strangers is a new band with a new creative energy. It’s directly in line with our current musical tastes and is the fresh start that we all needed in our lives.
What’s the story behind the names of Moonchild, P. Virgin, Ascot Jones the Third, and Kalijah?
This goes back to the idea of freeing yourself from preconceived notions and of course having fun with your true identity! We love to see pseudonyms on albums and we were talking one day right before we came out as a band about how it doesn’t matter WHO is playing as much as WHAT is played.
Some of the lyrics, especially on the aforementioned ‘’Put Your Mussy On My Mussy,’’ flag up as being both suggestive and amusingly inventive. Is there an agenda to compose this way or is it indicative of the way you feel when writing the music?
It’s indicative of the way we live our lives. These song ideas really are little vignettes captured from day to day experiences, outside of being a musician. We don’t get together and slave over song ideas. It’s a combination of a spark of an idea and the creative energy of the band culminating with an identity of the song. If you’ve seen Slacker or any other Richard Linklater films, he threads a story through seemingly unrelated people and events, and that’s what we do too.
What are three things people may be surprised to know about Casual Strangers?
1) We practice in Paul and Katey’s kitchen.
2) We recorded our entire album, live to tape, in only 4 days.
3) A dog will lick his own butt, but will not eat a pickle.
Finally, what can people expect from the band over the next few months?
We are writing our sophomore Casual Strangers album right now and are planning to record it by the end of the year. Also we are talking about bringing the band out of Texas for the first time to cities like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London.