The band was only formed in the summer of 2007, yet sounds like it’s been together for much longer than that. How did you manage to develop such a tight sound so quickly?
We work really hard in the rehearsal room, where we dedicate most of our time. For the last six months since we formed we have been there most days just playing, recording and writing. On top of that, we have all been in other bands in the past which helped us to develop a sound straight away, without having to spend too much time finding our feet. That coupled with all being on the same page musically have definatly helped us develop a tight sound a bit quicker than what is maybe usual.
How did the band form?
We have all been great mates for a long time, but other commitments with bands, university and full time jobs had stopped us from doing this until now. As soon as we all got into the same town and back together, we just threw our all into the band, and so far we have been happy with the results.
Your new EP, Spin the Truth, is due out in early February. Can you walk us through the four tracks?
Well, we wanted to record four short and punchy songs to really announce ourselves to any new potential listeners. The four ‘Spin The Truth’ tracks were the first four songs we wrote as a band, and it definatly demonstrates where we were musically at the time of recording. In terms of a theme for the EP tracks, we wanted big sounding songs, with catchy elements, but most importantly with plenty of energy. Joe Gibb (Funeral For A Friend, Leftfield, Brigade) who did the production work captured that idea perfectly, and it meant that we arrived at a point quite quickly that we were all very happy with.
One review of the new EP said Casino Drive “could be one of the heavyweight bands in the UK music scene in the very near future.” That’s got to be a good feeling!
We are happy with the general response to the EP so far, and although yes it is flattering to get really positive things said about us, we certainly do not take these types of review for granted. We know that we have to continue to work hard whether the reviews are good or bad. We are most definatly an ambitious band, so any reviews which help our development are very welcome.
What is your songwriting process like? Is everyone involved?
We write songs in a number of different ways, but yes everyone is involved in the finished product. Sometimes ideas come from just jamming in the practice room, or it could be that someone might come to a rehearsal with a fairly complete idea, and then the band will work on it together and it will develop over time. Each song generally gets edited quite heavily from start to finish, as we pre-produce everything ourselves so we can stand back and listen to it before we decide it’s ready to gig or record.
How did the name Casino Drive come about?
We played around with a lot of different names and this one just seemed to stick. It does not have any hidden meaning or anything like that, but just had a ring to it that we liked.
A little Myspace research reveals that at least one of you holds down a desk job. How do you balance 9-5 jobs with trying to make it as a band?
Well basically we don’t ever sleep!! We all hold down 9-5 jobs, and some of us work more hours than that, unfortuanatly we have to pay the bills like everyone else. With practice and gigs, we just do it pretty much every evening, and although that means we are slightly blurry eyed at 9.00am when we start work, we still get to do the thing that we really enjoy. There is so many new bands about now, that if you want to do well and get noticed in the crowd, you have to put in 110% every day.
We have a lot of Michaels in my family, but you have three James’ in the band. How do you prevent mass confusion?
Simple - we all use just our surnames as otherwise it would get very confusing for sure!!! People are generally quite confused by what to call us anyway, except Dave who always knows when to answer someone, the rest of us can end up slightly baffled! People who know us always refer to us by our surnames. We blame this problem on the massive popularity of the name in the early 80’s UK, it was by far the number one name!!!
With the EP being released in the US as well as the UK, can we expect to see you touring the states soon? Where would you most like to play?
We are really hoping to get to the States soon, and it is something we will pursue when we get the chance. We have a couple of avenues which are opening up currently to do some shows across The Pond, but nothing finalised as yet, people can keep checking our website/myspace page for updates. In terms of where we would most like to play, really anywhere where there would be a few people to listen and take our music in. We hear lots about the crowds over there, and i think we would enjoy playing some shows for them for sure.
How would you describe your live show?
Our live shows are developing over time, and really we just inject as much energy and passion as we can. The set at the moment consists of the EP tracks, and some newer songs, but’s it’s constantly evolving to include new ideas, we like to try and keep listeners interested and slightly unsure of what they might hear next.
Where can our readers hear your music or get the EP?
For all those readers interested in hearing what we do, all the ‘Spin The Truth’ EP tracks are up for steaming on our myspace page which is at http://www.myspace.com/casinodrive. We will have a brand new website up and running in the next month or so as well and that is going to be at http://www.casinodrive.co.uk. The EP will be available to buy in the USA from the 4th February through Interpunk online, it will also be available through iTunes, Amazon.com and mtraks.com.
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Casino Drive Website
Casino Drive on MySpace
