By Jim Barber
Generally it takes some time for a band to seek out its voice – the essence of what makes them particular, the telltale, identifiable uniqueness that’s essential for creating music that not solely satisfies them, however touches the hearts, minds and spirits of music lovers. As soon as attained, this ‘voice’ turns into a reservoir of confidence and self-assuredness for the artists as creators and performers, which quickly turns into a launching pad of thrilling and fulfilling issues to return.
Such is the case for Sudbury-based indie-rock band Casper Skulls, whose new album Package-Cat sees the tightly knit three-piece elevating their musical sport with a potent and memorable assortment of songs that’s indicative of their evolutionary maturity.
Package-Cat is an undeniably exuberant assertion by a band who has certainly discovered their voice – and it’s one which at instances celebrates the quirky ironies of life, lobs a couple of not-so-subtle jabs on the vagaries of contemporary society, and places their very own spin on the which means of maturity and parenthood with out sacrificing any of insistent vitality and sublimely catchy melodic hooks for which the band is understood.
On the coronary heart of Casper Skulls rising prowess as a inventive enterprise is the solidity of the connection between the three founding, core band members: the husband-and-wife workforce of Melanie St. Pierre-Bednis and Neil Bednis (each of whom play bass and guitar together with singing), alongside their Toronto-native pal, drummer/bassist/violinist Fraser McLean.
A pair for almost 15 years, Melanie and Neil moved to the Toronto space when Melanie enrolled in artwork college at Sheridan School and shortly determined to discover the thought of making their very own music, and constructing a band, launching themselves into the hustle and bustle of the Toronto music scene when she graduated in 2015.
“We moved from Oakville into Toronto correct as a result of, for Neil, it was his probability to actually strive doing one thing with music. And I had all the time cherished music and all the time needed to try this as properly, so doing it collectively simply made sense. As quickly as we began writing collectively, it actually clicked; we found our writing types labored properly with each other, so we have been like, ‘okay, I believe we’ve bought one thing right here,’” stated Melanie.
The band got here collectively comparatively shortly with a couple of members coming and going however all the time anchored since 2018 by the core trio of McLean and the 2 Bednises. Package-Cat is the band’s third full size album to associate with an earlier EP and a handful of singles.
Whereas it is smart that there could be a closeness in inventive imaginative and prescient between a married couple, each Melanie and Neil say that Casper Skulls is an equal, three-way democracy, and that McLean’s contributions are integral to the band’s success, the standard of their recorded tasks and vitality of the dwell exhibits.
“Fraser is such a implausible musician. All the pieces that he has dropped at the desk, particularly on this report, was excellent for what the songs wanted. And all of us like the identical sort of music. Since we’ve been in a band for 10 years, we all know what sort of music one another is into and what imaginative and prescient we’re going for with our personal music. He simply will get it. Together with his drum components, he is aware of instantly what the tune wants, and from tune to tune it differs. He is aware of that and he alters issues out to match every tune, which is nice and actually was efficient for this report.,” Neil stated.
As with every enterprise of significance, it generally takes some time to seek out its footing, as eluded to within the introduction to this piece. For Casper Skulls, like many bands, it’s uncommon to get one’s specific ‘system’ proper out of the gate.
“It took us some time to get right here. After we first began the band, we have been a bit louder and extra intense however then we cooled off through the years as we began introducing some slower songs and discovering a consolation zone the place the music simply began flowing extra simply. So this report appears like its precisely the place we wish to be proper now,” stated Melanie, with Neil selecting up the dialog.
“By way of the transformation for this report, on earlier information, we’ve all the time written and recorded as a 4 piece in a room collectively after which generally would exit and tour these songs and get actually tight with them earlier than going into the studio and recording them. For this report, we did much more demoing. So Mel and I might give you concepts, ship them to Fraser and he would add completely different devices to them, like drums, bass and stuff, and ship them again. And we had by no means performed any of those songs dwell earlier than recording them, which is fairly uncommon for us. The primary time we performed them dwell was at our album launch present. In order that was an entire completely different course of for this report.”
When actual life adjustments, it’s inevitable that the way in which creators create essentially has to vary, and so too is the character of what comes out on the finish of the method. Transferring again to their hometown of Sudbury, nearer not solely to household and pals however to nature, in addition to having their first youngster, Molly in 2023, naturally means views and priorities are a lot completely different, for Melanie, Neil and Casper Skulls as an entire.
“A variety of the songs have been written earlier than she was born or earlier than Mel was even pregnant. However on songs like ‘Dying in Eight Verses,’ there’s mentions of arising with child names and issues like that. After I wrote that tune, I undoubtedly knew that I needed a toddler and that I knew it was going to occur. By this time we had purchased a home and bought married and all that stuff, so I knew it was coming. In that tune, you may hear that I used to be undoubtedly picturing myself as a father or mother,” stated Neil, of Molly’s influence.
“Earlier than, once we have been only a band and not using a youngster or something like that, we’d have the ability to simply choose up and tour each time we needed, for so long as we needed. Clearly, we will’t do this now. It takes much more planning for that sort of factor, and for actually every thing to do with being in a band.”
Not that it was pre-planned or had something to do with the approach to life and scheduling changes required by a brand new child, however, amazingly, Package-Cat was recorded over six days from begin to end. Six days!! And it’s not prefer it needed to be, it’s simply that issues have been coming collectively so properly, the performances have been so crisp, but so infused with vitality and vitality and the band was on a roll, so the proverbial tape stored rolling, few takes have been wanted and growth!! A brand new album was born.
“We knew what we needed. We produced the entire thing with our good friend Matt Weiwel, who runs a studio right here on the town known as Deadpan Studios, and it’s an excellent studio and holds up very well while you examine it to those we utilized in Toronto. He simply bought the imaginative and prescient of what we have been doing and helped us simply bang it out. I believe it’s the best report we’ve made, which can also be bizarre. For the opposite ones, the method was so rigorous: they have been much more work. So, yeah, this one got here collectively actually properly,” stated Melanie, returning to the theme of the band being in a headspace the place they knew precisely who they have been, the place they have been and what they needed to say, with out equivocation.
“We simply understood it, and it was straightforward to execute due to that. Whereas earlier than we have been in all probability navigating by way of completely different types and sounds of music as a result of we simply weren’t positive the place we have been headed.”
Neil believes that with the band formally being a 3 piece with him, Melanie and all of them are in synch, the method was naturally going to be extra environment friendly.
“I don’t know the way it will come throughout, however having much less voices within the band made issues run smoother. Now we have all the time been democratic, each voice counts, however when there’s 4, there’s much more dialogue and debate. As a 3 piece, and with us already a lot on the identical web page, there was much less, you realize, voting on issues. We have been ready to select snare sounds shortly, guitar sounds shortly, agree extra shortly on a vocal take, that form of factor,” he stated, reiterating that it additionally makes the songwriting course of much more streamlined, as evidenced by the seamlessness of how songs got here collectively for Package-Cat.
“For me, it’s normally a guitar riff first after which I’ll write the vocal melody after which they do the lyrics final. At that stage I’ll demo it and ship it to Fraser. Sometimes I could have a couple of traces of lyrics written down which can be a very good leaping off level for a tune and I’ll attempt to match it with a melody I have already got after which go from there and end the lyrics. For the musicality on plenty of the songs, Fraser brings in plenty of concepts. The tune ‘Spindletop,’ for instance, sounded completely completely different earlier than we despatched it to Fraser. He wrote all of the guitar traces and bass traces. For the tune ‘Kihl,’ which Mel sung, he added violin and funky old fashioned Casio keyboard sounds. And Mel writes a bit in another way from that.”
“Talking of ‘Kihl,’ I had that tune title for a very long time and I knew I needed to put in writing a tune known as that. So that truly helped me to put in writing that tune. I’ve plenty of tune titles that I do know I wish to write the remainder of the songs to, and sometimes I do know what the tune goes to be about, and what the fashion or vibe goes to be primarily based on the tune title. It’s enjoyable. I like prompts like that,” stated Mel, selecting up the story.
“I’m additionally a visible artist [she did all the artwork for the album, as well as for all the singles and the band’s merch] and I keep in mind having artwork lessons the place we simply had easy prompts and we’d draw off these and I cherished that. So I used the identical method for music more often than not. However I’m additionally the sort that can plunk round on the guitar and are available throughout a cool riff after which write off of it after which do the identical factor that Neil was describing like placing within the melody and lyrics after. However, I’ll say, I do use the tune titles as a immediate quite a bit. It’s normally my first method. I’m so open to writing a tune in another way, which I believe can open up plenty of actually cool potentialities. I do know there’s some musicians who do vocals first, however I’ve by no means carried out that, regardless that I do lead vocals on lots of the songs.”
Talking of vocals, there are some tracks on Package-Cat the place one or the opposite of Melanie or Neil takes the lead, however there are additionally many songs, and components of songs, the place they’re sharing the lead in addition to harmonies.
“By way of the way in which we did vocals, I believe we misplaced the plot a bit on our final report [Knows No Kindness]. It made sense to commerce lead vocals from tune to tune as a result of it was an idea album about being raised in Northern Ontario. However we felt like we misplaced ourselves doing that, and that is what folks come to our band for. They arrive to it for each of us. They like the truth that Neil and I are each on a tune and we commerce components right here and there and that we write collectively in that means. Now with this new album, we even sing a few songs in unison, which was cool. We did that for the primary time. However that’s our band,” stated Melanie.
“You know the way there’s completely different voicings for various bands and it makes the band distinctive and attention-grabbing? Some bands simply have it in their very own voice. Effectively, I don’t really feel Neil and I’ve very attention-grabbing voices individually. Like, we will sing, it’s positive, however we don’t have that simply identifiable voice that some singers have the place you realize it’s them. However while you get a tune that seems like us, or while you hear a tune off this report or our first report, you realize it’s our band instantly due to the stuff that Neil and I do vocally collectively, and due to the way in which that our guitars and issues like that sound collectively. Now we have a really particular sound once we’re doing one thing collectively. These are the issues that make the band this band. And people are the issues that we are going to proceed to maintain and cherish.”
A stand-out observe on the report, and one with resonance for a lot of, is the sentimental however nonetheless fairly critical ‘Numbing Thoughts’ which takes a sharpened take a look at the way in which know-how has inveigled itself into each aspect of society – and the way that’s not precisely a very good factor.
“’Numbing Thoughts’ is about having a relationship with tv and streaming and all our gadgets and what that does to us. There’s a lot display time, and we’re all the time on-line and regardless that most issues have been on-line for years, because the pandemic it’s been cranked as much as 11 the place you may even have full band exhibits on-line. I really feel like plenty of this report is placing all types of issues underneath the microscope, which we did generally on plenty of our older songs, however this one particularly had plenty of these issues,” stated Melanie, with Neil chipping in.
“You’ll simply be hanging out with somebody after which they’ll always must look or verify their cellphone. I suppose that’s sort of what impressed the tune. And I don’t know if this can be true or not, however I learn someplace that in like, 50 years from now, society will take a look at how we use telephones as like what smoking was once. That it’s an dependancy and dangerous and socially unacceptable.”
One other of the points of life being put underneath the microscope, in tune at the least, is the sophisticated and sometimes conflict-ridden nature of households, and what occurs behind the scenes – generally not very far behind – at important household occasions like weddings. Or funerals.
“’Petty At A Funeral’ is about while you go to a funeral and also you see all of the horrible behaviour and pettiness that households can have behind the scenes the place they’re asking about wills and placing themselves first in these conditions, as a substitute of celebrating or mourning the one that simply died,” stated Melanie.
“There was a scenario the place we noticed a few of that unfold and it undoubtedly impressed the tune. And it sucks to see issues like that as a result of you realize you’re there to honour somebody, to listen to speeches and tales and all of that. It’s imagined to be so pretty to absorb and pay tribute to this life. After which afterward, perhaps not even essentially throughout the funeral, however not a lot later, you hear about all this nasty stuff from different relations. It’s loopy. This tune is form of saying, ‘dang, what I believed was this lovely occasion had all this bizarre stuff occurring behind it.’ It’s simply such life stuff, like nothing is basically sacred and delightful anymore.”
As critical because the dialogue on the Casper Skulls’ evolution as a inventive entity and the depth of the collaborative spirit between the three band members, it’s not all tremendous critical. There’s room for some indulgence, if not outright enjoyable. Not afraid to drop a couple of cultural references, followers who bought a bodily copy of Package-Cat will, upon opening the package deal, see a big portray of the skilled wrestling legend, the late nice ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, and that the second tune on the report is certainly named for the kilt-wearing, feisty, fisticuff brandishing former nemesis of Hulk Hogan.
“We actually do like wrestling. Now we have one other couple which can be good pals and all of us bought into watching it collectively a couple of years in the past. And naturally we watch principally the brand new stuff, however I do keep in mind watching a few of it too after I was younger. I simply didn’t retain plenty of it, however I did do not forget that Roddy Piper was this actually unusual particular person. Even later in life when he was making comedy appearances or no matter, he’s such a personality. One evening we have been watching a documentary with our pals and it talked quite a bit about him and the Hulk and what went on between them. It was simply so foolish and humorous and neat and I keep in mind leaving their home that evening and saying to Neil, ‘we’re going to put in writing a tune known as Roddy Piper. We’re simply going to do it,’ So, again to the tune title factor once more,” stated Melanie with fun.
“Neil was like, ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re speaking about? What? What? No, we’re not. I don’t even know the way we make that cool.’ I stated, ‘don’t fear, we’ll determine it out.’ As quickly as we bought dwelling I got here up with this actually cool shoe-gazey riff and we have been off. We determined that I might be the one who would attempt to write the melody and stuff for it. I used to be going to attempt to sing over that riff. However then someday Neil sat down on the laptop and he had written a couple of verses, however I had the refrain found out. So we managed to place all of it collectively, and the lyrics all got here collectively on the identical time in that one session. I made a decision that we would have liked to sing the tune collectively because it was such a collaborative effort. And it’s not just like the tune is about Roddy Piper on the nostril. That’s not nice songwriting and it makes it actually kitschy. I believed it could be cool if it was about one thing else that would allude to wrestling. So it’s actually a couple of couple that’s having this battle, this disagreement and looking for some frequent floor. As soon as once more, tune title for the win!”
What can also be consideration grabbing in a visible sense is the eponymous ‘Kitty Cat’ clock on the entrance cowl of the album in addition to the primary picture within the cowl for the one ‘Spindletop.’ One other creation of Melanie’s fertile creativeness (there’s truly rather a lot occurring throughout the bounds of the quilt – properly price a few lengthy seems to identify every thing.)
“I believe it served a extremely good function for this album. However with each album we have now a distinct form of visible factor to hold our hats on. For Mercy Works [2017] we used a bat. I believe we’ll undoubtedly be making plenty of merchandise with the ‘Kitty Cat’ clock as a result of it’s so cute and enjoyable. However we’ll in all probability hone into an entire new iconic picture subsequent time. I simply actually love the world an album might be,” stated Melanie.
It stands to cause that with Molly now an integral a part of Melanie and Neil’s life, touring plans have to be meticulous, properly laid out, and versatile. After a couple of dates in late April and early Might, Casper Skulls hit the street once more for 3 exhibits in Ontario: Might 23 at Maud’s in Sarnia, Might 24 on the Palasad in London, at Meteor in Windsor Might 25 with Bitters, and Might 31 in Kingston at Musikki as a part of the annual Spring Reverb Pageant. They’re additionally collaborating within the widespread Springtide Music Pageant in Uxbridge, Ontario on June 14, and July 24 on the River & Sky Pageant at Fisher’s Paradise in West Nipissing.
For extra data on the band, go to https://www.casperskulls.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and writer primarily based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. Moreover his journalistic endeavours, he works as a communications and advertising specialist, and is an avid volunteer in his neighborhood. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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