RICHMOND BAND CASCARA – STARTING TO GET NOTICED! 

We recently received an email from Mr Boyd, Lead Teacher of music at Richmond School and Sixth Form College, giving details about the numerous musical achievements and successes that were ongoing, upcoming, or that had recently happened at Richmond. Right at the top of the bill was news of Cascara, a four-piece band who, he told us, was starting to get a bit of local attention, playing gigs at the Black Bull, Melsonby and especially at Stockton venue the NE Volume Music Bar. Cascara are Georgina Braidley, Year 11, Sam Pickles and Edwin Carr, Year 12 and Will Hume, Year 13.

Cascara had played at the Christmas Concert back in December and had wowed the audience with their vibrant and skilful playing, coupled with their multi-tasking vocalist, swapping seamlessly from singing to the baritone sax and back! 

We definitely had to find out more, so arranged to sit down with two of the four band-members recently. Getting all four together proved a challenge too far, as mock exams had to take priority! Fifty percent of Cascara gave us a real insight into how the band had formed, their music-making process and thoughts for the future. Read on to find out more! 

RS:  Can you start by introducing yourselves and telling us about your role in the band – don’t forget the other two! 

C:  I’m Sam, in Year 12. I play bass guitar and do a little bit of songwriting.  

I’m Edwin, also Year 12, and I play guitar. Missing are Will, Year 13, who plays drums and Georgie, Year 11, who sings and also plays baritone sax. 

RS:  Ok, but I think I’m right in saying that’s not all you play? All four of you are accomplished musicians – tell us a bit more about your musicianship and your other instruments. 

C:  We’ve all been involved in music at school for ages – I play the baritone horn as well as guitar, and a bit of mandolin. Will is a multi-percussionist – not just drums, and Georgie obviously has her singing – she’s just brilliantly passed her Grade 8! – and sax.  

I play cello as well as bass guitar – I think that’s what makes us a bit different as a band, actually. We’ve got classical roots and have come to playing contemporary music relatively recently. Especially now we’re starting to write some of our own material, I think it really helps that we have an understanding of the technicality and construction of music.  

We’ve all done GCSE music and two of us are doing A Level – Georgie probably will too. 

RS:  It sounds as though your experience and knowledge of musical theory really brings something to the band – as well as having a singer who plays a giant saxophone!  

Ok, moving on – how and when did the band start? 

C: In its current lineup, quite recently, but me and Sam have wanted to get a band together since Year 9 – we’ve been trying for four years, with varying degrees of success. It’s only recently we’ve hit upon a combination that feels and sounds right. 

RS:  So, you and Sam to start with – but how did you go about recruiting a singer and drummer? 

C: We just asked them! We’d noticed how brilliant Georgie was at Jazz Band, then we asked Will a bit later. We weren’t really expecting them to say yes – especially as everyone’s just so busy – but they did. The first rehearsal with Will was incredible. He didn’t need to practice – we just told him what the song was and he played – it was just what we needed! 

And the quality of singing that Georgie brings is just fantastic. It’s really quite noticeable when you listen and compare to some of the other bands we’ve heard at the venues we’ve been to. 

RS: You’ve obviously now got a lineup that works! 

What about the name, Cascara – where did that come from? 

C: Well…! 

We were all sitting in a room with our first gig coming up quite soon and we just had to come up with a name. Time was running out! 

Will was tapping out a rhythm, but using the shell of his snare drum as well as the top. He happened to mention that this technique was called ‘Cascara’… 

A bit of Googling later, checking it wasn’t already taken and there it was – we had a name! It doesn’t say anything about our music, particularly, but it’s a bit different. 

RS:  What about the music that you play – how do you decide on the songs and what are your influences – your Instagram says you’re an Indie-Rock band? 

C: Firstly, we try to be diplomatic and give everyone a say in the decision-making process. This means people have to compromise at times, but we’re quite good – and getting more efficient! – at talking things through and making good decisions. 

At the moment, we’re sticking to songs that go down well. If you can see people singing along then you know it’s a good choice. Blur, for example – Country House and Beetlebum – you can’t go wrong! 

We also try to pick songs that allow the individual band members to shine. For example last gig we played Night Boat to Cairo by Madness which is brilliant for Georgie’s sax. The audience love to see her swap between singing and sax – it’s a really unique feature of the band. 

And Edwin’s big number is Sweet Child of Mine by Guns ‘n’ Roses – definitely his chance for a big guitar solo! Mine’s Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain– it builds brilliantly from that first bass riff. We’ve ended our set with it at our most recent gigs and it works really well! 

RS: So, some excellent, crowd-pleasing covers. You mentioned songwriting earlier on – tell us about that transition from covers to your own material. 

C: We’ve been thinking about it for a long time. We’ve all got some composition experience from GCSE music, but settling on a genre has been quite challenging. Me and Sam especially, we’ve got quite different individual listening tastes. I’m into quite folky, acoustic music… 

…and I like a bit of grunge! Indie is kind of the middle point, but we’re both coming from opposite sides of the spectrum. It’s led to some interesting moments, but hopefully once we’ve worked through things, we’ll end up with songs that have a unique flavour to them. 

We’re working on two or three of our own songs at the moment. We try to be collaborative about it. I’ll come up with some chords, for example, and send them to the others – then they’ll add bits or come up with a riff or a drum-beat or a phrase and we slowly piece it together. We’re approaching it music first at the moment – lyrics later. I think as we evolve and get more experienced things might change, though. 

RS: Definitely something to look forward to as those songs get finished and you start playing them. 

What about your current set – how long can you play for and how do you go about learning new songs? 

C: We’ve got over hour’s worth of material now – about 16 songs. The longest we’ve played is 45 minutes so we can mix it up and not play the same set every time. We also try to be quite fluid when we’re playing so if one of us makes a mistake or goes a bit wrong, we can just absorb it and keep going. 

We’re also getting more efficient at learning new songs. We decide on one, then we all take it home and work on it individually in our own ways. We learn it and add our own interpretations – we think it’s important a cover shouldn’t be a direct copy. Then we come together to rehearse, and it falls into place quite quickly from then. We also have to adapt songs from the originals because we’ve only got one guitarist, and a sax player. Most bands have two guitarists and no sax player! This means we have to be quite creative with the arrangements and filling the musical space when we play. 

RS: It sounds as though you have a really interesting creative process, which obviously works! 

What about highlights so far – what have been the best bits about being in Cascara? 

C: Definitely our most recent gig at the NE Volume Bar in Stockton. To start with we were a bit worried that nobody would turn up because the venue seemed really quiet during our soundcheck, but when we went on stage it was the best crowd we’ve ever had – we think about 60 or 70 people, and not just people we’d invited! 

They were all singing along, and with every song we announced there was a cheer – “I know that one!” 

I remember looking across at Edwin and thinking that this was brilliant – exactly what we want. 

RS: Ok – now what about the future – there are some challenges with you being in three different year groups, I guess? 

C: Yes, exactly. Will’s going to university soon, so we know we’ll lose him. We’re going to try to do as much and get as far as we can as a band until that happens. The more experience we have and the more people know us, the easier that next step will be – maybe getting a replacement drummer or a stand-in. We’re positive about the future and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens! 

RS: An excellent attitude! 

Thank you for your time and the insight you’ve given us into your music, Cascara: Sam and Edwin – and Georgie and Will in their absence – we wish you all the very best for the future and no doubt we’ll be hearing of further successes very soon – keep us posted!