New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Fresh from a set at Brighton's Bad Pond Festival, London duo CASSELS are pleased to announce their return with a brand new single titled 'A Snowflake In Winter', out now via Big Scary Monsters Recordings.
The band are currently putting the finishing touches to their eagerly-anticipated second album, set for release later this year, and will be heading out on a UK tour supporting Belgian trio à la mode BRUTUS in May 2019, before appearing at TRUCK Festival in the summer.
Commenting on the single, vocalist Jim Beck says: "I wrote the words for this song around the time of Trump's inauguration. Like many people, I was rather shocked and dismayed by the result of the presidential election, not least because I'd spent the previous weeks watching erudite takedowns & reading expertly-worded polemics which, to my mind, had completely blown the now-President's chance of election and left his reputation in tatters."
Surely, Beck thought, no-one would be mad enough to vote for a pathological liar with tiny, kitten-grabbing hands? Except, of course, there were plenty of people mad enough (and, to be fair, rightfully frustrated enough) to vote for such a creature.
"I, like many other people, had been buried so deep inside an echo chamber," continues Beck, "and so far up my own arse, that I'd failed to notice a lot of people don't think the same way that I do. By surrounding myself in a comforting and comfortable liberal bubble populated by fellow circle-jerkers I'd been blindsided by events which didn't unfold in the way I'd expected them to.
"The same thing happened with Brexit; I engaged with opinions I agreed with, all the while getting little hits of dopamine which made me feel like things were moving in the right direction. But they weren't. And what did I do about it? I shared a f*cking Guardian article on social media; I regurgitated opinions to like-minded friends at the pub; I carried on living my life the same way I always had while proclaiming that 'things needed to change'; I failed.
"In summary, this is a song about the failure of the liberal elite and namby-pamby snowflakes like myself. This song is probably about you. This song will change nothing. I hope you like it—please share it on social media if you do."
The band are now gearing up to release their second full-length LP, with further details TBA over the coming months. Fans can sign up to the Cassels mailing list here to be the first to hear details of the new material: https://casselstheband.com/mailinglist
CASSELS Live Dates:
MAY 04 - Bristol - Exchange (w/ BRUTUS)
MAY 05 - Leeds - Hyde Park Book Club (w/ BRUTUS)
MAY 06 - Glasgow - Broadcast (w/ BRUTUS)
MAY 08 - London -
Boston Music Room (w/ BRUTUS)
JUL 26 - Steventon - TRUCK Festival
For Cassels, music is about authenticity. The work of two brothers, Loz and Jim Beck, they have been playing music together since long before their voices broke, and all that practise has paid off—direct and considered lyrically, musically challenging, and in possession of an originality you could never force. Together they embody the spirit of punk, even if their sound stretches the boundaries of any genre. It's rare to find a band who sound only like themselves—especially one with just two instruments—but Cassels are just that.
"I'm hoping cynicism will pass as lyricism," Jim Beck, the driving force behind the sibling duo, spits on previous single 'The Weight', featured by NME, Dork, DIY, Upset, Gold Flake Paint, and a highlight of their "pre-album", 'Foreword', which received a 5K review in Kerrang! Magazine.
But in his mind, cynicism is realism. It underpins what Cassels stand for. Their noisy, edgy and sometimes deliberately jarring sound balances apathy with anger, and through it channels a generational voice. Cassels are antagonistic and brash, but more importantly, they challenge the norm, both musically and lyrically.
Their debut album, Epithet, was released in October 2017, and featured the production work of Rocky Reilly (And So I Watch You From Afar, Adebisi Shank) who captured all the intricacies of the two piece in their biggest sound yet. Following this release the band embarked on UK tours with Single Mothers, Meat Wave and Youth Man, and a two week European stint with Gender Roles. Over the past couple of years they've also played shows with bands including Idles, Car Seat Headrest, Ho99o9, Eagulls, Bo Ningen and Slaves, as well as festivals including Truck, Y Not, ArcTanGent, 2,000 Trees and T In The Park.
CASSELS are:
Jim Beck - Guitar & Vocals
Loz Beck - Drums
CASSELS online:
https://casselstheband.com
https://twitter.com/casselsofficial
https://www.facebook.com/casselsband
