Interview by DJ Johnson

Ever turned up a post-409 Beach Boys album, closed your eyes and just floated away on the cloud that Brian Wilson custom built for you? Every sound seemed to be another color or another incredible piece of scenery for you to float past. Anyone who says Brian Wilson isn't a genius doesn't know how to ride a good cloud.

Today there are a number of pop bands toiling in near obscurity, some deserving that fate, some deserving all kinds of attention. They've learned the lessons of detail from Wilson and power from The Beatles, and there's a whole spectrum of sounds separating them based on how they've absorbed those and other influences too numerous to get into here. Now and then you'll hear an unknown band and within a few moments, much to your surprise, they've delivered your cloud. Knoxville, Tennessee's Westside Daredevils delivers, but with an bit of edge for those of us with a sweet tooth for sugar-coated pop and a Jones for a sucker punch chaser. "Power pop" is often a tough tag, and this is one of those cases because, yes, the WSD have power in some form in almost all of their tunes, as you might expect from a band with three guitars, bass and drums, but from your cloud it's all so groovy.

God, did I just say "groovy?" Okay, I admit it: this music makes me feel very good. Once upon a time we'd say it made us feel groovy. There, ya happy? Are they a jam band because the vibes were so good I felt like a hippy for a moment? Hell no. Pop, man, pop. Great rock and roll with pop structure so well defined the blueprint belongs in a museum. Guitarists and co-songwriters Brett Cassidy and Jeff Caudill have come up with a... well, a very groovy debut album here, with alternately intense and gentle performances by lead guitarist Gray Comer, bass player Brandon Smith and drummer Moe Rothstein, as well as the aforementioned Cassidy and Caudill. Just after the release party for the album they titled All Small Things Produce A Spark, Brett Cassidy took a break to discuss the way things are shaping up for this Knoxville band.

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Cosmik: We get debut CDs every week. Several, in fact. Most of them are just so so. Yours is nearly perfect pop and it sounds like a band that's been together forever, but I don't think that's true, is it?

Brett: No, we've been together for about 3 years, most of it spent recording. I'm glad it sounds as together as it does. It's kind of difficult with two singers and two primary songwriters to sound cohesive, but the material Jeff and I write just clicks and the whole band really comes together well. I can't really explain it but to say I haven't been in a better group.

Cosmik: What's the musical lineage of the band? Who played where before Westside Daredevils?

Brett: Gray and I have been working together through two bands, Beeswax and The Honeybadgers. Both were indie-pop bands, pretty good stuff, but mostly just the kind of "paying your dues" type local things that get you noticed. Jeff and Brandon played together in band called the Ids, where Jeff wrote a couple of the songs that appear on the album. Same with Gray and I in the 'badgers. "Andrea" was a 'badgers song. So a lot of this stuff was a long time in the making. Moe has the closest thing to any actual cred, though. He played in a local band called the 1-900s that was pretty popular.

Cosmik: What kind of music where they playing?

Brett: Great stuff. Guitar rock, lots of harmonies and cool drum and bass parts. Sounds kind of familiar, huh? They put out one album, cassette, actually. It was about ten years ago and the stuff still holds up.

[Pictured: Brett Cassidy]

Cosmik: That's what's great about this kind of music. It doesn't get old. But it does have eras with certain sounds that stay cool, and a lot of bands try to get a retro feel. Or if you don't like that word, you know... a warm, confectionery, feel-good atmosphere in the studio. Yours is spot on. How do you get your sound? The whole thing, instruments to warm production.

Brett: I don't know that we went for a retro sound, as such. We recorded digital, on a Roland 1880. We were learning how to use it on the fly. Plus, we were pretty self-conscious about not wanting a digital feel for the album, you know, all dead and mechanical without any of the warm, round frequency response of analogue. So, we ran just about every conceivable instrument through a tube pre-amp. If we hadn't, the flavor factor on the whole album would be nil. I think we even ran the egg shakers through it. That's how we got the distorted vocals, by pushing the level on the pre-amp, as opposed to maxing the input on the board and getting a sound not unlike an ass cracking.

Cosmik: (Laughs) I loved the distortion on the vocals. When I first played it in the office I was saying "they either knew exactly what the music needed or they had no idea how to record vocals and it's just serendipity." Nice to know it was what you wanted. Did you have much trouble getting the warmth of the analogue sounds to translate at playback early on?



[Pictured: Gray Comer]

Brett: It was hit and miss. There are songs we started that never got past basic tracks. Luckily those weren't the good ones, the A-list songs. But it wasn't too hard. It's just like what they say about recording digital; you get exactly what you played. We had good equipment, though, and Gray, who's a ninja at such things. He decided not to, but if there were a producer's credit to give, it would be to him.

Cosmik: How does your band fit in with the Knoxville music scene? Are there others making similar music, or are you on your own down there?

Brett: Hee.. well, Knoxville isn't Nashville, but it's a college town and we do have a scene. We're one of about a dozen bands that could make some noise in the right circumstances.

Cosmik: Usually a new band has to play covers in the bar scene and there's not a chance to really try out the originals until a CD really establishes them, and sometimes it's not like that. How has it been for you? Have you had a chance to play your stuff live?

Brett: I've always played my own stuff. Knoxville is a pretty low stress scene, usually with a bunch of supportive small bar type places that encourage originality. So, from day one, not even being old enough to drink, I was in bars watching bands, playing and developing my own stuff.

Cosmik: How has this particular music translated from studio to stage? Have there been any difficulties or places you've had to make compromises? Brett: It's really the reverse, actually. All these songs, even the slow, sparse ones, were written for stage first and then translated to studio. When we were looking for a drummer, we recorded a demo, which has on it a live variation of "Miner's Short Wave" that sounds totally different from the album. But that's what you want. You want people who are familiar with one version to not be familiar with the other. And we're very conscious of that. Every time we start writing a song, it's instant, like there are two separate songs, the one we'll play live and the one we'll eventually record. So, I don't think there are ever compromises, just what's appropriate for one venue and what's good for the other. But it's never any problem. Gray has a good ear for what things will sound like live, and Jeff has a keen mind for studio sounds, so it's just always endlessly creative

Cosmik: These songs are fun to pay attention to. The first time around I totally missed the story in "London Forces." I'll bet you just kind of slipped that little 3-way affair scenario past a lot of people because the music is so whimsical and happy.

Brett: Absolutely. I was being a bit devious. Actually, "London Forces," the opposite of ionic bonds, is the molecular bond that forms water, H2O. So, I had originally conceived the song about a love triangle with a female chemist, sort of Maxwell Silver Hammer type thing, you know, there just has to be a hot chemist out there somewhere. But I was listening to The Zombies' "Care of Cell 44" and was struck by the incongruity between the music, which is about as pop as can be, and the story, of a man writing a letter to his girlfriend who's in prison. At the same time, Jeff was trying to get me into Crosby, Stills and Nash, and he played "Triad" for me. It just clicked. I mean, I don't have the Masters and Johnson study handy, but I'm pretty sure threesomes are far up there on guys' wish-lists. I'm surprised everyone isn't writing songs about threesomes.

Cosmik: I'm surprised I haven't made a comp tape of songs about threesomes. There ARE a lot of songs, actually, but what's great about yours is that it doesn't come off like a dirty joke in a bar. As you continue to learn as a songwriter, is metaphor something that's important to you, or does it just happen as it happens?

Brett: I'm a pretty verbal person, so word play and trickery are just kind of inherent in anything I do. In songwriting I try to keep the composition in mind, verbally and phonetically. For instance, more aggressive songs need more hard consonant sounds and long vowels. The melody sometimes will dictate where accented syllables need to be, and playing with that can increase tension. But, as far as meaning and metaphor go, again, compositionally speaking, you just want to have more than one thing going on, so maybe the implicit meaning can be a natural counterpoint to the feel of the song. It's easy to work in opposites, like "London Forces," but you don't need to. "Miner's Short Wave" is a good example. The song is literally about a miner with a short wave radio broadcasting, but it's also about freedom of expression and the solitude of self, universal ideas. So the song's somber, but, yeah, being able to express yourself while being utterly alone is somber. Jeff did a good job on that one.

Cosmik: All the songs are credited to the entire band, but is that a band decision, or does everybody actually work on both lyrics and music?

[Pictured: Jeff Caudill]

Brett: Well, it depends on what you mean by 'song.' If what you mean is what a guy might sit with an acoustic guitar and play by himself, troubadour style, then no. Under each song title on the insert are the names the people who wrote the songs. Either Jeff and I will write them together, separately, or if we're stuck with half a good idea, which is often, we will sit around with Gray and finish it collaboratively, which has produced some of the best stuff. After that, after we can say here is a verse, a chorus and a bridge, if we bothered to write one, we bring it to Moe and Brandon and we hammer out an arrangement, orchestration and finish up the lyrics, which Jeff and I are usually too lazy to finish ourselves. Everybody has a hand in making the song what it is, and it wouldn't be half as good any other way. Songwriting credits are distributed evenly across the band because they deserve to be.

Cosmik: In some songs there are moments, when everything has felt like a time trip, all of a sudden something will be so far out of place for the 60s or 70s that it roots it in the now. Like the short little break with the single note guitar stabs in "Careful Tom." Do they just roll out that way or is that by design?

Brett: Yeah, that's a really cool part. I had to go back and rerecord that part because one of notes was too long. But that's how this band is; everything is by design, scrutinized and approved by everyone. That's just the way we work. Plus, with three guitars, it gives everyone an opportunity to be creative and experimental with what we do. We have a new song where all Gray and I do for most of the song is play harmonics. It's fun to have to sit down and figure out guitar parts that will sound good together without sounding muddy or compete with each other. As a band, though, it's a little different. Some songs come together quickly like we've all been playing them together for years and others require a lot of thought and work. But it's always a blast and the finished song is usually a lot better than anyone would have thought.

Cosmik: How has everyone else dealt with playing in a three guitar format? Has it been a challenge for the rhythm section?

[Pictured: Morrie Rothstein]

Brett: I should ask them. They seem to do well. Morrie, it seems, builds drum parts from the ground up, adding things as they seem appropriate, where, in a three piece band, he might have to fill in more space; he seems to know the line at which drumming becomes obtrusive. Brandon just has a knack for writing bass parts that groove but never conflict with what turns out to be six other instruments going at once. As far as dealing with each other, there are a host of benefits. Sure, it takes longer, but you never go into writing auto-pilot where one guy always plays chords and the other guy always leads. It forces you to be more creative, and that's never a bad thing.

Cosmik: You recorded this over a one-year period from June of 2000 to June of 2001. Which means you've had this thing you knew was freakin' great sitting in a can for a year. First of all, why has it taken this long to get out to the public?

Brett: Well, those dates are a little deceptive. We made this album in a way I can only call Guerilla Recording. We did the drums and bass at Stealth Studio, run by Superdrag drummer Don Coffey Jr., who was immensely helpful. After that, the rest of the album was recorded here and there whenever we got the time and had the space. We all work jobs, of course, and go to school, so it got done a couple of hours here, a few more there. Hell, the vocals were done in Gray's bathroom, for God's sake, albeit with an insanely expensive mic. And if we had a show that week, forget it, nothing got done. We didn't settle on a person to master it until August. After that, man, we are total novices at this, so I guess we just didn't realize the time it takes to get this stuff done. Cover art, bio, pictures, finding radio guys, just everything. So, what takes a couple of months for most bands took six for us. Live and learn.

Cosmik: I've had my copy for quite a while. In fact, I wrote my review of it a long time ago and was going to run it when I found out the release date wasn't until April 23rd, so we pulled the review. Once you knew this was going to be released, after sitting so long, didn't it feel like the clock was just holding still?

Brett: It felt like a fucking eternity. Actually, I graduated college and moved to a house, so I had things to occupy my time, but, you know, every once in a while I would listen to my mastered copy of the album just to make sure it was still there.

Cosmik: You just had the CD release party, which is like "Yeah! Finally!" That's the moment, I'm sure. How did it go?

Brett: Very good. Good booze, great crowd.

Cosmik: What songs seemed to get the biggest reaction at the party?

Brett: "Andrea" is usually a big crowd pleaser. People seem to respond to it, or it could just be the easiest song we have to get into. Also, we opened with "Rainbow Connection" from the Muppet Movie.

Cosmik: No way!

Brett: I don't know if people liked that or just thought it was funny, but we had fun.

Cosmik: I think that's a song that secretly reaches a lot of adults. People really do like it.

Brett: Jeff sounds like Kermit, anyway. Plus, a bunch of girls went "woo" when we introduced "London Forces," which means women like the combined idea of me and sex.

Cosmik: Welcome to rock n roll, son. That's how you know when you're getting somewhere. So besides that one, what are your favorite tracks and why? Do you have some sentimental favorites?

Brett: I love "Heroes and Zeroes." If there is a song on the album I wouldn't go back and fiddle with it would be that. Plus, Jeff's performance was just great. I love listening to it. "Miner's Short Wave" is the same way. I just don't think we could have done it any other way.

[Pictured: Brandon Smith]

Cosmik: What's the touring plan for the moment? Are you planning to stay close to home or go for broke? Sorry about the word "broke..."

Brett: No, "broke" is a word I'm comfortable with. I really haven't any other choice. We're going to try to do the weekend thing, no more than a five hour radius around Knoxville in any direction. But that's a lot of cities: Nashville, Athens, Atlanta, Louisville, Lexington, Chattanooga, Memphis, Birmingham. Plus some places in Florida and North Carolina. That's a quite a bit of ground.

Cosmik: Everybody works so long getting songs ready for their first album, then it's suddenly time to do another one and everybody sort of blinks at each other and says "now what?" How's the tune supply at the moment?

Brett: Well, with all the downtime, I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't have some new material. But we do. With two songwriters there's always material lying around. If anything, the problem is not having the time to work up each good idea. So, yeah, the next album is already taking shape. Plus we acquired some more recording gear that I really shouldn't be talking about. Let's just say the next one should be an adventure.

Cosmik: This is your first time out there, you've got a very good CD, and you should get some attention real quick. What are your expectations and goals? Your own and the band's?

Brett: I think we all just want to put it out there and see what happens. I don't have any expectations, and the only goal is to get this to as many people as we can. If we make not one cent beyond what it takes to put out another album, I'll be happy.


Westside Daredevils' CD available at CD Now Also, please visit the Westside Daredevils' record label, Lynn Point Records, and the band's own website at http://www.westsidedaredevils.com/.

(C) 2002 - DJ Johnson