Joy Club Cassidy Cassidy- Talks To Us About Recording With Francois Van Coke, Their Latest Album And More
Interviewed by Duzzy Clayton
Intro
Being involved in the music scene and going to gigs has it’s perks, the obvious one when attending the gig as an avid concert goer, I get to fill a feeling I need and want by witnessing and watching bands every weekend, something that was taken away from us during Lockdown and Covid- 19
Another perk of going to gigs is you get see bands that you wouldn’t of known existed or in my case unless I took a chance on a night out to watch some bands at Rumours Rock City, let me rephrase that though, Joy Club Cassidy Cassidy is a band I would of eventually heard of because they just that good and seem to be making good headway in the industry, I was just lucky enough to hear of them sooner because I went to a tribute show that they were on the bill on.
And I’m so glad I did go because what I witnessed was a band with so much energy, talent and love for what they do.
Although that particular night they were part of a tribute night of bands playing music of Blink 182, Linkin Park, No Doubt and Green Day. Joy Club Cassidy Cassidy are better known for their own written original music, I chat to the band about their music career, working with the legendary Francois Van Coke and their album called 22 among other cool things
Enjoy The Read
Interview
Hi guys welcome to Fanbase Music Magazine, can you first of tell us how you got your band name Joy Club Cassidy Cassidy
Thank you so much for having us. The name came from an idea Jordan had while in High School, it was intended to be the name of a “Fancy Jazz Club/Café
Who is in the band and what does each band member do?
The band is:
Jordan Redcage – Songwriter, Rhythm Guitarist, Lead Singer
Kyle Botha – Lead Guitarist, Backing Vocals, Producer, Mixing and Mastering Engineer
Brandon Botha – Bass Guitarist, Backing Vocals
Romeer Gopee – Drummer, Social Butterfly
How would you describe your sound and genre?
We would simply say Punk because we believe that’s what Punk is, free from particulars and or self restriction.
If we are writing something that comes out sounding to people like a country song then that’s what it will be to them and who are we to fight that? If it sounds good and we’re having fun, then that’s what we’ll do.
Who are some of the bands and musicians that band members are into?
That’s a very hard question cause all of us listen to many things, some we agree on and others not so much. Music is music if it makes you feel something.
What got you each into music?
Again I think it would vary between each of us, the way music can change your mood or place you somewhere and define you as a person I think is a key one. Some enjoy music, others love music… we believe musicians exist for it. It’s our reason to breathe and keep breathing.
You recently did a track with the legendary Francois Van Coke, first of all, how did that opportunity come about and what is the song about?
We intended the song to be a single specifically for “Halloween” as we’ve done “X-mas” songs before and thought it would be fun. We missed the deadline for Halloween, but the idea we had was one we were too excited about to discard . We did about half the song when our Lead Guitarist Kyle Botha, reached out to Francois on a whim and he was just as excited/inspired by the song and immediately got on board.
He’s been amazing to work with throughout.
In short the song is about how we “the living” ignorantly embrace things like dressing up for Halloween as ghouls and witches, while the “dead” look upon us from the afterlife lamenting our choices. Basically it asks, “Would we make light of these things if we knew Hell exists?”
Can you explain who did what on the track, for eg did you guys write some lyrics, and then Francois wrote some lyrics, and who did the music, etc?
We wrote all the music, Jordan and Kyle wrote all the lyrics except for the verses that Francois features on. He asked us if he could write his own lyrics and we were excited and humbled by his participation.
You you have a music video for the track, what was the concept of the video and where was it recorded?
The video currently is being kept a secret until further notice. We can just say it was recorded in and around Pretoria and we are very excited.
You also released an album last February, What is the album called and how many tracks are on the album?
There are 22 tracks on our first album and the album is called 22, also a convoluted story. Our first demo was called – 22 songs -, and it pissed people off that it only had 3 songs on it. So we thought we’d make an album called 22, and later decided to put 22 songs on it to make sure people weren’t pissed again
Where was it recorded and who worked on the track?
We do everything ourselves and it was all recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Kyle Botha. It was a whole band effort and we have Kobus De Kock Jr. from The Black Cat Bones as a feature on one track also. We are still very proud of that album.
Do you have any new music coming out soon?
We do, we have loads of singles coming out very soon. Cannot wait to share them all.
When you write music, what comes first, the music or the lyrics?
The story… If the story or idea for the song is there it can come suddenly and at the same time. But they are not mutually exclusive in most cases, sometimes a melody line starts an idea, sometimes it’s a line or phrase.
My first time seeing you play live was when you did a tribute act for Greenday which you rocked, how much practice goes into a tribute concert compared to one of your normal original gigs?
We believe if you’re doing a “Tribute” you have to try and get as close to the band you are tributing as possible.
A cover is one thing and open to interpretation, but to say “tribute” and not try for perfection is a false representation.
That being said, it’s a lot more work on account of there being so many great references. Greenday for example are one of the greatest live bands in the world, hands down. You might not like them or like their music, but the fact is they are professionals and masters of their craft, this makes a tribute to them all the more difficult. We do our best and like to think we do it well enough for someone to feel like they got close to feeling what it feels like to get to see them for real.
Can you give us your social media gigs?
Here’s a link to all our socials and more
Thank you for doing this interview, do you have any last messages for our readers?
Love each other, support each other. Please go and support every single artist in South Africa as much as you can.
We love you all
To Listen To Joy Club Cassidy Cassidy On The Anything Goes Podcast Click HERE
Social Media
All Socials can be found HERE including a google drive folder that has all of the band’s stuff on it, the album, photos and other things that keeps getting updated so the link essentially gives you access to everything past and future.