Q&A: Kingston-Based Kasador on Their New EP, ‘Kasador I’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY GIGI KANG ☆
Photography Credit: Amryn Shae
KASADOR ARE AN INDIE-ROCK FOUR-PIECE—from Kingston, Ontario, Canada. On April 4, they released their EP Kasador I and are currently on their The Butterflies Tour which they’ll wrap up on June 29 in Harrowsmith, Ontario.
With examinations of varied themes like anxiety, authenticity, greed, and hope, Kasador I is a candid representation of the band beyond sonic elements. Kasador are being wholly themselves, presenting a rawness that allows listeners to recognize their own personal experiences in the EP.
If you’re searching for a new indie-rock band to add to your playlist, check out Kasador who’ll give you an assortment of sounds across their releases and guaranteed good energy.
Read Luna’s full conversation with the band below.
Photography Credit: Amryn Shae
LUNA: How has the response to the newer songs been on tour?
WYATT: The initial reception has been good. We released a couple as singles before. People seem to know them at shows and it has gotten some play on Hockey Night in Canada. It seems like people are excited right off the gate, which is new for us. We’re an independent band so it’s not a huge scope, but it feels like our fans are expanding pretty rapidly now. Feels good.
BAKER: People take a bit to discover these things. Even new fans that maybe like the song “Golden” and found us, some of them might have no idea that the EP is out. It can take a while to reach everyone that finds you through social media.
LUNA: The EP starts with “Alchemy,” which is an instrumental intro track that sets the scene. What does it tell listeners going into the EP?
WYATT: I feel like it’s a preamble to “Golden” both in the name and the vibe. Before we had “Golden” in the way it is now, it was basically like “Alchemy.” It was kind of this half-time jam. It was a cool vibe, but we had a hard time making it feel like us. It felt like it was a bit draggy. So we were just jamming in the studio, and then we got a little experimental. I thought it would be a cool introduction to the EP, and specifically to “Golden.”
BAKER: It sets up “Golden” in a way that is very hype which was definitely a goal. I think starting the EP with a 70-second instrumental lays the ground rules.
WYATT: It also sounds more organic. There are real instruments; there are some mistakes in the parts. It’s a real-sounding jam which is what we tried to portray in the EP. There aren’t many gimmicks.
LUNA: “Golden” is about imperfection being necessary and not needing to make a profit off of everything. Where was your mind at when you wrote it?
WYATT: It came from visiting LA a little bit. It was just seeing how everyone was always trying to fit in this mould and be perfect. People are not perfect as humans. I think what makes people interesting is those inconsistencies. When you homogenize everything, nothing feels real. It kind of loses value. So it came out of that.
LUNA: Sonically, what stands out to me the most in “Golden” is the bass. But it’s also a very drum-driven song. Tell me about the collaboration in general between the band members and your instruments.
ADUBOFUOR: It adds onto the point of just trying to be yourself. When your bandmates encourage you to do a little drum solo, for instance, to not to shy away from it. I do agree about the bass as well. I think both of us, foundation wise, bring out the heaviness, and then the guitars are a bit gnarlier as well. It’s a fun one to play live.
BAKER: It began with us playing in a basement. Not every song goes that way. Sometimes Cam will have an idea on an acoustic guitar that he brings to the band, and he’s like, “These are the chords, this is how it goes, these are the lyrics. What do you guys think the music should sound like?” But sometimes we’re in a room and someone has an idea, then the music comes first. Then it’s like, “Okay, we have this cool vibe. We need to come up with lyrics now.” So “Golden” kind of started like that with the drums and the bass and the vocal melody.
WYATT: The vocal memo was really early. It’s sort of high the whole time, the vocal melody. Because of the switch up of the instruments—like, it goes kind of heavy to sparse—I think that evens out the vocal line. It was a lot of the same thing when the instrumentation didn’t change.
LUNA: Stephen mentioned encouraging each other. Do you feel like you bring different energies out of each other on stage as well?
WYATT: I think the audience brings it out a lot too, and then with each other as well. We’re always trying to become a better and bigger, fun live show. We all bring it out of each other.
ADUBOFUOR: I also think it’s about experimenting with the set. If we’re talking about “Golden,” it’s very high energy. We’ve been playing that song first a lot of times. A lot of bands might think to save that for a special spot in the set to re-energize the crowd. But it has been cool to come out of the gate hot.
BAKER: I feel like people attending a show, there’s a five to 10-minute window where they decide if they’re in or out. So making sure that you start pretty hot, you definitely want to win people in that. And just for people in the crowd to feel like they can let loose. If they see the people on stage letting loose, that helps them feel more comfortable to do it themselves.
LUNA: The next track is “Cut It.” The vocals are playful and it has a 2000s vibe. Are there any artists from around that time that you find inspiration in?
WYATT: I think vocally, it’s a blend of Tom DeLonge and British rock. It’s sort of comedic and exaggerated. It’s kind of this semi-ambiguous accent, but also really laid back. It’s a derivative of things I used to listen to back in that 2005 era.
LUNA: Let’s talk about “Butterflies,” which comes from an experience of Cameron’s. It can definitely be difficult to communicate experiences that are so personal. When it comes to songwriting, to be able to open up in that way, do you have a way in to be able to write truthfully? Or is it more natural?
WYATT: It feels pretty natural. I almost visualize what’s going on in my head, like hurricanes or butterflies. I think the instrumentation comes out of that. Thomas was a big part of making the sound. We had this song years ago and shelved it for a while. Thomas did a bunch of cool guitar parts and brought it back to life.
DRAPER: I think the tuning has a big part in the sound, like lots of open droning notes. I think we were going for a bit of a The Smashing Pumpkins-esque guitar sound. Parts-wise, there’s a few changes with this version because the song has been around for a while. I think we really honed in on the track sonically and figured out how to make it sound big. It’s fun to play. It’s one of the heavier ones.
BAKER: I think it was around since 2020. I remember when we were working on it, most of the lyrics in the first verse came out of [Cameron] pretty stream-of-consciousness.
WYATT: The lyrics came really fast and they didn’t change at all. We had a voice memo going and probably recorded 20 minutes of [Cameron] just saying words.
WYATT: I’ll be singing and I’ll just say whatever comes out of my mouth. If there are some that work, I’ll mash them together and sometimes full sentences will work out. So it came out of that too—heavy emotionally.
LUNA: Why did you shelve the song for a while?
BAKER: The band went through a lot of changes. COVID messed with shows and how we wanted to release stuff. And we tried to write it with a different producer and different label but it didn’t really work out for us. We tried a couple different ways too. Then the guitar part that Thomas made in the new one really brought it to a new life. So it was a whole bunch of things, but we always kind of knew that there was something there. It was just missing something.
LUNA: What can we expect from the EP that will follow Kasador I?
WYATT: It’s going to be a similar amount of songs. I don’t think it’ll be wildly different. I mean, there’s an acoustic song, but I think it lives in the same realm of this new, mature, more refined, thoughtful rock music that we’ve been making. It will sound similar to Kasador I sonically, with some variants, such as the acoustic song.
BAKER: The second EP is not quite as heavy as this one, but all of the songs were recorded in the same session. So they’re from the same band at the same point in time, in the same mindset. The first EP was a really cohesive batch of songs and a bit more on the heavier side, and the second batch has a bit less heavy, more cohesive vibe. But all in all, it is the same band in the same headspace.
