#Inspired 357 - Cascade
London indie rockers Cascade are back with their latest single ‘Merry Little World. Three minutes of searing, soaring indie rock, the track wastes little time in grabbing its listeners by the scruff of their neck, and dragging them kicking and screaming through its runtime. We caught up with the band to find out what inspired the track, and them.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Oasis - Because their general sound and songwriting speaks volumes. Their songs were made for stadiums. Just like ours I think. They were also the band that made me wanna get into music.
Arctic Monkeys - because Alex turners lyrics are just incredible and their music is more technical in the genre of “indie rock”. Live as well are brilliant. Thy have a great look, and I love the fact they were the only rock act to wear jogging bottoms on stage and still look cool.
Catfish and the Bottlemen - I personally think that Van McCan is one of the best frontmen to come out of this country in the past 40 years. Not just that, but as a live act they are just mind blowing. I’ve seen them a couple of times now, and it’s such a high energy set. It makes me wanna get out on stage.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
Django unchained. Not only is it an unbelievable film, but it’s soundtrack is just a piece of art. I suppose the Chuck Berry bit at the end of Back to the Future has always blown my mind as well. What a scene!
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
London. Because it’s home. We’ve all got a close connection with the city and as a band it’s where we all say we’re from, even though we’re all from just outside London. It has an incredible music scene as well, we’ve played some absolute belters there.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
For me it’s always been Noel Gallagher. His songs inspired me to pick the guitar because they were so easy to learn up and sound great. I suppose writers like him and McCartney will churn out well written songs for the rest of their lives. Writers like that in general I find inspiring. Ones that make it look so easy, and write good quality music so consistently. Even though it can be quite a tough challenge sometimes.
What were your inspirations when writing ’Merry Little World’?
There wasn’t any really. I don’t write songs after getting inspiration. I usually decide what they are about after I’ve written them. I suppose I wanted this particular track to sound heavier and more Foo Fighters. The guitar riff really pulled this song along through its journey of being written. Chawners bass line in the drop down really finished it off for me. Made it into a very strong single. When the lyrics finally came, it became a song about being too pissed and having an argument with yourself. Which is not how it started at all.
How would you like to inspire people?
Hopefully our music will inspire people. Even if 10 people like the song and 1 person decides to pick an instrument up and write a song themselves because of the track then I’ve reached my goal as a songwriter.
