March 3rd, 2006
Bands You Need to Know: The Casual Lean
I wanted to share with you a band that I consider to be very talented and although they are still fairly new, they have already have an interesting story. The Casual Lean are an unsigned act from New Bedford, MA. I first heard about them from my friend Sean-Michael who masterminds one of my favorite webzines, Mammoth Press. He told me about a band that he considered friends and wanted to see if he could send me a copy of their recording. He said that the band had entertained signing a deal with Doghouse Records (Limbeck, Honorary Title, Say Anything), but the deal wasn’t very favorable in their eyes. Being that I consier Sean-Michael’s taste to be very good and having loved most of the stuff Doghouse released, I said sure thing.
While waiting for the recording to find my PO Box, I received the latest issue of Alternative Press. The issue is their much anticipated 100 Bands You Need to Know issue which always proves to be a good read. As I was thumbing through the issue, I saw that although unsigned, The Casual Lean were one of the 100 Bands I needed to know. You have to commend Alt Press for taking some risks and including unsigned acts alongside some of the biggest bands on the planet.
Reading about the Casual Lean, A.P. recommended the band for fans of Head Automatica, Panic at the Disco, and Hot Hot Heat, all acts that I like. I read on and it mentioned their decision to not sign with Doghouse because the agreement had language that suggested future dealings with Warner Brothers. Doghouse has an up-stream deal with WEA (Warner Brothers) and the band were just not ready to be major label bound. Because of these dealings, the band had decided to self-release the album and their personal goal is to sell 300 copies. Their goal to sell 300 copies probably struck me the most. In the wake of artists like Hawthorne Heights sending out messages urging kids to go and buy their album so they can have the number 1 record in the land, it was refreshing to see a band with more humble goals. This article urged me to stop by the bands website and I noticed they had a barometer for pre-orders with that goal of 300 copies. They look to be currently at 25 copies. I purchased a copy as I think this band shows initiative that most bands lack.
I think this band should serve as a model of how to take your band’s fate into your own hands. Instead of bitching about how the Doghouse deal didn’t work out, the band said, “Fuck It, let’s release it on our own”. The idea of a goal of 300 copies is a very attainable goal and the revenue from the pre-orders will allow the band to make enough copies to have for the road and maybe extra to send out to press and college radio. This is the D.I.Y. ethic that makes me love independent music. For you bands out there waiting for a label to do all of these things for you, I hope the Casual Lean will provide inspiration for you to release your own album, promote your band yourself, and touring through your own means. By doing this, you will have a better chance to grab the attention of a label.
The day after purchasing my very own copy, the package from Sean-Michael arrived. Since I don’t have the technology to listen to Cds in my office, I waited til my drive home to listen to the album. I haven’t stopped listening to the album and I think this band is really onto something. Their sound makes me think of bands like Bloc Party, Test Icicles, Q and Not U, and the Faint. The subject matter in some of the songs seem more honest and the band has more confidence than you would expect from such a young band. The band has attitude but not so much that you would write them off as pretentious. The record was engineered by Kurt Ballou (of Converge) who did a brilliant job turning the knobs. The band really has something and I hope that this post will get you to check out a few songs and maybe even support them in their goal to sell 300 records. The Casual Lean has a bright future with or without label support and I hope their determination is rewarded.
The Band’s Myspace Page
Written by Virgil Dickerson
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On March 3rd, 2006 at 3:07 pm
Sean-Michael Mammoth said:
Haha… I was going to email you and see if you got the CD. :)
On March 4th, 2006 at 9:45 am
Corey said:
“Since I don’t have the technology to listen to Cds in my office…”
That kind of sucks.
But I will check out this band at my next chance. In return, I’d most definitely recommend checking out Anathallo if you have not already. They just released their latest album called Floating World and I just went to the release show last night and was stunned once again by their intense passion. Their weakness is that some of their tunes lack direction but if it can be heard just for the beauty and imagination, then most listeners really like it.
www.myspace.com/anathallo
new songs are “hoodwinked” and “a great wind, more ash” but if “don’t kid youself you need a physician” is on there that is also a very solid track from their previous EP.
On March 4th, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Virgil Dickerson said:
corey, very cool stuff, kind of reminds me of sufjan stevens a little bit. Did they release their album by themselves? It looks like they are going on a pretty long tour, too.
Good stuff. Thanks for the recommend.
virgil
On March 5th, 2006 at 1:43 pm
Corey said:
Yeah, I’ve heard that from people about the Sufjan comparison although Anathallo has been around just as long as him.
The band did release the disc but they have major help from their management company, Nettwerk. That company is pretty big, they manage some big artists. So on the back of the album it has manufactured and marketed by Nettwerk but they recorded it in their house. Matt Goldman, who I believe has worked with Copeland and Cartel, did some of the producing as well.
As far as the tour, they have been touring themselves for the last two-three years all over the country but I believe that they have a big booking agent now. That tour is with The Format, a major label band, that got connected through the management company, I would think, because they are both on the roster.
So it seems to me like Anathallo has a lot of the right pieces in place to make a big move here with this album although they still do not have a label or much promotion at all, sadly.
On March 7th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
AndrewEP said:
Virgil, loved your post–am going to check out the Casual Lean in the near future. I was about to suggest you check out Anathallo as well–they are featured on my site and I just actually posted the review for their album. Would strongly suggest picking up that guy, and yeah Sean / Corey I totally agree: the guys are gonna be huge. I heard they overturned the opportunity to land a major deal and instead decided to do it themselves, which should go hand-in-hand with your thoughts on independent music and humble goals–they simply want to play music.
This isn’t coming to LA but if you get a chance to check out this tour, be sure to see Anathallo live–they are impeccable and certainly have been turning my head for some time now..
Check out my review, if you’re bored or have a second.
www.emotionalpunk.com/anathallo
On April 20th, 2006 at 10:52 am
Matt said:
Hey now,
Reading this made me think of one of my friends’ band that is fairly new to the LI scene and kind of does everything on their own. You guys may have already heard of Envy on the Coast since they seem to be attracting some attention now but I figured I’d mention it to stir up some convo anyway. They’re one of the unsigned bands of the month for Alt. Press and were just featured in Newsday today (4/20/06). Great bunch of guys and they’re pretty hardworking too it seems.
www.envyonthecoast.com
www.myspace.com/envyonthecoastny
On April 20th, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Virgil said:
matt, these guys sound good. That is great that they are getting ink in news today and in alt press. Hopefully that will open a lot of doors for them.
v