Interview: Casiocenz Flips the Script as Drummers Take the Lead in His Bold Collaborative Series

HAPPY: ‘Take Me To Tokyo (‘Downtown’) introduces us to the All Hail The Drummer series with its hypnotic rhythms and funk vibes.

What inspired the fusion of psychedelic swagger with vintage funk in this track? 

CASIOCENZ: All Hail The Drummer is a new series I’m starting that lets the drummer play whatever they want, and then I write a song on top of their performance without making any changes.

Kevin’s performance was the driving force behind this track.

From there, I found a bass-line I really liked, and then from that point on, the psych/funk train had left the station and there was no going back. 

HAPPY: Casiocenz began as a side project in 2006. How has your vision for the project evolved over time, and what prompted you to bring it to the forefront now?

CASIOCENZ: Yeah, it started back in ‘06 when I was pursuing another project more seriously.

It was an emo/alt rock band called Hot Chicks On Pogo Sticks.

Any time I would write something that didn’t really fit the HCOPS vibe, I just tucked it away for later.

As I was writing these side tracks, I didn’t really care about staying within one genre, so I actually had a few different side projects for the various types of music I was writing.

After a few years of HCOPS not really picking up any steam, we decided to hang it up, which also led to me not playing any music for quite some time.

Fast forward about 6-7 years, and HCOPS decided to get back together for an album.

It took us a while to shake off the dust, but once we got the juices flowing, it just started a fire in me.

The album is moving really slowly, so I just got a little antsy and started picking up the solo stuff again.

I went through the archives of all the old side stuff I had written, and then started writing new songs to fill out the track-list a bit.

My taste in music had evolved quite a bit over that span, so the new stuff I was writing was also pretty different from some of the old stuff.

At a certain point, I just realised that everything should be consolidated to one project, where I would toss any sort of real direction or constructs out the window and let Casiocenz just be a place for artistic exploration.

I guess you could say it finally came to the forefront now because I was tired of being a boring adult, making music is way more fun than not making music, ya know?

HAPPY: How did you and Kevin approach collaborating on this track?

CASIOCENZ: Kevin is an old friend and is actually the drummer for HCOPS. But since we hung it up back in the late ’00s, he has gone on to build a very reputable career as a session drummer.

When we got back together to work on this album together, it was really cool to reconnect with him and hear about all the musicians he had been working with.

He did his part for HCOPS all in one weekend, and ever since then, it’s just been crawling due to the busy lives of the other members.

Just one of the struggles of being an adult musician with careers and lives outside of music.

When that started to drag, I pretty quickly shifted gears to put out my debut Casiocenz album, all within about 1-2 years.

Once the first album was done, I immediately started writing for the second album (which is almost done), but then I also started thinking of ways to collaborate with other musicians while still maintaining Casiocenz as a solo project.

I do really enjoy the isolation of a solo project because it feels like a personal outlet that can’t be replicated anywhere else.

But I also miss the collaboration and energy you get when you feed off of other musicians.

This is what sparked the idea for All Hail The Drummer.

In general, I think drummers are the coolest musicians, and they don’t get enough credit.

I wanted a project that could give them more creative freedom than they typically have, and give them a chance to let loose a little bit.

So I pitched the idea to Kevin, and within very little time, he sent me back the hot groove that spawned ‘Take Me To Tokyo.’

HAPPY: You’ve been on a long, collaborative journey. What were the most significant setbacks or challenges you faced in your music-making to get to where you are today?

CASIOCENZ: The biggest challenge has always been time management.

Shortly after HCOPS broke up, I got married, had kids, started a business, purchased property…you know, became a boring adult.

Needless to say, time is very hard to come by.

But ever since I’ve made a real effort to carve music back into my life, I’ve noticed not just a huge improvement in my own happiness, but also similar improvements for my spouse and kids.

My spouse and I met doing creative things, and then we stopped once life got in the way.

Now that we’re doing it again, it’s made us feel so silly for ever stopping that pursuit.

Art is a lifelong journey, so we’ve come to realize how important it is to schedule that time for yourself in the same way you schedule the time in your life to do a bunch of shit that you don’t want to do.

Also, having us pursue our passions again has really sparked something in our kids.

They’ve always been creative in nature, but I think it’s a really good example to have them grow up watching their parents chase some wild childhood fantasy all while maintaining the boring adult life crap we all have to deal with.

HAPPY: What was your vision for the overall sound of this track, and how did you achieve that retro-futurist vibe?

CASIOCENZ: Honestly, there was no vision going into it. I gave Kevin zero direction, just asked him to play whatever he wanted to play.

Even once he sent the track to me, I had no idea what I was going to write on top of it.

Eventually, I found the groovy bass-line that gave the funky vibe to the song.

And then from there, I kinda just started adding synths and guitars to fill in the gaps.

I also challenged myself to not change anything that I had already recorded, too.

So it really forced me to commit to whatever I was feeling right in the moment.

Even once all the instruments were tracked, I had no idea what I wanted to do vocally.

After spinning the song on repeat for a couple of weeks, it just hit me, I needed to ‘rap’ over this groove, there was no other way around it.

And as silly as I felt writing/tracking the vocals, I knew that this was the only direction it could go.

I’m not a rapper, clearly, but this is what the song needed, so I just forced myself out of my comfort zone, added some fx to my voice so I could tolerate it, and just went with it.

HAPPY: You’ve mentioned that this track’s melody is a departure from your usual work.

Can you talk about how working with Kevin influenced your songwriting and music for ‘Take Me To Tokyo?’

CASIOCENZ: Setting all the limitations for this track is what really spawned growth for me.

Knowing that I couldn’t go back and re-tweak things, or try different arrangements, or structure, or whatever else really inspired me to become fully committed to what I was doing.

It’s so easy when you’re making music to be like “well, what if we did this here,” or “let’s try it in a different key or a different tempo,” or any number of “what ifs” that could end up making you spin your wheels forever.

Not giving myself the opportunity to do that for this track was very freeing and has already impacted how I’ve written anything since this track was made.

I trust myself more now, and that’s really hard to do as an artist sometimes.

HAPPY: You’ve had a diverse journey in music, with Casiocenz evolving from a side project.

Can you share a bit about your background and how your early musical experiences influenced where you are today?

CASIOCENZ: I grew up in a very narrow scene of music. It was the early 2000s emo/pop punk scene that could be summed up with a single MySpace picture.

While I don’t follow a lot of that music anymore, I will say that I’m very grateful for how much that type of music has made me appreciate flaws and imperfections in music.

Nothing about that scene was polished. It was super raw and honest music.

As my taste in music expands, I do find that the common denominator in what I enjoy is the honesty of the track. If something feels honest, then I will probably enjoy it.

If something feels formulaic or overly polished, then I have a hard time getting behind it.

Give me the human error, I want to hear the struggle that we all go through as we work on our crafts.

HAPPY: The song feels like a journey, both lyrically and musically. How do you view the concept of escapism in ‘Take Me To Tokyo?’

CASIOCENZ: Escapism can be toxic, as it can easily derail you from doing some pretty important things.

But it can also be wonderful, as it lets you create a world of your own with none of the bullshit that we can’t avoid in the real world.

We all have those moments where we just want to get as far away as possible from wherever we are.

‘Tokyo’ seems like one of those places that would just make me forget about all my problems in a heartbeat.

Not to mention, my spouse went there without me a couple of years ago and has not stopped talking about how amazing it is.

I think we’ve got a family trip in the near future, so this little glimpse of escapism will hopefully turn into a reality very soon. 

HAPPY: Collaboration seems to be a core element of Casiocenz.

How does working with other musicians push you into new creative directions, and how has it impacted your evolution as an artist?

CASIOCENZ: On the contrary, Casiocenz has really been as solo of a project as you could imagine up until now.

I write, perform, produce, mix and master all of my music from my own studio that I built out in my 9-5 workspace.

All Hail The Drummer is my way of collaborating with other musicians in an unconventional way.

Seeing how much this first track pushed me out of my comfort zone, I’m really excited to see what other directions I am forced into as these tracks unfold.

HAPPY: With Casiocenz’s debut in 2023 with ‘Party of One’ and more collaborations on the horizon, what can listeners expect from your upcoming sophomore album and future projects?

How will they build upon this genre-blending foundation?

CASIOCENZ: The second Casiocenz album is going to take a lot of swings, even for me.

I’m really excited about how it’s turning out, but just be prepared for some weird shit.

I think the more exploring I do as an artist, the more fulfilled I feel as a person, so the only thing you can really expect from me moving forward is the unexpected.

Similarly, I have no idea where All Hail The Drummer will take me, but I’m excited to see where it goes. 

HAPPY: Lastly, what makes you happy?

CASIOCENZ: My spouse, my kids, music, creative expression, carpentry, tennis, the beach.