Interview conducted by Sarah Wise
Image courtesy of James Piper

After their show, I caught up with the charismatic Katrina and Dan from Cassette Kids to discuss their plans, recording and post-performance wounds.

So would you guys say this is one of your best performances in comparison to your others?
Katrina: It’s different because usually there’s about a fifth as many people, and I don’t know, it doesn’t matter as much and we kind of go psycho and I might fall off the stage and bleed on people, but this time we had to do a good performance without getting ridiculous. We performed keeping that in mind. It wasn’t as crazy as usual but I think it was good. I think.
Dan: I think we still set a standard as Cassette Kids as we want, but a couple of our performances were maybe a little better, but the crowd response was amazing so yeah! We always get a good vibe off the audience and it makes us want to give back a lot more.

I heard you fell off a stage and cut your hand open? Is that right?
They’re all laughing
Katrina: Last time we played here I stacked it off the stage, split my hand open and sprayed blood all over the people in the audience. It was ridiculous!
Dan: Ha-ha it was quite good she made every white t-shirt turn red.

How was your response to that?
Katrina: When I realized I was splattering blood everywhere I put it behind my back and then my back got wet really quickly so I wrapped it up in my shirt, We played the rest of the set and I was fine then I got all dizzy and sweaty and I had to go sup.
Dan: She made it into a very cool Cassette Kid dance move. It was great.

So were you guys all friends before you started the band?
Katrina: Nup –ha-ha,
Dan: Not at all mate, not at all! No no no I think we kind of new each other before we were in the band and but a mutual friend brought us together. He was the old guitarist, since he left. There’s been such a great dynamic in the band, which has just been cool. I think we can get off like...
Katrina: on each other.
Dan: Like not in a sexual way.
Katrina: No! We just bounce off each other.
Dan: But a lot of people say that we have the kind of dynamic...

You guys have a lot of stage presence?
Dan: Huh?
You all perform well together?
Katrina: Yeah that’s what people say. I’m kind of involved in myself but I don’t notice as much but I do look over and think ‘nice moves Dan nice moves’.
Dan: At our last show ‘Dance Till Dawn’, Katrina and I got entangled with each other; we were stuck together for the rest of the song.
Katrina: My hair was in his guitar! And it was kind of awkward but it was fun

And the other people came into the band how?
Dan: Dan, Jake and I used to play in a band previous, just like mucking around. We were just sorting after a bass player and we were like let’s get Dan. And then we went through 2 or 3 drummers and then I was like, well actually I know a guy and he came in November. And we’ve been jamming since then. We all really get along which each other its ridiculous.
Katrina: It’s really hard to find a good drummer. We went through 3 and its just like, Jake changed the feel of our music to the way we wanted it to feel like.

When did you guys realize that this was the real deal?
Dan: Probably in march when we had our first show and we realized this is where our sound is going.
Katrina: We’re in a continuous state of development though. We’re starting to experiment a lot and the songs we are writing now are obviously very different to the ones before. Our set is quite ecliptic, it’s quite variable and the important thing is to keep doing what we like.
Dan: Everyone knows what each other want, and we all want the same thing so.

Kat, you mentioned writing songs? Is anyone else involved in that?
Katrina: I write the lyrics and the vocal melodies. Most of the songs stem from Dan. He’ll come up with something and we feed off him.
Dan: If I’m pretty much stark on something I’ll just go ‘hey guys what do you think we should do?’ then Dan will come up with a tune and Jake with a beat.
Katrina: And I’ll start playing mouth guitar because I can’t play any instruments!
Gives an example.

Have any of you guys had professional training?
Dan: I’ve been playing the guitar for 10 years and in the first 2 years my dad would teach me and then I went to guitar lessons for a year then I decided nah they’re not teaching me what I want so I just listened to everything and copied everything off the radio.
Katrina: I’ve never had any training, musically, at all. But I still fee like I’m a musical person. Basically it’s just about being inspired and teaching yourself. When I was 16 I sung covers in a band and taught myself I guess.

Inspiration?
Dan: Probably, from 1995, my sister took me to see You Am I at the metro, which was my first gig when I was 10. And ever since is saw Tim Rogers then, I was like ‘I wanna be that guy on stage’ and I got into Silverchair. Daniel Johns is like my idol.
Katrina: No Doubt was a massive band for me when I was growing up. And she’s still going strong. God love Gwen Stefani! She’s got charisma, platinum and she can sing.

Kat how do you feel about being a female and fronting a band?
Katrina: I absolutely love it! I think it’s a great advantage for us; it’s nice to feel like people are appreciating you. Not just because of the music but because there’s something different about you. And the best thing about the show is I get a lot of girls coming up to me after, 90% girls, saying ‘oh I loved that’ and that’s the best part of it I think. Makes me feel real special.
Dan: I think it’s amazing I never thought about having a female before but as soon as Katrina opened her mouth and sang the first word I was like ‘yep, that’s incredible’.

What’s happening next?
Dan: In a week’s time on the 18 we start recording our EP with John Harding from Soundworks Studio. From there we’re gonna see what happens. Van She Tech is remixing us; we’re just seeing what’s interested in us.
Katrina: I think we’ve been really lucky because we know a lot of people that have been helping us out. For example, Illionaire, which is a fashion label, outfitted our entire band for this gig.
Dan: With amazing, amazing gear!
Katrina: To me, there are these creative people supporting us as musicians and we’re supporting them as designers. That’s what’s really awesome about this scene All creative people supporting each other. I think that is what is about.
Dan: A big shout out goes to Tristan Blair as well for giving…
Katrina: Oh look at my god dam shoes they’re ridiculously huge and awesome! Makes the woman, I think.
Dan: They’re amazing
Katrina: I thought they were going to kill me! Thank you very much Tristan! You’re the best at making shoes!

How do you choose what songs to go on the EP?
Dan: The ones we like the best, but we try get outside opinions. John Hardy’s been really good because he’s got a lot of experience. Really good at giving helpful advice.

You’re main supporters?
Katrina: I’d have to say each other in the band. Every time we go to band practice we’re like ‘oh yeah guys lets do this! As soon as we nail a new song its like this is the reason why we keep going. We wanna show people what we do!

Where to from now?
Katrina: I wanna go on a tour! I’d like to get some really fantastic support shows! Big bands that we really respect.
Dan: Just to be well known, but just from here we wanna go forwards. Maybe New York.