There has never been a better time in human history for artistic self-expression.
Musicians who are relatively unknown are enabled to find their audiences directly on the internet and like many, are able to get their start by putting up their works on platforms such as YouTube and SoundCloud.
Setting Mind interviews Far Caspian, a band based in Leeds, United Kingdom.
Setting Mind: What’s the origin of the band name?
Far Caspian: We all loved C.S. Lewis’s books as kids and the majority of the band’s favourite book was Prince Caspian. We didn’t want to name it the exact same as the books title so we switched Prince to Far. We also thought about Aslan but that was taken!
How did you guys all meet each other?
We all went to the same Music College. Joel (Lead Singer) and Alessio (Bassist) met through mutual friends. Joel produced Nathan’s (Lead Guitarist) other band last year and became friends through that. Jof (Drummer) responded to a Facebook post when we were looking for a drummer.
When and how did you all decide on forming a band?
Joel was doing Far Caspian for roughly 2 years as a recording project in his spare time but not taking it too seriously. After graduating last summer he decided to turn it into something more focused and got the rest of the guys involved in December 2017.
Can you explain your music video “Holding On”? It’s very quirky and odd.
We were all very hungover from a party we had gone to the night before and had no real idea of where the video was going to go. We just knew we wanted to do something that was loosely based on daydreaming. For example, when the camera zooms into Jof sitting on the sofa and cuts to him moving the lampshade with his mind, that was our way of creating an idea of him thinking about having those powers. I think that the idea of being in your own head is something everyone deals with and wishing you could be better than who you are to the world. But it was a really fun day just walking around the house trying to find ideas of shots and then just going with it. Having no budget helped too. We’re probably gonna keep that mindset for the next couple of videos.
What genre of music do you consider your work to be?
We’ve named it Melanjolly. We don’t know if we made that word up but it’s our way of saying happy/sad. A lot of the lyrics tend to stay around sadder topics but the musical aspects tend to be upbeat. Whitney or Bahamas are a great example of this.
Who are your major musical influences?
We all have different influences but the influences we all mutual love are The whitest boy alive, Tame Impala and The Strokes.
Are there any projects/songs that the band is working on for the future?
We are currently working on our first EP that’s gonna be out this Summer. It’s still in the early stages of tracking, we just know we want it out for the summer.
Do you have any last words for your fans?
Thank you to everyone listening. We appreciate all the support and you’ll be hearing from us again soon. The Far Caspian boyzzz.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Check out the music video for “Holding On”, the 1st single from Far Caspian’s debut EP set to be released Summer 2018.
