Bassist Boris Baker (say that 10 times fast!) recently took some time to answer 10 questions about his band Kasador!
For those unacquainted, Kasador come from Kingston, Ontario. The 5-piece indie rockers started back in 2015 and spent 2017 on the road. Following their September 2016 self-titled EP release, Kasador released two songs in fall 2017, revealing the band’s broadening sonic spectrum. Check out their new video for “Skeleton Park” below!
- So you’ve spent the past year of your lives touring, any must-haves on tour? Must-have snacks?
Coffee, beef jerky, pillows and books. And a working AUX or Bluetooth connection for music… which we don’t actually have. We’ve got quite the CD collection in the van and members have started making their own “Hot Mixes” (mix CDs). Really anything that keeps you entertained to pass the time on 8 hour drives.
- Is there anything new you’re bringing to the table this tour compared to your previous tours?
We have new songs and a new drummer, both of which we’re very excited about and have made the live show much more dynamic.
- What’re your hobbies outside of music? What would you be doing if not playing music?
When we’re not on the road there’s a lot of pickup hockey and squash. Will (Guitar/Vox) really enjoys event planning and I’m pursuing a master’s degree. Cam (Guitar) likes to think he’d be windsurfing somewhere tropical. All of our lives have pretty much revolved around music since day one, and this band is a hobby turned career, so it’s hard to imagine doing anything else.
- Favorite day-off activities?
Sleep in and wander around whatever city we’re in. All the things we don’t get to do on show days. The last time we had a day off we stopped in Syracuse to watch The Glorious Sons and Arkells play. Great night. Our drummer quit the next morning while we were all hungover and waiting for our bill at Denny’s. True story.
- What do you do to pass the time on the long drives?
We sleep and listen to a lot of music (shocker). When things get dull Cam likes to ask prying questions, sometimes very personal, that stir up controversy. Great way to pass the time and get to know each other even more. Recently we’ve started recording our shows and listening back to them the next day in the car so we can critique them.
Sometimes the anxiety of whether or not we’re going to get across the American border is more than enough to pass the time. We’ve yet to get turned away, but we’ve had some close calls.
- Favorite part of being on tour? Is touring and being in a touring band what you expected? If not, why? If so, how so?
Touring is a lot tougher than people might think, and less rewarding if you aren’t in it for the right reasons. I wouldn’t say its what any of us expected, but we love it. Being able to travel with your friends and play music every night to people that love live music is extremely rewarding. Additionally, meeting new people and hearing their stories is very cool for us.
Touring in the United States is interesting cause even though the distances between cities are much smaller than in Canada, how people live/ the politics of each city are dramatically different. Each city has its own quirks that make it special – for example Rochester has the garbage plate, an aptly named dietary staple for… rochesterians? Close enough.
- What have you learned from your first year of touring? What piece of advice do you wish you had on your first tour?
Bring a sound engineer. Simple. They make you sound as good as you’re capable of sounding as a band, and that’s how you’re going to keep people coming back. If you’re serious about touring it’s worth the investment.
- Dream tour lineup for Kasador?
We’ve been fortunate enough to have played a handful of shows in 2017 with SamRoberts Band, and if we could do a full tour with them that would be a dream come true. They’re such great people, and they impacted all of us as musicians long before we ever played a show with them. There are a number of great bands out there that it would be a privilege to play with, but the biggest thing for us would be touring with good people.
- Your two newest songs, “Come Get Yer Money” and “Skeleton Park” see two different sounds for Kasador, do you think both of these sounds will be present in your future music? Maybe on the full length you talked about with All Access?
Definitely. Over the past few years we’ve grown quite a bit as a band and are finding ourselves more open to exploring new sounds we may have shied away from in the past. We have a couple of members that are capable of singing lead vocals and recently we’ve made a concerted effort to take advantage of this. With this writing has become a real team effort, which can relieve a lot of pressure off any one individual. Its been really freeing for the band, and we’ve just been letting songs write themselves.
- The album art for both “Come Get Your Money” and your debut self-titled EP are both intriguing and captivating. Are there any stories behind the two designs? Who designed them? Do you find it important to have visually intriguing artwork to go along with the music you release?
Visually intriguing artwork is a must whether its for a single, album, or poster. You have an opportunity to catch people’s attention that may not have given your music a chance otherwise, and you have a second platform to really say something. When I used to go to my local record shop as a kid, a band’s artwork really influenced whether or not I’d pick up their CD. Something I miss dearly with the shift from Vinyl and CDs to online streaming is the emphasis on the physical artwork. When you listen on spotify and the album art is smaller than your palm, and there are no lyric sheets or additional artwork, active listeners and fans miss out on so much. Nothing beats listening to a great album while flipping through artwork and words that really captivate you.
Colin Sinclair has done all of our graphic design in the past, and he’s phenomenal. You can check out his work on Instagram at @lemon67.
Kasador are currently on a Canadian and Northeast US tour, come out to a show and check them out!
Upcoming dates:
February 28 – Boston, MA – The Middle East
March 1 – New York, NY – Mercury Lounge
March 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
Interview by Shane Haley
(Featured photo: Taylor Simon)
Crown Times Music 