Post-industrial Macclesfield, England, enjoys a very unfortunate reputation due to its small size, timeless gray sky, limited employment opportunities and even a lack of a cinema. At a low in 2004, local futures groups called it the "most uncultured" location in England. When tourists come, they often visit the grave of Joey Division lead singer/Maxfield native Ian Curtis, who died in 1980 after he wrote some of the most pathetic (although surprisingly brilliant) music.
But a new rock trio Cassia comes up with a very ecstatic voice from Macclesfield, a strange opposition to Joy Division in every possible way. Over the past few years, they have risen from the bar tour to large halls and festival stages throughout Europe and have raised tens of millions of Spotify plays in bright, happy national anthems like “Where” and “Flow”, making each show a celebration of life.
"I think if you live in Maxfield, you can take one of two ways," said Jacob Leff, a drummer from Cassia. "You either embrace the dark stuff and write something cold and angry, or you can imagine something more escaped. It's not that we want to get rid of the Mac. It's more about escaping from the dull weather."
Cassia's chief singer Rob Ellis agrees. “I used to think where we live was a limit,” he said. “I think we had to move somewhere to get this going because we didn’t have a manager or any way to promote ourselves. But we ended up grinding it down, and I think that puts us in the dominance of Macclesfield because it allows us to imagine other spaces and write this kind of music.”
As a kid, Ellis loved Mgmt, Vampire Weekend, Mumbai Bike Club and other independent acts. Leff prefers his parents’ music, including the Beach Boys, the Beatles and the Police. When he grew up, Neo-soul broadened his horizons like D'Angelo and Erykah Badu. He was also accused of Paul Simon's two world music albums, Graceland and The rhythm of the saints. "It's not like a traditional form of songwriting," he said. "He did such fun and weird things with rhythm and vocals."
(Strangely, Leif was close to Simon when he was 2 years old.
Currently, Ellis and Leff are in Glasgow, Scotland, studded behind the tour bus, and have lived with seven other people over the past few weeks. "We have the largest capacity right now, and there are people sleeping in chairs," Ellis said. "Sleeping has been the hardest since the roads in England were very bumpy."
It may not be a relaxing or charming way of life, but when Ellis and Leff met in 2015 teenagers, Ellis and Leff were playing on a big bus in England. At the time, Ellis and Cassia bassist Lou Cotterill were creating musical duo and playing a difficult role. "In addition to the bass, Lou played drums," Ellis said. "He really hates trying to cover up all the bases. We need to find drummers."
The initial bar meeting was a little blurred for Ellis. “I’m very drunk,” he said. "And Rob and Lou are absolutely steaming. They can hardly put sentences together. One of them said, 'You're a drummer, companion?' They gave me some songs the next morning.
The band informally claimed to be Cassia before meeting Ellis, but when he practiced with rope-tuned African drums, they felt the name should be permanent. That drum also gave them a unique sound. "This completely changed the way I played because half of my hands were on my hands. A lot of the early drum rhythms were based on this weird, forced style of playing," Leff said.
In the early days, Cassia made very slow progress. Ellis worked as a music technician at his old school and found a strange construction job. Leff teaches samba music to students in an elementary school. "My drum teacher will lead everything, I just sit there and watch the cross when the kids get angry," he said. "I'm absolutely useless."
They did have enough time to focus on the band, which blended rock with African and Latin rhythms, borrowing a lot from Paul Simon and Fela Kuti and Ebo Taylor. "Our only goal is to make the music sound different from all other bands in Manchester," Ellis said.
"This is the era of Arctic monkeys," Leff added. "Then most bands sound like Arctic monkeys with a slightly charming charm."
After Cassia picked up a short follower around Macclesfield and surrounding towns, Cassia spent time from her own pocket, signed with the brewery’s record and headed to Bath, England replica, With producer Matt Tait. This is not an easy process. "The producers are very strong with us," Lef said. "A lot of things on the album are hard to play. I'm worried I'll get kicked out of the band."
His worries were misplaced. replica The songs "Relax", "100 Times" and "Small Space" all generated over a million Spotify plays. “It must be organic because we didn’t strategically get people to listen to it,” Leff said. “But we did do some street performers and we went to every show.”
Just as they gained real momentum, Covid hit and shut down the entire music industry. The band moved to Berlin and went all out to cut the second album, Why lack of energy. The three didn't want to repeat the experience of the first record, but instead produced it themselves. "We kind of expect to stay in Berlin for a short time and then stay there for two years," Ellis said.
There is little to do every day except to write songs, just like Berlin is dark and dull, the song is vivid and cheerful. "They were originally an antidote to what was going on," Lef said. "We want people to feel better."
The plan worked. "Here" and "Drift" exploded to Spotify and created new Cassia fans around the world. Even though many of their peers hate it, it makes them thankful for the service of Transpiration. "People have a little bit of spots," Ellis said. "But without it, we wouldn't be where we are. We just can't get into all these areas of the world."
But, apart from the brief SXSW showcased at a small Austin venue in 2019, the group stayed completely in Europe while touring. The third record earlier this year, Everyone, outside. They are really proud of it (“About its efforts,” Ellis said, who came to the U.S. in late March for a show in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Brooklyn. “In Brooklyn, everything goes well with the baby and it feels like a homeland atmosphere,” Ellis said. “Everyone is singing, dancing, and it feels great.”
Europe remains their main tour base, but they hope to return to the states at some point for longer tours to raid more interiors in the country. “I would love to be able to play thousands of capacity venues everywhere we can,” Leff said. “It’s not something about money or self. It’s because that venue allows you to perform in production design and visually.”
He added: "A few years ago, we went to Mexico and went to a festival with Jungle and Parcels. We're already halfway through the new album, and we all love, 'We really want to write songs that are at home on the main stage in front of 60,000 people.'' And then listen to our new album, and I actually do think they'll work at the biggest stage."
However, currently, Cassia is a few hours away from the Intimate Club in Glasgow. Once they are done, they will start a 300-mile drive to even Mama Rooks in Birmingham, England. But even if they dream of a bigger venue, they are happy to make the place they are in now. “The fans on our show look free,” Ellis said. "They just danced with their eyes closed. It's so cool to see people connecting the music in this way."