“THE RECORD THAT CAST NEVER MADE” JOHN POWER ON SEMINAL NEW ALBUM ‘LOVE IS THE CALL’

“I wanted to capture the excitement of the debut, but with a bit more experience” JOHN POWER (CAST)

“If you were to describe the album in three words, what would you say? Uhhhh…what would I say in three words?” Seeming lost for words, the pressure is relieved by laughter – “You can have more words later” I reassure as John quips “A must listen?“ Before he sarcastically acknowledges “But I wouldn’t would I? I’d need far more because that’s the nature of me.”

Not one to be stuck for words, frontman and founding member of Cast – John Power, has plenty to say. Even more so as he sits on what could be the finest Cast album of their lifespan. Produced by legendary producer Youth Martin (The Verve, The Charlatans, James), ‘Love is The Call‘ is the seventh studio album from Cast and is set for release this month. A whole seven years since 2017’s Kicking Up The Dust, John makes no secret that this new release is nothing short of a seminal record for Cast.

Not only known as the face of 90’s indie/brit pop favourites CAST, legendary Liverpudlian creative John Power is just as well known for his stint in The La’s (There She Goes, Feelin’) as he is for over three decades with Cast. Not always plain sailing, the band have seen various incarnations since their early formation in 1992. Their debut album, All Change (1995) is still celebrated as an examplery of it’s time. Calling it day in 2001 following the perceived ‘flop’ of their fourth album, Beetroot, it would be another decade before John would re-surge Cast.

They never did quite return to their early peak, but they persisted. With the support and encouragement of the likes of Alan McGhee – who said to John “what you got to go do is just go away and write a great record, because you can” they went away and created “the record that Cast never made”.

Set to make 2024 their biggest year yet since the release of All Change (Walkaway, Sandstorm, Alright), we were honored to be amongst the first people to speak to the legendary Scouser – John Power – ahead of the official album release on February 16th.

If you were to describe the album in three words, what would you say?

“uhhhh…what would I say in 3 words? A must listen? But I wouldn’t would I? I’d need far more because that’s the nature of me. I can use other peoples, like Youth and Alan McGhee and people who’ve heard it. A lot of people are saying it’s a career best and I’ll let them do the talking. I’m very excited to hear. Have you heard the record?

I have yes, and I’m on the same wave-length as them it’s really really good.

I was going to ask what your three words were actually. Is that your three words then? Really, really good? Because really, really good will do.

I wanted to capture the excitement of the debut, but with a bit more experience. That was the vibe to find really, to find that sweet spot between all of that.

I mean I could say it’s rocking? I don’t think it will necessarily be what some people will expect it to be.

Yeah, I think for me it’s loving. It’s got a lot of energy going.I think I’ve had to dig deep. After the journey of life, it was imperative I suppose. This is the record that Cast never made but needed to make. And it’s the record that I needed to write. It’s been bugging me for a long time – it’s been asking to be written and asking to be recorded because it’s in that sweet spot between the beginning of Cast and the end of The La’s – whilst neither being a parody of either.

The idea was instead of having two John Powers – with me being in The La’s and me being in Cast – it’s just one me. I felt comfortable writing this record. It’s rock n roll, punky, it’s got jumping bass and the acoustics are bouncing. The guitar is like sonically blistering and the songs are probably some of the best. It’s got that vibe, the sweet spot between the two and I think I had to be in the right place to write that. I think that when you start Cast then you don’t want to talk about The La’s but now all this time has gone on I can do both. I played bass in The La’s and I’m playing bass on this record. I feel like it’s completed the circle.“

Did you go into this project knowing that you wanted to create an album?

This was always very much an album. This is the difference between certain records, as an album it was framed and the songs had a vision, a vibe and a whole idea. With the last album ‘Kicking Up The Dust’, it was a bunch of good songs that I did sort of ad hoc where I was writing and redoing demos. Alan (McGhee) said to me that what you got to go do is ‘just go away and write a great record, because you can’.

If you write a great record then you don’t need a break from people and you don’t need to ask for favours. This record was all about writing one last seminal record. I actually thought for a long while – I even said to the band, you’ve got to look at this as our last record – I don’t think I can dig that deep again.

Do you think that reflects on the final record then?

It led me to think about why a debut record is so fantastic and what makes it amazing and it’s theres that

With this record, like a debut, I had the demos done, I had the vision for the band. I was working with a great producer and I had the dream for it and I knew what I wanted this record to be. That’s quite important really because it means you can’t veer off from that. If you veer off from it then you just know it’s wrong. Where as if you’ve just got a bunch of nice songs, you’ve got a studio and you just want to work on and see where they go then that’s very to this record. This record had an identity before I recorded it and I had to stick with that and stay true to that.

What did the recording process look like then?

We went in with the songs written. I was working on these songs and working on this album for a few years. I knew what I wanted and I had all these ideas then once I got the demos done I was meeting with Youth. He’s a beautiful, amazing guy. What he gave me was the chance to let somebody else in to the arrangements. We were in the studio and in the morning I would be finishing the lyrics, just me and him with the acoustic and talk about the song we were going to record. Because I had a demo version of it we would work on the arrangements, maybe write a bit of something and then we’d go downstairs to where the band were. We’d relay that information and work again on the arrangements and make sure we got it right. That’s what we did every day.

Keith (O’Neill) plays the best drums he’s ever played on this record and I think is playing the best lead guitar and the best style of guitar that he’s ever played. There’s not one guitar where I feel it’s not right, it’s sonically and sound wise the guitars are stunning and blistering. So the band brought their experience and were open enough to be directed by Youth and by the song to write, record and perform – and the performance is amazing. But the arrangements were really Youth and myself.

Do you think by recording an album with the energy of a debut that you may pick up new fans?

Well I think the idea was just to write something which is exceptionally good, sonically and performance wise. The energy is just part of what making this record what it is. It’s got that energy but I never thought of it like trying to get younger fans. I’d love younger fans to get involved with the band. I think I’ve made this record for people who like bands. I don’t think you necessarily have to be a fan of Cast to dig this record, that’s the currency we’re dealing with now. Going back to the conversation I had with Alan McGhee who said you’ve just got to make a great record and it’ll take care of itself. It’s liberates me of being needy going ‘I hope you like it, do you like it’. I know the band have made and have recorded something really exciting and I don’t think we could have made a better record than the one we made. What more can I do? I’m hoping people hear via word of mouth or whatever way they do and I think they’ll dig it.

I mean look at the success of Shed Seven who just got their first number 1 album. There’s definitely something happening there with fans not only hanging onto legacy but seeking new music so that’s earned in it’s own right. Is that something you’d want?

Would I want to be number 1 did you say? Look, I’d be happy with any fucking number (laughs) Give me a number and we’ll take it! The thing is and look this is how I take care of my own sanity because I’ve already been in a numbers game where you want your chart placing. What I can say is, hopefully this is a seminal record for the band. I want people to hear this record and when they do to feel the feelings we put into it. Obviously, if this record does anything in the charts then I’ll be happy. But is a record great because it went to a certain number? What I have to know is that this record is the best thing we have done in at least 25, if not more years and I don’t need a number to tell me that it is good but if you wanna give it a number…you can give it a ten out of ten.

I genuinely do really like this album, I’ll admit that the last single I wasn’t feeling as much, however listening to it as part of the album and everything together, it’s just…you have to listen to the full thing. It’s not rare that you get albums like that, but it can be few and far between. It’s a journey.

Yeah, I was going to say that it’s a journey and you have to listen to both sides of the record. Faraway is this classic pop song. Love is the call and Love you like I do gives you more of an identity of that psychedelic pop vibe.

Where did the title Love is The Call come from?

“So I had the song, ‘Love is The Call’ and the last song on the album ‘Tomorrow Calls My Name’. I had different ideas of what I wanted to call the record but ultimately I can’t think of a word more needed and contains more of the emotions and all the words that you want to say in this universe. The world is in a deep discolouring frequency at the moment, there’s shit happening everywhere, on your doorsteps, on the streets behind you and across the shores. It’s intergalactic bad vibes and ‘Love is The Call’ is the highest, purest title I could come up with. We were in the studio and I think it was Youth who turned around while we were doing the song and he was like, you’ve got your album title there too. It was him who put the seedling in my head but I didn’t think I could call it Love is The Call because people would be like ‘Oh he’s a cosmic scouser, his being a hippy’ and that. The more I thought about it and the more I tried to find another title it got stronger and it stood out. That’s all I have to say to anybody at this present time is that love is the call. Listen to it, it’s calling out massively for us all to change frequency and be a bit more fucking alright with each other.“

John nails it in that last thought. In a climate where so much negativity bleeds into every aspect of our day to day lives, music is one of the purest forms of expression and escapism we have left. In part two of conversation with John, we go a little deeper into some of the currently unheard tracks on Love is The Call and what else we can expect from Cast in 2024.

Can’t wait?

Listen to the full, unedited conversation with John right now on our unofficial ‘podcast’ linked below.

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