Ocasan

Sourced - Muzu.TV 28th July 2010

As he closes his eyes the stage unfolds…

While studying in Bath, the three 23 year olds from Wales and England only took an hour to realise they had a shared love of great music. Within a day of meeting they began writing and within a week their first gig was booked, although the early shows are hard to recall:

“I don't think any of us can remember.” says Luke “We played our first few shows completely out of it. Gigs back then were always tied in with some sort of party. The only memories we have are the odd video clips taken by some one in the crowd. They sounded great so we just kept going, enjoying every minute”

"O'Casan are inspired by so many different artists. We've been told that our sound is really 'current' I'm not sure how true that is but I can imagine if you put the likes of ELO, Zeppelin, Muse and the RHCP into a big melting pot it might create something pretty new and exciting."

Which leads to their debut album – “Ricochet” – recorded earlier this year during the winter blizzards with top rock producer Romesh Dodangda. Recorded at the legendary Monnow Valley and Longwave studios the album is packed full of classic pop tales fizzing with rock and roll energy about girls, fools and dreams.

Their name - O’Casan (pronounced Oh-Ka-San) – is an old clan name. The members have strong Celtic roots and this name seemed to fit with the music. "It's even feels great to say!" exclaim the band.

Within weeks of their album release the band have been offered to support Prodigy at Spirit Festival, 15th August, in Bulgaria. Their first release 'When you're around' shot straight to no. 1 in the Bulgarian charts.

So what's next for O'Casan? "Our next focus will be on releasing our first single" explains frontman, Nick Burns "We're hoping to really attract some attention with this one. It's called 'Josephine' it's a real kicking track with a bit of Sgt. Peppers charm. We shot a music video for it a month back that includes brass playing animals, marching bands and toy soldiers. It's so much fun. I don't want to give the game away too much so I'll leave it at that." The video will accompany their upcoming single set to release in the autumn.

How are you affording to do this without a label? "The entire video was done ourselves so it has a very humble vibe, It reminds me a little of the Vampire Weekend videos. We've done everything ourselves so far. The industry is changing so much at the moment there doesn't seem to be a set formula for making yourself known. So far we've come miles with out a label but that’s not to say we aren't interested. We just want our music to be heard."