A casual history of Athens' Casual Future
By Jen Kessler, Entertainment Staff Writer
February 21, 2008 | 6 a.m.
Indie-pop scene staples Casual Future have been cavorting around Athens for four years now, toting legions of quiet talent and an ever-changing lineup. This year finds them with a sparkling album behind them and a new one on the horizon.
After a few years of milling around town with an ephemeral lineup, Casual Future seems to have finally settled into comfortable order with Scott Spice on vocals, Brian Koscho on bass, Gaelan Mullins of Silo Circuit on drums and Jacob Theobald of Paper Machetes on guitar.
Speakeasy had the opportunity to sit down with Spice and Koscho and delve into the band’s illustrious history.
Casual Future, brainchild of Spice, took root in 2004 and has since been slowly growing and evolving into the colorfully catchy indie band that graces Athens today. After playing shows around town with consistently different members for a while, Spice met former guitarist Dustin Thomas and the two played together for a few months. In 2006, Spice and Thomas teamed up with Koscho and former drummer Todd Jacops, who got his start playing in Songs: Ohia. The four solidified the first formal lineup for Casual Future and went into the studio in October 2006 to record the band’s first full length album, Footnotes in City Lights.
March 2006 marked a monumental change for Casual Future. Not only did the band officially release Footnotes in City Lights, but they also suffered the loss of both expecting father Jacobs and Thomas, who got a job in Cleveland.
“It was a little awkward, to have this album and no band to play it with really,” said bassist Koscho. “I mean, we knew we were going to have a band, but it was a bad time to take a hiatus.”
However, losing half of the band at such a vital time did not stop Spice and Koscho from ambling on with a casual eloquence and adaptability. It wasn’t long before Casual Future acquired drummer Mullins and guitarist Theobald.
“At that point we had already established ourselves, at least a little bit, so that it was an easier search for new members,” Spice said. “After Todd and Dustin had left, a whole bunch of friends and other people had seen us, so we had the opportunity to…”
“....steal other band’s musicians,” Koscho finished with a laugh.
“Everybody was learning or relearning things, even me,” said Spice. “Individual musicians make up a band, and you can’t really ask them to play like other musicians. So the songs all took a very different shape.”
Footnotes in City Lights is a quirky infusion of beat-ridden indie rock and subtle pop sensibilities. Exceedingly catchy guitar melodies dance nimbly over tight percussion, and Spice’s curiously soulful vocals and standout lyrics resonate fully throughout it all. The album is speckled with Sonic Youth-esque wall of sound bits, adding to the complex textures that provide innumerable layers on the record.
“I wanted it to be able to stand out as not only a record but something that would stand both lyrically as a story and musically as a story,” said Spice. “We wanted to make an album, not just a collection of songs.”
Casual Future certainly succeeded in making a full, dynamic album that flows beautifully and demonstrates the talents of the band. The sound on the record, however, is quite different than the sound the band pounds out these days. The four just got out of the recording studio after laying down tracks for their second album, which will most likely be released next fall, and the band’s style has adapted to the newest lineup.
“[Our sound has] gotten increasingly louder and more energetic,” Spice said. “It’s fascinating to see how things take shape depending on who you’re playing with.”
The band is going to release a single off their new album hopefully by early March, Spice said.
“We just want to get a new song out that demonstrates the new sound," Spice said. "We still have all those old songs up there [on our MySpace], but they’re kind of a thing of the past.”
“The first record was like we had this great record but then the band members changed and we couldn’t really play shows,” said Koscho. “So I’m really excited.”
Be sure to keep an eye out for Casual Future’s new single this spring and their second record next fall. Check out the band at the Aquabear Legion County Fair on Saturday, March 1 or on the Casual Future MySpace page.
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