Marianas Trench’s Ian Casselman on music as storytelling, playing BIG RED, keeping cool, and loving the Mellotones

We caught up with Marianas Trench drummer Ian Casselman ahead of the band’s performance at BIG RED in Charlottetown, PEI on June 28, 2014.

Check out the full interview below. But first, here’s Marianas Trench’s By Now video:

Here’s our conversation about growing as a band, the personalities in the music industry, art, playing with Josh Ramsay, and PEI mussels.

Halifax Bloggers (HB): Thanks a lot for taking the time to chat with us.

Ian Casselman (IC): Oh, no worries. We’re excited to be on this coast.

In Halifax we really enjoy the Mellotones. We saw them the last two times we were in Halifax at the Seahorse, and they’re a great funk band. Josh and I went out yesterday just to see them. We were there all night last night. That’s a fantastic band, give them props, I hope everyone goes to check them out. They have this awesome trumpet player, and you know, it’s really hard to make money as a trumpet player. It’s hard to make money as any type of musician, and in pop music, if you’re a funk band and you’re a sax player or a trumpet player, it’s hard to make a living, you know? These guys are good. From what I know of, my favourite band in Halifax.

HB: When you found out you had the opportunity to play BIG RED on our coast in PEI, what did you think?

IC: I liked it, we don’t get to go to Prince Edward Island all that much and I really like it there. It’s super nice and it’s super peaceful. For selfish reasons I was stoked to go.

HB: Is there an act that you’re looking forward to taking in?

IC: To tell you the truth I just love seeing everybody. Whenever we play festivals I enjoy taking in all of the bands. Lately I’ve just been loving everything. So I’m looking forward to playing and taking as much of it in as I can.

HB: A lot of what you say and do is about music as storytelling. Why is it so important for music to achieve that?

IC: When I’m listening to music it takes me out of my head for whatever reason, either sonically what’s on the track, or whether it’s the story behind it or if it’s just the vibe of the song, I like when a song — any song — can take you out of your head. And usually it’s to a better state, or a more positive state. Not that my head is such a bad place to be in, but I find that a lot of good music takes people out of their head and it paints a picture for somebody.

I like music that doesn’t paint too much of a story so that the listener can redraw parts of it for everybody’s own minds. So they can paint a picture that they want to paint. But it also has to have enough purpose to have real substance.

HB: How is the art of storytelling through music different between creating a studio album and  playing a festival like BIG RED?

IC: I think when people watch you live it’s just more for entertainment value whereas when you listen to a recording it has more personal value, you know?

HB: What do you take away from watching the performances of other bands on stage?

IC: For me watching live music is more analytical for me. Playing music as a career has almost, not wrecked the enjoyment for be but, changed it for me. I’ve just become so analytical that I sort of analyze songs, the show, and all of that kind of stuff.

I think sometimes when you’re a band coming up through the ranks and you see a bigger band, you notice they just have more experience. In terms of entertainment value or learning how to put a show on, you really learn how to put on a show if you look at it from the audience perspective.

From a functional side of things you look at what they do with lighting and stage setup and all of that kind of stuff. But once you’ve heard a band that’s played together for a while you hear a maturity and a smoothness, and that’s something to strive for. If anyone likes sports and knows a team that just plays together really well — no one has to be perfect — but the sum of its parts is so strong. I look at it more from that way. When you see the more experienced bands you see the fluidness and the maturity and you strive for that.

HB: Can you think of any examples where you’ve seen another performer do something you liked and you’ve been able to work that into how you make music or perform?

IC: I remember seeing The Muse one time way back in Vancouver. They were very big in Europe but they weren’t quite big over here yet, and the bass player had a broken arm and was playing with a cast on. And I just realized that he was being super professional. Obviously there are some injuries someone couldn’t play through, but you look at this guy being super pro. He’s like, ‘ah, well, whatever, we’re on tour we’re not cancelling’ kinda thing. I’m not sure if he broke it before or during the tour but I remember noticing that. Just because, you know, they’re a pretty good band, so some of his parts were pretty notey. It would have been challenging or painful for him.

A lot of the times you see bands on the road and they’re sick or going through personal stuff or whatever, but when they go on stage you kind of leave it all behind and always put on a good show. So it’s all about striving for that professionalism, having played with some pretty big bands over the years.

HB: When you have a moment when somebody screws up or something goes wrong on stage, what is the communication on stage?

IC: We’ve had some real clangers. But I guess these days it’s more about technical difficulties. We played Vegas lately and we had a big bass drop in the middle of the song. And that’s on tape. You can’t really reproduce that on video. What happened was the subs blew the power on the stage and everything just went out. Everything went off. Technically the only thing you could have heard would be me on the drums because everything else was electric.

But we all just kind of laughed. It was funny, so we laughed. We had to wait to get the power back on and stuff, and Josh, he was just bantering, telling jokes and telling stories and that kind of stuff. And I’m looking behind me and they’re saying ‘nope, we’re not ready yet, we need one more minute,’ and I just look toward Josh and give him the ‘keep going, keep going’ sign. Maybe in the beginning that would have phased us or rattled us more, but as soon as it happened we just laughed. When you don’t let things bug you, it almost doesn’t matter whatsoever that it happened.

HB: I want to talk about awards shows. You’ve been to a few. Frankly, I find them a little weird.

IC: So do I.

HB: I just wanted to put that to you and see what you have to say about that.

IC: You see a lot of personalities. Awards shows are obviously bizarre, but a lot of musicians really are true artists. A lot of times mature artists are a little more eccentric or odd, so I kind of like seeing that, I get a kick out of it to tell you the truth.

What I hate is lots of ego. You know when you meet somebody and it’s just so much ego. It’s just not my jam. For myself I try to make sure any egotistical side is under control. What’s the point, even if you are a bigger artist. I don’t like how that comes across so I try not to let that into my own personality.

But what I find refreshing is when you don’t see that. Here’s an example: we met Katy Perry once at the MMVAs, and she is so nice. Like, just super, super nice. And I find it refreshing when you meet stars like that — she was quite big at the time, near the beginning of the California Gurls album, you know, huge album — and if anyone could have an ego, she’s obviously a big star internationally. She can sell out arenas and stadiums all over the world. But she was super nice with us and there are so many stories around the industry of her where she’s very giving and accommodating, and just a very nice, sweet person. I find it very refreshing when I meet people and they’re .. normal.

HB: What would you say is the ratio of normal to not-normal stars in the industry?

IC: Well, we can be seen as kinda nuts too. I mean, Josh is pretty crazy. So for me, because I’m used to him, I find most people, even the eccentric people in the industry pretty normal. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be like that at all, but he’s definitely tipped the scale so that everyone else seems pretty normal.

HB: What is it like working with someone like Josh? How would you describe him?

IC: He sort of is .. everything. I don’t really know how to explain it. He covers a wide range of emotions and personalities. Sometimes he’s super thoughtful, and other times he’s obviously pretty crazy, and running around, and just going off the handles. Not in a bad way for the most part, I would say, and he’s a guy that definitely has a good heart.

What I like about him is he really is quite artistically driven. I’m very thankful for that. He is the main writer in the band and even if it’s more of a pop song he tries to maintain artistic integrity. A lot of the times it’s hard to do that. When you listen to the radio now a lot of music has changed from that, so he tries his best to maintain an artistic approach even if it is through a more minimalist pop song.

He’s sort of all over the place. What I like is you never know what to expect. He’s quite witty and a smart guy, so a lot of the times what comes out of his mouth, it’s comedy. It’s nice to always be laughing.

HB: Can you describe what it’s like to prepare for something like a music festival or any live show?

IC: Well you record your album, but then when you’re learning to play it for a live audience as a band it’s different. A lot of the times when you’re recording you do it in parts, so you may not have them all down and coming together as a whole song yet. You can execute them, but it’s different when you learn them all as a band and try to get it to gel and that sort of stuff. So preparing for performing live usually takes longer, but once the songs are up, you only really need a rehearsal or two, and really only usually one, to tell you the truth.

Say we haven’t played a while for some reason or haven’t played a song for a while, you really only need a rehearsal together. We used to practice a lot together, but relating back to being professional, we try to come more prepared into a rehearsal. You do that work on your own so that when you come together it comes together again really quick.

And I enjoy practicing. Being a drummer you can’t take too much time off because your playing will sound a bit rusty pretty quickly, and as a drummer if you’re a bit rusty then it’s inconsistent. And I like practicing, it’s a joy for me not a chore, so I don’t mind when I’m practicing a lot at home. That’s good with me.

HB: Is there anywhere you’re looking forward to hitting up again when you’re back in PEI?

IC: I can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s got the best mussels ever there. There’s this side street near the water where there are a lot of cool restaurants and cafes, there’s a place in there on the side, I’ll know it when I see it, and they’ve got the greatest mussels. I think last time I was there I ate them every day at this restaurant. I think one day I ate them twice, they were actually that good.

Marianas Trench plays BIG RED music festival in Charlottetown, PEI tonight, June 28, 2014. The band hails from Vancouver, B.C.

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About the author

Brenden Sommerhalder