We've killed a few email addresses

Thanks to ever-increasing spamming, we've shut down the maillist@ and theband@ addresses for this site. If you need to get us for something other than spam, please use firstname@kasino.co.uk - where firstname is, of course, replaced by a real first name. Ideally one of ours. Yes.

Listener's podcast picks

Gabor from Electrical Language has dropped us a line to let us know that Never See's in his anniversary podcast along with a further ten top tracks. Podcast-tastic!

Absolutely nothing to do with Kasino in the slightest

If anyone is really bored, I've bought a new camera and I'm taking a lot of random pictures. If you fancy a look then its at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mupwangle. Feel free to criticise.

Reviews

Came across a couple of reviews of the EP that I hadn't seen before.

from www.bottledidea.com (I think it's only on the google cache though)

"Kasino formed in Glasgow, Scotland in the mid-90s, but didn't get round to recording an album until 2002. It was worth the wait: Fearless (now sold out) ranged from sweet acoustic pop to vicious noise. The band's new EP, "Thank You And Goodnight", is just as eclectic: delicate acoustic tunes and wide-eyed pop rub shoulders with guitar mangling, e-bow abuse and the sound of a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs. The band have "absolutely no plans whatsoever" to release the EP commercially other than this signed, hand-numbered, extremely limited edition from KEEP."

And this one from www.moonpalacefanzine.com (which I think is in spanish) which sort of translates to:-

"Kasino and his ep "Thank you and goodnight" break enough with the "artistic line" of Keep Recordings, more centered in country alternative and all its tentacles. As it said, Kasino moves by a totally different field, and is that its sound would fit perfectly between bands like Doves, Elbow or the first disc of Coldplay, with two really good subjects of pop épico like "Thank you and goodnight" and "Wlak through walls", and three more, than without killing to us, they form a set that is saved of burns it of characteristic bands of similar that lately overflow to us. If to somebody it interests some to him of these references of Keep, that runs because they fly. "

I'm not sure I understand most of that. Sounds nice though.

If you've come to this page by accident and haven't heard any of our stuff then you can download the last album and EP from the MP3 page. Totally free (and more importantly non-DRM!) high-quality MP3s. If you like it then mail us to let us know what you think.

Cheers

A Quick Rant

Totally unrelated to our band, but I'm sitting listening to Radio 1 in the office and they've played the new single from Keane. Fair enough. But then they point out how "refreshing" a sound they have as they still refuse to use guitars.

This annoys me. If you've heard the single you'll understand completely.

If you listen to the record then you have to listen quite closely to tell that they aren't using guitars. If it isn't a guitar it's either a sample or a synth.

So the big question is - What exactly is the point of "not doing guitars"?

If a you think a song needs a guitar part, a keyboard part or a blimmin kazoo part then it needs it. Unless Keane don't do guitars for the same reason we never really did much keyboard stuff - nobody in the band is any good at it.

End of rant - before I start off about singers giving their kids silly names.

BTW - In case you're wondering from the posts below - John didn't actually predict me nearly electrocuting myself two months in advance. I think it's a bug in the software that put the wrong date on his post.

Mind you - it was John who sold me the power supply.....

Electricity Sucks

To be honest I haven't really played much since I've moved down south, but last night I decided to dig out my keyboard and try and see if I could get a tune out of it. I've been discussing on and off with Gary for ages about trying online collaboration stuff so I was going to have a play.

Unfortunately I couldn't find the damn power supply for the keyboard. After a couple of hours searching through all my cupboards and spider-infested cellar I managed to find the power supply for my pedal board which was a universal one I'd bought from John. Changed it to the right voltage and stuff and lo and behold it worked. Started to muck about a bit and try to remember the really basic stuff I know how to play.

For some bizarre reason I had decided that a sort of dance version of You Don't Have to Be Alone would be cool (I was thinking sort of DJ Sammi type crap) Sort of worked it out when the keyboard switched itself off. Then smoke started to come out of the now red-hot power supply, which promptly got hurled out into the garden slightly scorching my carpet. Then my PC (which I hadn't yet connected to the keyboard) started to overheat, sounding a bit like a jet plane.

At this point I realised that my house thinks that a DJ Sammi version of YDHTBA is a bad thing.

This morning I realise that it is probably right.

Unfortunately now I don't have a power supply for the keyboard or my pedals and have to explain burn marks in the carpet to my better half.

Oh well.

D

David may have nearly burned his house down trying to get back into playing music, but at least it's a start ;-) I've been trying to get myself back on the creative tip recently as well. Recently, I've become so busy with side projects that I had forgotten what was at the centre of it - making and playing music. Over the last year I've been so busy I could barely have told you what my name was - I've been editing a new music website, RCT Music (plug plug plug), presenting a show on Radio Magnetic writing and hosting Poplife, the 13th Note's monthly pop quiz and doing the usual bits and bobs of freelance music hackery. It's easy to get stuck in a routine, especially when it's as busy a routine as that, and the actual music side of it had pretty much been shoved onto the back burner - so much so that I'd more or less forgotten about it.

It wasn't until I was asked to play bass with our old pals Squander Pilots on a mini tour that I realised how much I miss it. After one evening's rehearsal we played round Scotland for a week. Under-prepared, under-rehearsed and seriously out of pratice - it was terrifying. But when the nerves started to jangle, the endorphins obviously kicked in because I had a great time at all the gigs. Predictably enough, I came home full of ideas about playing again and finally getting round to doing something with the dozen or so songs floating around in my head. Admittedly, even that was a few months ago but where there's a will ...