I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about Cascades lately so I jumped at the chance of writing about them.
Cascades are a group of young guys, with an average age of 16, from Hove/Shoreham, they are Jake Parsons (vocals/rhythm guitar/keys), Joe Edwards (drums/percussion/backing vocals), Toby Daintree (lead guitar/trumpet/ backing vocals) and Finn Grassie (Bass).
Self-classified as Indie on their social media pages I’m not sure that’s how I would categorise them. What does Indie mean to you? To me it conjures up jangly guitars given a harder edge with a solid drum beat and punchy bass. Cascades sound is somewhat different to and definitely more than this. They have a much jazzier, funky sound, which clearly shows their inspiration from the likes of Jamiraquai and to this listener a bit of the harder edged Carlos Santana guitar style.
Joe and Finn first met about three years ago at Craig Brook’s Rock School in Hove and under his guidance built their confidence; gaining valuable performing experience and starting to create their own material. Joe introduced Finn to Toby who he’d met and worked with at Shoreham All Stars and the three of them spent time experimenting with music styles before Jake arrived to complete the band. Jake had garnered his early experience through New Rock Generation where he learned his craft as a solo guitar playing, singer/song writer. He brought the lyrics and the vocals to the mix and Cascades as they are today were born.
The guys are all still studying their craft. As well as playing bass Finn is studying classical piano, and plays at a high level; while Toby is at Brighton Jazz School. I’m told that rhythmical inspiration comes from Joe and that most of the band’s great ideas start with Toby, then the rest of the band work with these ideas bringing their diverse influences and ideas to create finished songs. Toby’s jazz training is quite apparent in their finished product and this, along with diverse influences such as indie, funk, fusion and alternate rock, helps give Cascades their own unique and original sound that is definitely getting them noticed.
Cascades have reached the Oxjam Battle of the Bands finals for the last two years and were chosen as winners of the prize for the Best Original Band at the One Music Competition in Burgess Hill for 2015. So there is a real buzz surrounding this young band.
Audio Beach was the studio of choice when it came to Cascades doing some professional recording. They have already amassed quite a few tracks on their Soundcloud (www.soundcloud.com/cascadesbanduk). The most recent addition being a new single ‘Get Off My Back’, which I believe will be included on a soon to be released EP and is likely to be available through iTunes too.
Last year Cascades played various festivals; including Brighton Unsigned stages at The Alternate Escape and The Food & Drink Festival on Hove Lawns, St Ann’s Well Spring Festival and Shoreham Riverfest. They have also headlined Overhead Wires Rising Stars in October and played Bar 42 in November.
Cascades seem to be on the radar of several Brighton & Hove promoters so keep your eye out for them appearing on the line-ups of their regular nights. Wherever you see them I encourage you to check them out for yourselves some time soon.
Find them on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ukcascades or to book the band/get more information contact Karen karenglasby@hotmail.com
