Pool Of Sound - Cast

Cast

'Cast' were formed in Liverpool in 1992 when Allerton born singer/songwriter John Power ( ex 'The La's' ) on vocals and guitar and Peter Wilkinson ( ex 'Shack' ) on backing vocals and bass guitar were eventually joined by Liam 'Skin' Tyson on guitar and Keith O'Neill on drums in 1993. The name 'Cast' was taken from the final word on 'The La's' eponymous album on which the song 'Looking Glass' ends with the repeated line, "The change is cast".
After five years playing bass in 'The La’s', 'Cast' would thrust John Power into the limelight as a singer, songwriter and guitarist.

John says, "I was the bass player in 'The La's' but I was starting to sing, I was finding my voice and I wrote some of the early songs probably to have been sung in 'The La's' at some stage. I wasn’t leaving 'The La's' until I went, 'I need to do something with these songs'. I had a handful of songs which were 'All Change'. I had something in my pocket that I was convinced were great tunes. That doesn’t mean I came out of the La’s and hit the road running. It wasn’t like that. I didn't have the right band or dynamics for a while. It took over a year of knocking it around and fine-tuning songs and writing other songs like 'Tell it Like It Is', 'Promised Land', 'Reflections', 'Mankind', and 'History'. They were all written post-La's, but I had the nucleus of the album 'All Change', and I got stuck into it. The rest of the band were great players. Pete was an accomplished bass player, 'Skin' was an accomplished guitarist, and Keith was a dynamic drummer."

After signing to Polydor Records they released their debut single 'Finetime' in July 1995, which went straight in the charts at No. 17 and was followed by the single 'Alright' which reached No.13. After this they brought out their debut album 'All Change' in 1995 which became the biggest selling album for their label. Their subsequent album was, 'Mother Nature Calls' in 1997, with the album title supposed to be tongue in cheek, because 'Mother Nature' is always calling because of man's mortality, but also Power said because he was on the toilet at the time he came up with the name. Together with the follow up album 'Majic Hour' in 1999, both gained them further commercial success but a disappointing reaction to their fourth album 'Beetroot' in 2001 led to the band splitting up.

 John revealed that, "when 'Cast' split, it was the same as when 'The La's' fell apart. You pretend everything is okay, but it's not. I was really down, really depressed." He went his own way for a while releasing 3 solo albums and toured as the 'John Power Band', even playing a series of gigs with newly re-formed 'The La's' before he undertook a "Cast Acoustic Show" tour in June 2010, where he played a set of 'Cast' songs along with new tracks written over the past year for a potential new 'Cast' album.

The band re-formed in November 2010 and released their fifth album 'Troubled Times' in November 2011. Bassist Peter Wilkinson, after leaving their 2014 tour for personal reasons, confirmed his amicable departure from the band in March 2015. He was replaced on that tour in the band by John Power's frequent collaborator Jay Lewis, ( ex 'The La's'), who would also feature on their sixth album 'Kicking Up The Dust', which was released on 21 April 2017.
Noel Gallagher of 'Oasis' was even moved to call watching them live, 'a religious experience.'
John Power says, "Your life is part of you, you can turn your back on things but it's still a part of your make-up and who you are. 'The La’s' are still within me, it’s just that 'Cast' is very much within me too." 

John is naturally anxious about the future for musicians and says, "We have witnessed the slow erosion of people's liberties during this pandemic, it has devastated bands. I never got into the whole live streaming thing, I was so busy writing and even baking that I didn’t really have time and it's just not the same, is it?" Feeling like he'd been sent into early retirement by the pandemic, these last few months have seen John finalising both a 'Cast' album and a solo record. He feels with this new album that he's got a direction and focus and, if he does it right, he'll never make another record again as the album goes back to where they started.
Their current line-up consists of John Power on guitar & vocals, Liam 'Skin' Tyson on lead guitar, Jay Lewis on bass guitar and Keith O'Neill on Drums.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2020/01/pool-of-sound-space.html