Caskets: Reflecting On The Past, Looking To The Future

For any artist, having your debut full-length album be hugely successful is a dream come true. All the sweat, blood and tears put into it, the long days and nights of recording, and days of writers’ block have paid off. But what comes next? For some, it’s easy to fall into a trap of rinse and repeat when it comes to new music, you know it worked the first time so why not a second? It’s one thing to find a style and genre that works for you to go and excel at, but it’s another to just put out the same thing each time with little soul and substance. CASKETS refuse to fall into that trope.

Instead, they took their time to let their success soak in, strengthen their bond and reflect on everything they’ve achieved so far. For their latest album, aptly named Reflections, was an opportunity to have the whole band voice their opinions and tell their individual stories.

Speaking to lead vocalist, Matt Flood, and drummer, James Lazenby, via shaky signal as they were travelling across America supporting BLESSTHEFALL, they talked through the meaning behind the album where Flood expressed his desire in not wanting to be the only focus when it comes to their music. “In the first album it took a lot for me to open up, not just about the world, but even as a voice in the band it took a lot. I felt that we needed to go through those tours and go through that album campaign for the rest of the boys to be able to open up to each other, and to trust each other with secrets and the mad stuff that’s going on in our lives.”

“I’m not into those bands that write albums just about the singer’s problems and all that type of shit. I want our band to be a reflection upon all of us and I want it to be a journey that we’re all taking, not just myself.”

The time spent together during an album campaign and tours can make or break anyone. It can result in bad blood and fall outs, or it can result in lifelong friendships that can never break, luckily CASKETS fall into the latter category. Following lockdown, it was a huge jump to go from being in isolation to suddenly being around each other constantly, so they used the time wisely to grow closer bonds. It was integral when it came to touring their debut album according to Lazenby. “We’d obviously already toured previously, but it wasn’t for long periods of time, and obviously with COVID coming along that took touring out of the equation.”

“It all started properly when we recorded Lost Souls, and then, luckily, when all the restrictions were lifted, we managed to get to know each other more and more over time. Even though we’d been together as a band for five years it still feels very new for us, as for two years we couldn’t do anything. It helped us open up more vulnerable dialogue together.”

CASKETS were first formed in 2018 and their debut album, Lost Souls, was released in 2021 which saw them achieve international attention resulting in 100 million streams online. An impressive feat for any artist, yet it remains something to grow and learn from when it comes to CASKETS. The most integral thing was to make sure that the music gave a voice to each member, something that is at the core of Reflections according to Flood. “With the first album itself, it was mainly about me and the stuff that I’ve been through, my past and stuff like that. We wanted this album to be more of a reflection upon something that we’ve all taken from each of our pasts, but we collectively put it into this record. That’s the reason we called it Reflections because it somehow reflects on a certain time or a certain event that happened in one of our lives.”

“We wanted it to be more inclusive within the whole band, it took us a while to be able to open up more personally with each other. Going through the touring process, we lived together in America for nearly two months where we learnt more about each other: we learnt how to wind up and piss each other off, yet we also learnt how to chill each other out. We wanted to reflect upon that and to make sure that every member had their say in this album.”

Reflections is out now via SharpTone Records.

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