THE CASANOVAS: Got That Rhythm (2023)

By BRIAN GIFFIN

THE Casanovas’ last album Reptilian Overlord appeared almost exactly three years ago. Delays with the release and a change in personnel meant that the Melbourne three piece was already making shapes to move on to the next one, even before it finally came out.

Bassist and singer Damian Campbell readily admits that they were starting to get over it.

“There was a lot of fucking around with Reptilian Overlord, with the artwork and everything. It took a long time, so we were getting a bit sick of the songs by then. So Tommy starts writing, then Wolfy joined the band. For basically two years prior, all he was doing was learning the live songs so he could play live. He was itching to put his own stamp on the band, and what better way than with new songs? That’s probably why we went in so quickly after the last.”

Backseat Rhythms was recorded two years ago, meaning there was, once again, a huge gap between the recording and the release date. When COVID restrictions lifted and it was time to hit the road again, The Casanovas finally had the chance to tour Reptilian Overlords properly, so the new album had to actually take the back seat a while, apart from a couple of tracks to stop their set becoming too tedious for them.

“We’ve been playing ‘The Devil in Me’ for two years live! It’s good to do that because, 1. We want to play it when the album comes out and 2. You get to road test it for a long time. It’s been good. People know that song live now, but you can’t hear it anywhere [else]. We don’t usually play songs that haven’t been released in our live set. I think we’ve played ‘Burning Up the Night’ occasionally, as well. We just get tired of playing the same old stuff and we want to keep moving.”

Campbell candidly admits that means they’ll probably start getting to work on another record before too much longer: “This comes out on the 25th of August, and I’m sure by the end of the year we’ll start to jam on some new stuff for another album.”

Backseat Rhythms is another hard-rocking party record from The Casanovas, with a healthy swing and even more upbeat energy than the previous issue. Campbell puts a lot of that fresh vitality down to drummer Wolfie – Brett Wolfenden – who joined the band after Reptilian Overlords was recorded but before it was released.

“Bringing Wolfy into the band adds a whole new element, a new layer,” he suggests. “We had Jaws in the band for 15 years, and you start to get in the groove of his style and what we all like and don’t like. I guess that dictates things to an extent.”

“Back in the early days,” Campbell continues, unrepentantly, “people were always saying that the Casanovas were an AC/DC sounding band and that kind of stuck for a long time. We’ve broken out of that many times, and I think this is the further we’ve come from that. That’s not to say we don’t have any AC/DC influence anymore – it’s there in ‘Devil in Me’, for sure.”

Wolfie has given some fresh impetus and a different set of influences to the band that’s allowed Tommy Boyce to expand The Casanovas’ song writing.

“Wolfie’s got more of a classic 70s-style, Keith Moon swing and swagger about him. And that’s freed us up. Some of the stuff Tommy wanted to bring to the table before, I think he thought it might not work. But now it does. There’s some tracks on the album that bring some classic funk to rock as well, and that’s cool. Wolfie does that beautifully.”

COVID ruined their plan to get to Europe off the back of Reptilian Overlord in 2020, as it did for almost everyone. When they finally returned there in November of last year, The Casanovas found a somewhat different touring landscape.

“It was a lot harder to get shows booked, because everyone was waiting at the gates, and the gates opened and every single band wanted to go over to Europe. That was a bit different. It’s not a time of the year when all the big, big bands go over there to play festivals and that sort of thing, so it was perfect for a band like us, but everyone was there! But it was cool. We went to a few different places this time than when we went before.”

The Casanovas have also had some recent attention from South America, which could be another touring market if the conditions are right. Admittedly, Campbell hasn’t had a lot of feedback about what it’s like going into that part of the world with a band like The Casanovas, but he’d be keen to give it a shot.

“I’ve never heard from anyone at our level about how it went (in South America), but if someone’s willing to sponsor you over there and open the doors, you do it, don’t you?”

For now, the band will be concentrating on launching Backseat Rhythms locally, and in what is a fairly typical Casanovas trait now, the launch date is almost two months after the release date.

“We’re doing a launch for the album in October,” Campbell reveals. “It’s a little bit of a delay from the 25th of August when it actually comes out and that’s just because, Heaven forbid, we don’t want to get in the way of the footy finals. People will probably choose footy over us, so October 13 is the launch at the Espy. After that I suppose we’ll try to get around the country and do launches everywhere we can. Whatever format that looks like, we’ll do it. It’s been ages since we’ve been to Adelaide or Perth or Brissie.”

The last time the band came to Sydney was to say farewell to the sadly-missed Frankie’s.

“I think we were on the second last night. That was nuts. That was a really good venue, it’s a shame it’s gone.”

The venue for the album launch show, The Espy in St Kilda, “just escaped complete annihilation,” the singer points out. “The Gershwin (Room) is still there, inside what is a remarkably different Espy now.” He feels that there are some who are clinging to hope for older venues, like the embattled Tote, but there are “other places that are equally as good for the next generation. Melbourne’s done pretty well to not have the entire scene wiped out completely.”

Since COVID, there seems to have been a resurgence in the popularity of live rock music. Damian Campbell has noticed not only decent crowds returning but a pleasing number of newer bands keen to follow in their footsteps, and that can only be good thing for rock and roll.

“I don’t get out as much as I used to,” he says with a chuckle, “but when you do you start seeing a lot of younger rock and roll bands that are getting out there, that listened to us when they were too young to get into a pub, trying to emulate that type of rock and roll. It’s cool in a sense that you realise there’s some new blood coming through, but at the same time you realise you’re an old bastard now! It’s generational. It’s the same thing as when we used to go and see Bored! and Powder Monkeys, and think, ‘Why can’t we be that band?’ It’s just rolling around again.”