Reflecting On Caskets

Caskets recently made their way back to Southern California, opening for Blessthefall on the Hollow Bodies 10 Year Anniversary Tour at The Observatory in Santa Ana.  Performing songs from their debut album Lost Souls as well as previewing a few selections from their upcoming Reflections endeavor on SharpTone Records, Caskets won over the house with their absolutely impassioned performance.  Prior to the tour, Highwire Daze caught up with lead vocalist Matt Flood to discuss the emergence of Reflections, working with Telle Smith from The Word Alive on one of their songs More Than Misery, their first tour in the States opening for Dayseeker and Holding Absence, impressions of the West Coast, and a whole lot more!  Read on…

What was the inspiration behind the title Reflections?
Basically, the first album was written more about what I’ve been through in my life and stuff like that. So, we wanted to make this album more about us as a group. We decided to call it Reflections – basically, each song reflects upon something that one of us has gone through before in life, like a situation or something like that. We thought that was a good name to base the, not the concept of the album, but the kind of personal story it goes through for all of us.

What did the producer, Dan Weller, contribute to the overall recording experience for Reflections?
Dan was awesome. We obviously worked with Dan on the first album, so we knew that we wanted to work with him for our second album. But this time around, we actually got to work in his studio. In the first album, because of the pandemic, we were stuck recording it, just about all of it in a shed, in Chris’s back garden. So yeah, it was a good experience to finally be able to sit down in that sort of environment with Dan, and we went through lyrics together. He basically told us what– out of the 17, 18 demos we took, it was all like a team effort. All the process of going through the album was done with Dan. Like, deciding which demos should have been the songs on the album, working out what was good and what was not good with demos, everything. I trust his ear more than my own.  It was a blessing to be able to work with him again, and he took it to a completely different, completely higher level than it would have been if we had not worked with him.

What was the inspiration behind the song “More Than Misery” and what was it like working with Telle from The Word Alive?
Working with Telle was a bit surreal at the time. We spoke for a while online and stuff like that, and I knew that he had not done a lot of screaming recently. And I thought it’d be really cool to get him to do some screaming, to surprise people, and it did.

More Than Misery reflects on not wanting to be alone, basically, in this type of world, but being captivated by someone that builds that world around you. So, you hold onto certain relationships and friendships that are toxic and stuff like that, but you feel like you can’t really see living your life without them. So yeah, it’s based around toxic environments and trying to find a route out to get out of that.

Have you had a chance or would you like to perform the song live with Telle sometime in the future?
No, we’ve actually not performed it live yet as it came out as we were about halfway through our last tour. So, we’ve not even performed it live yet at all. But we do go to America later on, like in a few months. Yeah, hopefully, we can get him out and we’d love to get him on stage to do it with us. I think it’ll happen eventually, fingers crossed.

Better Way Out, tell me a little about that song and the inspiration behind it.
So, Better Way Out, it’s actually not about anyone in the band, but it’s more about someone that worked on the album, outside of us five.  And it’s based upon something that they’ve gone through, as many other people have in their past. It’s basically trying to save someone from giving up, basically, on life. That’s the reason why we put it as the last track on the album because that whole track is about feeling the stuff that we’ve gone through in our past. There are quite simple lyrics in that song, but they are really impactful, in my opinion. We want people to go away with that and refresh their minds from listening to the album. But it is quite a heavy one. But yeah, I think it was a really good song to end the album on. And yeah, it’s a tearjerker for sure, isn’t it?

Matt Flood of Caskets at The Observatory – Photo by Jack Lue

How much pressure was it to write and prepare for a second album?
Yeah, it was very different, obviously, because this time around, we weren’t in a global pandemic or anything like that, but we did have a lot less time to get the job done, so to say. Because obviously, we did a lot more touring this time around. Yeah, we definitely felt the pinch and we felt the pressure a lot, and that’s why we went into the studio with quite a few less demos than we did with the first. But we were confident in what we’d written. I knew that with Dan spark and the people that worked on the album, we knew that it would be fine. And we’re really happy with the outcome.

You toured out here with Dayseeker and Holding Absence – I was actually at the L.A. show.  What were some of the highlights of that particular tour for you?
Just being able to just go to America, in the first place, is like a dream come true for any artist from England. So, being able to go over there and do that, in general, was amazing, do you know what I mean? And spending so much time there was an eye-opener to how different the perception of America– well, not America, but being in America, if you haven’t been there, do you know what I mean? Like, I couldn’t believe how long the drives were obviously compared to drives in England, they’re nothing compared to the ones in America. So, they were crazy. Yeah, the culture shock was big. But obviously, with every tour, the best part about it is being able to play shows. That’s the whole reason why we do it. I can give or take doing music videos and stuff like that.  I’m ore excited about being able to do shows all over the place – as many shows as we can. So, we spent like 6 weeks, I think, there playing shows nearly back-to-back, and it was incredible. We were very fortunate to have been able to go through that process. It was amazing, man. As well, we get to go back very soon and do it again with a band that I’ve listened to for years and years and years. We’re proper blessed.

What are you looking forward to the most about your return to the stage here with Blessthefall, including the Blue Ridge Rock Fest?
That’s one of the things I’m looking forward to most. I don’t think we’ve played a festival in America yet. So, yeah, we’re stoked for that, dude, and the lineup is insane. We get to play, and we also get to watch loads of really awesome bands as well. Also, we get like six days or so to recover because that’s at the end of the tour, that show, the very last show. But we get like six days to recover, so I’ll be very, very, very thankful for those six days.  (Laughs)

Matt Flood of Caskets at The Observatory – Photo by Jack Lue

Are you involved with any other bands or projects outside of Caskets?
No, dude, to be fair.  I write some stuff myself, but I’ve got no plans to try and get anything released or anything like that. I’m all for doing some features and stuff like that, but at the minute, I mainly focus on the band and trying to get to the next level, as to say.

When you were here in Los Angeles and in Orange County, what did you think of both cities in both dates?
Well, they’re both amazing and beautiful, like that’s what you visualize the gorgeous West Coast to be like when you’ve never been, do you know what I mean? Yeah, we were fortunate to spend a bit of time there and go to some restaurants and stuff like that. But it’s just crazy how different it is, man. Like, everyone’s so lovely and so genuine. I cannot get over how big American roads are compared to the ones in England. I know that’s weird, but I just couldn’t get over it.  Your roads are all like motorways!  It’s crazy, dude. It’s crazy. (Laughs)

And I guess you guys drive on the different side of the street that we do. I mean, is that true?
Yeah. But apparently, like, we’re the only ones in Europe that drive on this side of the road, the left side of the road. We’re definitely the weird ones out of everyone, I think.

And do you have any messages for Caskets fans here in the States who are reading this right now?
Yeah, man. I just want to thank everyone for the support we’ve been shown so far. I mean, America is actually the number one on our listeners’ radar on Spotify and stuff like that. So, the love we get from America is crazy. And the fact that we get to come back again and play the stage for you guys is going to be dope. So, I just want to thank everyone, and come to the show and let’s chill out.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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