The Casanovas - Backseat Rhythms

The Casanovas - Backseat Rhythms (Rubber Records)

By Ian McFarlane

For a band that has been around since 1999, Melbourne hard rockers The Casanovas have been extra busy in recent years. They followed their 2020 album, Reptilian Overlord, with an extensive European tour (which slotted in a performance on the legendary German TV rock show Rockpalast). Now with this fifth album in the can, it’s a sure bet we’re gonna see a lot more riffing rock action around town from these guys.

Drummer Brett ‘Wolfie’ Wolfenden has joined long-time guitarist Tommy Boyce and bassist Damo Campbell, giving the group an even more streamlined approach. Wolfie has been just as active over the years. I remember him from his days with underrated Southern rockers Dirty York as well as The Pictures, Thee Marshmallow Overcoat and Jim Keays. Still, at their heart The Casanovas maintain the elementary, street level, riff heavy, melodic brand of hard rock that has held them in good stead. In eras gone by critics would have considered this style passé, derivative… blah blah blah; yet in 2023 it still stands up for me.

Reference points and forebears are obvious in their sound: Cheap Trick, The Cult (just check out that cover), AC/DC, Motorhead, Legs Diamond, KISS, Ted Nugent. I can remember the first time I heard their 2003 single ‘Let it Ride’, I could have sworn it was the best Ted Nugent song that the Nuge never wrote. On a local level they touch the same vibe and stance as the Powder Monkeys, yet for my money the band they most resemble would be Kings of the Sun, another underrated combo.

Okay, so enough of the comparisons what about the songs? Everything from opener ‘The Devil in Me’ through ‘When You Want Something from Me’ and ‘Burning Up the Night’, on to ‘City Streets’, goes from full tilt rawk to mid-tempo rawk, as lean and righteous as a Melbourne Cup favourite. It’s only with the penultimate track, ‘Her Kiss’, that they bring the pace down to a sleazy slow burn; yet even then they can’t help themselves with a rave up finish. Last track ‘Kundalini Rising’ pulls out the Nugent ‘Stranglehold’ riff to maximum effect for a psych-infused epic with a spacey bridge where they get all “Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare Krishna” on our asses; oddball but hot and tasty supreme.

Photo courtesy of The Casanovas

Interview with drummer Brett ‘Wolfie’ Wolfenden

IMcF: Thanks for your time Wolfie. We’re here to talk about The Casanovas’ new album Backseat Rhythms, but first you’ve had a lenghty playing career, having played in The Pictures, Dirty York, Thee Marshmallow Overcoat, Jim Keays. How did you come to join the band? You obviously knew the guys?

BWW: Yeah, The Pictures started at about the same time as The Casanovas, in 1999. We were on the same circuit and then there was that “new rock” thing around ’03-’04, so we were both riding the crest of that wave. I ended up doing a whole bunch of things. Then Tommy Boyce and I both got asked to do a KISS tribute show. There was Eugene Hamilton aka Dave Bowers, Ashley Naylor. Tommy and I hadn’t seen each other for a very long time. I wasn’t aware of it but they’d already recorded Reptilian Overlord with Ricki Rae on drums and they’d wanted him in the band but he ended up declining. Tommy called me and said, “do you want to come down for a play and see how it goes?”. I was shocked actually, but I’ve always liked the band so it was a great fit, just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

You toured a lot with Dirty York previously and your style of playing seems to suit their rock style.

I don’t think there’s been any problems fitting in. In fact, I think it’s probably opened-up Tommy’s song writing since Reptilian Overlord because Jaws (aka Jordan Stanley) had left the band prior to that. He was a much different drummer; I think he preferred the more straight up punk rock thing. Whereas Tommy, by the time of Reptilian Overlord, felt he could branch out with his song writing, maybe swing things up a bit more, kinda KISS sounding. Stuff he couldn’t really do before. So I slotted in really well in that respect, for sure.

What can you tell me about recording Backseat Rhythms? Where did you record it?

That was done at Head Gap with Finn Keane, in Preston. He engineered the recording. We did it in one of those breaks in between COVID lockdowns. We got in and recorded the main parts then we were in lockdown again and had to wait again to get the vocals down. It’s been a lengthy process, probably about two years to get it out. But we pushed through and got it done. Then we were looking for a mixer.

Right, so who came up with the idea of approaching Ron Nevison? What a name! He’s worked on some phenomenal albums, a lot of my favourite rock albums, from The Who, Led Zep, Bad Company, UFO.

We threw in a couple of names on the wish list and Ron was one. That seemed the right path to go down. Since I’d joined we’ve gravitated more to that flashy rock thing, rather than the straight down the line punk rock thing. I mean more like the Dictators which was more The Casanovas jam before. I like that too but we’ve moved on. We just contacted Ron in New York and sent him a track, ‘The Devil in Me’, the first single, the AC/DC sounding one. We just reckoned it was a match made in heaven. He sent the mix back and we were thrilled. We asked him to do the whole album and he was up for it which was a great nod to us on his part.

Sonically it would have to have been very well recorded in the first place for him to even consider working his magic.

That’s right. We are a meat ’n’ potatoes rock band anyway so we’re able to get the sounds down. Then it was up to him to mix and balance everything to give it that energy. We really liked what he did.

I can’t help doing this, but I pick out reference points and forebears. To me there’s Motörhead in there as much as KISS and Ted Nugent.

Look, we’re all music enthusiasts / nerds. If you pay your dues early in the things you like and put that into practice musically, then hopefully as you get older you’re really on top of your game. That’s the good thing about music for me, you get better as you get older.

Did Tommy or Damo tell you what they wanted you to play? Or how to play a certain part?

I’m open-minded about everything when I do a project. It’s only when there’s something very specific, I might get told “okay, I need to hear this here”. In overall terms I had the license to do whatever I thought was best for the song. And if it is the right thing then they encourage me to keep doing it. See, Tommy demos everything very thoroughly and we did a lot of pre-production just to make sure we were happy with everything. We only changed minor things or added little bits. If the demos are really good, you only have to bring yourself to it.

One of my fave Aussie bands from the ’90s was Kings of the Sun, which I hear also in what The Casanovas are doing now. Do you remember them?

Yes indeed. Clifford Hoad was an incredible drummer.

They weren’t really appreciated here but they toured a lot overseas and were generally well received. But I was wondering how you feel about where The Casanovas are situated? You’re not really a charting band like say Airbourne or You Am I or even the Hard-Ons who are selling lots of albums. Do you aspire to being a Top 40 band or even a #1 charting band?

Ah, look, I think if you can keep playing live, play some cool gigs and put a few records out, that’s as good as it gets for us really. We are getting to play cool gigs; we’ve got some shows coming up with Rose Tattoo. We’ve done the You Am I supports which was great. Actually, I get asked sometimes by younger guys just starting out, they want to know what’s the best way to go? I just say to put in the hard yards, do the hard work, commit to rehearsals, it’s for the long haul. With us we’ve got all the heavy lifting behind us now. We can just have a blast, that ticks all the boxes for us.

You did an extensive European tour in 2022 and you did a full show for Rockpalast, on German TV (NOTE: check out the concert on the uchoob). How was that experience?

That was terrific. I did a Rockpalast show with Dirty York many years ago but the difference this time with The Casanovas, I said we need to schedule it mid-tour. I’d learned that the hard way because with Dirty York we did it right at the start of the tour. We were still a bit jet-lagged; we hadn’t played ourselves in yet. It was still great but with The Casanovas we were bang on. We were already 15 gigs in, and we were running hot. It was a lot of fun. The director, Peter, has been doing it since the late ’70s and he remembered me from the Dirty York show. He loves his Aussie bands.

That show is great, the production is always excellent. I’ve watched so many Rockpalast concerts: Rory Gallagher, Mother’s Finest, Patti Smith, The Kinks, Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to name but a few... but getting back to German audiences, they have long appreciated Australian bands, from Rose Tattoo and AC/DC to Cold Chisel. But what do you reckon they see in The Casanovas?

They just love that tough rock sound. And Airbourne are huge all over Europe. They’re friends of ours and we’re looking at what they’re doing, which is not much different sound wise, but they’re on another level with the touring. Generally, there is a higher level of appreciation when we tour there. It’s so much fun, I love it, you get well looked after. I could have stayed on for months touring there. Hopefully we’ll get back there next year. We just need to get on a couple of big festival bills. We’ve got a new label over there now called TV Eye and they’re also our booking agency. They’re going to do a hell of a lot more for us than the last label we had. They’ll be pushing the album which will hopefully lead to us getting on the festival circuit.

Back home you’ve still got the support of David Vodicka at Rubber Records, he’s been great.

Yeah, it’s a testament both to him and the band that it’s still such a good relationship. David’s been highly supportive and he’s happy with the record.

On the album you’ve got that mix of full tilt rock and mid-tempo songs but the weirdest one is ‘Kundalini Rising’ with that spacey bridge.

Yeah, Tommy’s a surfer from way back so he’s open to that whole mystical thing. I never really questioned it, what it’s about. I heard it as a Sabbathy kinda song, that big riff then the drop down which is also what Black Sabbath would do occasionally. I’m not sure of the in-depth sentiment of that song. Yeah, it’s just a cool song. We were going to call the album Kundalini Rising but now I’m glad we didn’t.

I do like that you threw in a curve ball song at the end, but I guess that calling it Backseat Rhythms..., says it all really. There’s a lot of guy stuff going on there.

Well, Tommy, yeah, haha... I think you can guess what I’m trying to say without saying it. He likes to bring the swagger and the sex, so that...

It is a party rock album. The Casanovas are a party rock band. You don’t want the deep and meaningful all the time.

It’s also about the craft of song writing. If the song’s well written and has enough interesting parts in it, it doesn’t have to be deep and meaningful, does it? The hooks are the thing.

Has the band ever gone Stateside? I’m wondering if you toured the US now you might get lost in the rush?

Look, they did give the States a good push in the early 2000s. They did a big showcase for Arista but nothing came of it. I’d love to tour the States with The Casanovas. Damo’s got a family so to tour the States you’d have to commit to the long haul which would be tricky. It’s a lot of work, that’s for sure.

Bands like INXS, the Angels, Rose Tattoo, silverchair, Parkway Drive etc just for example, they toured for years and years to get where they did. I think those kinds of touring days are over.

The hardest thing now is getting the industry infrastructure up and running. If we went over ourselves, I think we’d do okay on a minor level. But you gotta have that support base, all the wheels of the bus on the road at the same time. If you don’t do it properly, you’re just wasting everyone’s time and effort.

Okay, thanks Wolfie. And I’m still blown away that you got Ron Nevison on board.

My favourite album of all time is probably The Who’s Quadrophenia which was one of his first big engineering jobs. He recorded the entire album. So, his work adds a nice legitimacy to our record.

The Casanovas will be launching Backseat Rhythms on Friday 13 October at the Gershwin Room, Esplanade Hotel, St. Kilda.