Concert Crap: Can you give a brief history of the band for anyone who may not know?
Zach Miller: We started Casual Friday about two and a half years ago when we released a 4 song demo at the end of 2014. It was originally a studio project that we ended up playing live with and doing some small tours. We played a ton of shows over the next year and a half and were also simultaneously writing Weekend Forever, we figured starting off with an LP was a better move than starting with an EP. Weekend Forever just came out last week and we’re super stoked on it and ready to tour in support of the album.
CC: Who are some of your musical and non-musical influences?
ZM: Speaking for myself (Zach) a lot of my musical influences in our band include acts like Pixies, Weezer, Oasis, and alternative punk acts like The Menzingers, Violent Soho, Pup, Jeff Rosenstock, Piebald, and so many others. I’m a huge fan of Pop Rock music so it’s really hard to remember all the acts that have had an influence on our songwriting style. In terms of non musical influences I love all things science related (especially space), and I love politics and political philosophy.
CC: You just released your debut album not that long ago, what was the writing process like for it?
ZM: The writing process for Weekend Forever was really slow and we took our time because I wanted everything to be just right. We wrote a ton of songs and some didn’t make the cut but on my work commutes I spent a lot of time listening to all of our iPhone voice memos trying to figure out an order and flow for the record. Once the whole record was written we recorded with our buddy Ryan Ellery and he really brought the album to life, he has a very non intrusive style of recording and really just enabled us to record our record in the way it actually sounds. We also didn’t try to sugar coat anything on the record by doing any sort of special production tricks which I really think it gave it a raw and organic feeling.
CC: Your playing Fest in October with a lot of really awesome bands like Hot Water Music and Against Me! How excited are you to have the chance to play with bands like them?
ZM: Playing Fest is huge, we’ve been there once before with another band but are unbelievably excited to be going back in support of our new LP. It’s such a massive party the whole time and there are so many nice people that we can’t wait. Getting the opportunity to play a festival with so many notable bands is truly a privilege, we can’t thank Tony and the entire fest crew enough for having us on the festival.
CC: Do you have any plans leading up to Fest?
ZM: We will be doing a three week US tour around the dates of The Fest, first hitting the Southern states, then going up the East Coast before heading back home and playing a string of dates through the Central states. We’re in the process of booking shows now and should be announcing the dates within a few weeks to a month!
CC: What albums or songs have had the biggest impacts on your lives?
ZM: The albums that have had the biggest impact on myself (Zach) have probably been The Blue Album by Weezer, Doolittle by Pixies, We Are The Only Friends That We Have by Piebald, Electric Education by The Motorcycle Industry, and Mutiny by Set Your Goals. I feel like all of these albums were pivotal to my development as a person and helped push me down a path that led me to where I am now. If it weren’t for those albums, Casual Friday literally wouldn’t even be a band.
All questions answered by Zach Miller.
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Post and interview by Madeline Cronin
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