Riding Shotgun With Neal Casal
Go on, call him a troubadour ... Neal Casal's music is comfortably familiar. His are well-worn songs that feel like coming home (cliched, and yet so true). Long a favorite of formidable UK pubs like Mojo, Casal is currently touring his eighth album. Read on to see Neal's thoughts on Madrid (good crowds!), Beachwood Sparks (good tour mates!), and "Something" (good Beatles' song!). If you're going to see Ryan Adams & the Cardinals at Sonar this Friday, make sure to get there early, and catch Neal and his earnest, soulful sound. You'll be glad you did.
Touring is: really simple or completely impossible.
My first gig was: Copeland Middle School talent show, May 12th 1983.
My favorite venue to play is: the Fillmore, San Francisco.
Hygiene on a tour is: very important darling.
My favorite thing about touring is: taking photographs.
And the least favorite: complimentary breakfast at the hotel/waking up too late and missing the complimentary breakfast at the hotel.
City with the best audiences: Madrid.
The tour bus/van smells like: a beautiful garden of Eden or hard boiled Hell, depending on the band.
Laundry is: a) washed regularly, b) washed irregularly, c) we go shopping a lot: We have bonfires a lot.
What do you like to listen to while on tour? The answering machine on my home phone.
Your new favorite watering hole after being on tour? And/or the best Place to get greasy, hangover-curing food? Bonnie's on 5th Ave, Brooklyn.
Most amusing memory from your current or most recent tour? Van broke down in the middle of the night on a deserted road in northern Sweden in November, and I ran across the highway and hitched a ride from a truck driver going in the opposite direction. Only problem was he spoke absolutely no English so there I was heading down the highway watching my van, my band, and my entire life disappear in the rearview freezing Swedish night...I never saw any of them again. I wonder how they're doing now. Probably all married to beautiful Swedish girls and playing in the Shout Out Louds. See, it all works out somehow, doesn't it?
Favorite tour activity (other than the gigs themselves): surfing.
Are there any bands you've played with that you'd like to tour with again? Beachwood sparks.
Or bands that you have yet to tour with that you'd like to? The Anomoanon.
Please name the city you wouldn't ever play in again? Or, if not a particular city, which venue makes your skin crawl? Indianapolis.
Which is more highly anticipated for you: the first show of a tour, or the last show? The first, so many nerves.
Apart from the obvious cd, what's the merch item of yours you think People should shell out for? beer bottle openers.
Have you been to the top of the Washington Monument? Nah, what is that? Where is it? Who is Washington?
Which of the eight Neal Casal solo albums should a beginner pick up first? No Wish to Reminisce.
You've had much critical acclaim in the UK. It seems that a great deal Of talented artists that are ignored here in the States are held in higher regard across the pond. What do you make of it? I've been trying to come up with an answer to this for 10 years and I can't come up with any kind of anything. You should ask a sociologist about this one, I'm just a guitar player, and a dumb one at that.
Sticking with that, you were recently on a Mojo magazine panel about the 101 greatest Beatles songs. How did that come about, and what is your personal favorite Beatles song? I don't remember who thought of me or why, but it was good of them to ask. I've been in their pages for a long time now so they probably figured it would be ok to include me since I have a new record out. My fave Beatles song is "something"
Do covers (Beatles or otherwise) make their way into your live sets? I don't cover Beatles songs live, but sometimes I'll sing a Gene Clark song or two, or something off the new Sonic Youth record. Or maybe a Ron Eliot song, or Michael Hurley, or Animal Collective.
What would you like people to be saying about you in 50 years? He wrote some good songs.
Please recite a line of poetry: I am here tiny under sun rising in vast white sky, staring thru skeleton new buildings, with pen in hand awake..
Allen Ginsberg - from "We rise on sun beams and fall in the night"
And finally, it's BigYawn's round. What's your poison? Belvedere Gimlet, rocks.
For further reference, please see www.nealcasal.com, or www.myspace.com/nealcasal.
picture by Jo Mildenhall