Band Name: 3rd Wave
Genre: Instrumental Surf, Pop, Rock, Latin….
Geographical Area: Mid Atlantic (Richmond, VA)
Interview with Casey Cash by email on 11/26/09
1. What is the current line-up of
your band?
Drums - Bob Walden
Bass - Joe Mitchell
Rhythm Guitar - John Hanor
Lead Guitar - Casey Cash
2. How and when did you get started
with your band?
Bob and I have played together off and on for many years and had been trying to get a group together. We had some difficulty finding a motivated vocalist and so decided to try playing all instrumentals. I started learning songs, working up arrangements, and writing charts for rhythm guitar and bass. We found John through Lindy Fralin's pickup shop and soon afterwards brought in his friend Joe to play bass, so we've been together in this lineup since 2006. I think one of the key ingredients in the band is that we do have a definite arrangement and chart for most of the songs we do.
3. What bands or music have influenced you most?
As a band it would have to be the Ventures. They pioneered (or at least popularized) the concept of playing a wide variety of music using the 2 guitars + bass + drums format. I think we are similar in that we'll do music from lots of genres, basically anything we think the audience would like to hear that we like too. Also musicians like those in the "Wrecking Crew" who played on all those studio hits in the 60's and 70's. One of our goals is to try to have our live sound come as close to studio quality as possible. Locally, Lindy Fralin has always been a player that always inspired me with his tone and clean, understated style. Personally I've always enjoyed listening to Duane Allman, Mark Knofler on the early Dire Straits albums, and Barney Kessel.
4. What is the break down of cover
vs. original material in your live
shows and/or recordings?
Right now we have maybe a half dozen originals, and several more that are close to being complete. It depends on the audience we are playing for, but we'll usually try to work in one or two each set. Most of our audience generally want to hear something they are at least a little familiar with. There are a lot of great songs out there and it's tough to come up with something original that you feel good about playing in public. At some point I think we'll have an album's worth of originals though.
5. What recording have you done?
Only live recordings so far as a group. Several times we've set up a 4 track Korg before we start playing and recorded the entire evening's performance and had it turn out surprisingly well. I'll usually lay down a rhythm guitar and bass track to help when learning a new song.
6. What kind of gear do you use?
Not sure about Bob's drums, I think they are a nice wooden set from the 60's though. Joe uses a mid 70's Precision bass with a modern SWR amp and one or two Avatar 2 x 10" cabinets. John is kind of a guitar and amp trader so you never know what he'll be playing, but its often a Jazzmaster or Strat and some type of older Fender amp. I use a 1974 Strat and a '62 reissue Jazzmaster through a Fender blackface amp with onboard reverb. The amp will be one of three 1966 models, either a Super Reverb, Vibrolux Reverb, or Princeton Reverb, depending on the venue size. On about half of our songs the guitar goes straight into the amp, the rest are through a MagicStomp multi-effects pedal using the delay or occasionally a fuzz or other special effect. I also have 1965 Mustang that records great through the Princeton, its especially nice for rhythm tracks.
7. What is your band’s favorite
food/beverage?
Generally just water while we're
playing, maybe pizza or fresh
seafood for dinner.
Toughest part of the music business for me, and probably the part I enjoy the least. It does get easier as the band gets better known. We have demos from our live recordings and drop those off at likely venues. I think our best jobs have come from people who have heard us playing out at some function or bar though. We also sign up to play for several of the annual local races. The Ukrops 10k for instance has well over 20,000 runners and each one goes right by the band, that helps get your name out.
9. What are the difficulties you
find playing your kind of music in
your area?
Some venues don't want an all instrumental band (on the other hand, a few prefer it). There are a lot of really good bands around town relative to the number of places to play, I think that probably keeps the pay scale somewhat on the low side.
I think we have pretty good song selection that appeals to a wide spectrum of audiences with no "filler" songs. We also don't mind catering to the wishes of whoever hired us - if they want the volume kept down or whatever we'll try to comply.
11. What have you found to be the
single most effective promotional
tool you’ve used to further your
band’s musical path?
Ultimately I think its the reputation you earn and build on. If the band acts professional, is easy to work with, and plays well eventually word will get around. You never know who might be in the audience any time you play.
12. What’s the most interesting
performance experience you’ve had?
We got last minute call to play for a 4th of July party on the bay and it turned out that most of the people there were expecting and wanted a dance band, not 3 sets of our instrumental style music. We ended up having various members of the audience sit in as guest vocalists and doing a lot of songs like "Mustang Sally" that the guests could dance to. The crowd loved it and we had a great time, and when it was supposed to be over they gave us a big bonus to stay and play for another hour.
13. What do you hope to get out of
being a NESMA member?
Its always interesting and helpful to learn how other groups approach music and the music business. Also I enjoy hearing what other instrumental bands are playing.
14. Anything else?
I'd just like to say thanks on behalf of the band for featuring us, and for all the effort you put in to promoting surf/instrumental music.
