After spending the past couple of days in the studio, Jordan Stanley drummer of The Casanovas sounds comfortable and casual. We discuss the preparations for the new album and he shares, “We’re trying to demo some new material, we’ve been doing a bit of rehearsing and stuff, trying to get some new songs down.

“Nothing’s finalised, we’ve got a fair idea. We’re really happy with some songs and working on some other ones, so that’s the point of doing the demo. It’s pretty hard to be objective when you’re just bashing it out really loud in the rehearsal room, it’s good to have them down and listen back to them and be a bit more critical about them. Possible rearrangements might happen, we might scrap some songs and other songs might stay exactly the same. It’s just part of the working process and deciding the final cut for the record.”

Why have you made the decision to record in America?

“We wanted to try something new and the sounds that come out of the American studios, they tend to get a lot bigger of a sound, sort of a bit more space to the music. We’ve recorded at a bunch of places here and it’s just, why not try something new? If the offer’s there, if the chance is there, why not take it? It should be a good experience so we’re all looking forward to it.”

Newcastle is the first stop for the up and coming tour, then it’s off to the UK, Europe, Japan, Brazil and New Zealand before stopping in July to record in the States. Just recently back from a tour of Japan, the fan base over there is rapidly on the increase. “In September last year we did a tour with The Datsuns. All the shows were sold out, the crowds were just absolutely crazy, it was so much fun. Like really, really good fun, they treated us really well and the crowds seemed to love it. It was fantastic, just getting the bullet train from city to city. They just looked after us fantastically. Every second of the day was taken up and organised. It was great, we had people at the hotel waiting for us, god knows how they knew where we were staying but yeah, it was really, really fun.”

Keeping the Australian Rock scene alive and kicking isn’t the easiest job in the nation and it certainly isn’t a job that can be fulfilled by just one band. On this tour The Casanovas will be sharing stages with fellow rockers 67-Special and Canon, as for who Jordon recognizes as the bands contemporaries, he says that “There’s a lot of good dirty Rock n’ Roll out there at the moment, like The Black List are a great band and Cock Fight Shoot Out are another great band.”

Did you say Cock Fight Shoot Out? What an awesome band name!

“I know, I know, they’re fantastic great guys and they’re really heavy with their music and stuff. And then there’s bands like The Spazzy’s who are just one of the hardest working bands I’ve ever come to know. They’re just fantastic, they’re in it for the fun of it and nothing else and that’s why I think it comes across when they play. It’s going really good for them.”

The Casanovas latest single Heartbeat is another prime example of what these guys are capable of. As for working under pressure, Jordon knows exactly what that’s like. At the beginning of last year when the original line up walked into the studio to record their debut album, original drummer Patrick Boyce walked out. Although this left no time for instant replacement Stanley to prepare for the recording, he charged in and proved himself the right man for the job, “I was in the band for about two days before doing my half of that record so it would have been good to have had a bit more time to settle in, but other than that it’s been pretty good. It wasn’t like I was a complete stranger to the group because I had sort of been mates with them for while, and knew their songs and stuff. To go straight in and then straight into the studio and record the album was a bit of a hard task.”

What’s the most important thing you’ve learnt in the past year since you’ve been in the music business?

“That’s a hard question, take everything with a grain of salt and just make sure that you’re in it for the right reasons otherwise it becomes a chore. It’s got to be fun, that’s the fore most, otherwise it would really be like a job and I try not to look at it that way. I try and have as much fun as I can, try not to take yourself to seriously and just have a good time.”

Back to INTERVIEWS