Cast frontman John Power heads to Courier Country next week having just completed work on what he’s calling “our best album in 25 years”.
The Scouse songsmith first hit the big time with jangle pop legends The La’s, who scored a hit with the classic There She Goes in 1990, before he walked out the following year after just one album.
Power quickly re-emerged with his band Cast, who went on to massive success later in the decade as part of the Britpop scene – eventually splitting in 2001.
The band’s third album since reforming in 2010 is due to land early in 2024 and the frontman says he can relax now that it’s been mixed and is ready to go.
“Sometimes I can get too involved,” he explains.
“Now I’m just sitting back and letting other people get on with it – something tells me to let this go where it’s going. I know for a fact I couldn’t have written a better album than the one we’ve got.
“The vibe is amazing. It’s like a psychedelic pop rock’n’roll record and it’s one I truly wanted to make.
“Kicking Up The Dust, for instance, the record Cast made before this, has got a lot of good songs, but this is like a real album where they’re all related. It feels like a debut.
“Fans of the band – and of other bands – are going to absolutely love it. That’s the most important thing really, and anything else I just let it go where it’s got to go.
“We’ve recorded our best record, definitely, in 25 years.”
Power picked up the bass for first time since There She Goes
Power, 56, reveals he told bandmates Skin Tyson and Keith O’Neill that it could be their last-ever recording together.
“You’ve got to look at it like that,” he says.
“I’m playing bass on it and the last record I played bass on was the La’s record. I wanted to do it – I had a feeling.
“So it’s got a certain uniqueness and Alan McGhee our manager, Youth the producer, and the record company, they all think it’s something very special.”
The guitarist admits he’s undecided about playing some new songs on his upcoming solo acoustic tour, which stops in Dunfermline and Dundee.
“I’m not sure,” he declares.
“Maybe I should wait until everybody’s heard the record before I yodel it with an acoustic guitar. The sound, the production, the band’s playing and the actual songs – everything just feels so good about it.
“There are other songs that I’ve been writing in the same period of time which I didn’t put on the record – not because they’re not as good, they just weren’t of the same ilk.
“I’ve got a couple that I’ve never played before that I’ve just rediscovered off a solo record that sound like great folk songs, and I’ll probably play a couple of La’s songs, which I’d never have done in the past.
“Now I feel that that is part of my journey and I feel comfortable with it and I’m not trying to parody it or say this or that. I’m just trying to say I had an amazing event where I met Lee (Mavers).
“The La’s were a massive part of me, and of people’s lives.”
Stripped-back sound has quiet Power
He says he sees the tour as a chance to revisit “a sort of grassroots troubadour vibe” in more intimate settings than Cast usually play.
“But it still has its moments where it gets a bit rowdy when you play the right song,” Power adds.
“It also gives you the opportunity to play the songs how they were originally written. There’s a lot of folk within them because they’re acoustic.
“You strip ’em bare and end up fingerpicking and doing certain strums that you wouldn’t do with the band. There’s a bit more melancholy – it’s not a lonesome thing, but you’re more on your own.
“When you’re younger you want to shout loud and you want to get attention to the songs, but now really all I’ve got to do is put my sail up and the song will just breeze into shore.
“The more mature you get in life you just start to recognise something, and try to pass that on in the time that you have and the songs that you sing.”
John Power’s gig at PJ Molloys, Dunfermline, on October 7 is sold out. Tickets for Church in Dundee (October 8) are at Ticketweb.