This World F**king Sucks, but Cassyette surely doesn’t. The nu-gen artist finally has a physical body of work to her name, and we headed to Rough Trade to hear some snippets live and up-close...
Contrary to her album-titled belief, this world does not f**king suck, as we’ve literally and figuratively reached the end of the rainbow here in Hockley. We’re in luck! Not only is Rough Trade now stocking her independently released, long-awaited debut, Cassyette is colouring her own eclecticism upon the cobbles by celebrating with a good ol’ fashioned in-store show.
“This is actually mental!” The confined acoustics of the loft space hones our cheers into a choral heckling more suitable for an arena level show. Loud is an understatement for the noise we make when she steps on stage. No, her microphone isn’t switched off. Yes, we are that tightly packed in that you’re eating the hair of the person in front of you, which may cause problems if you’re intending to honour the Q&A she’s encouraging.
“I can’t believe how many of you there are! This means everything thank you!”
Opening with Four Leaf Clover further solidifies our fortune tonight. Its subdued fuzz and grunge-fuelled lyricism compliments the intense ambience of the song setting.
[Photo: Luke Nugent]
Cassy remains seated throughout the set, yet her vocals have her careening around the space with an arresting lilt that makes you believe she’s singing right in your ear. While the bluesy desperation of Dear Sister feels haunting, Cassy admits that she usually cries whilst playing it. Her vocals soar desperately against the staccato-strumming vacuum, audibly choking up as the song crescendos.
An acoustic set for such a spine-tingling, scream-queen as herself should be too far-fetched, yet her ambivalence towards convention makes perfect sense. Cassyette has continuously played with an array of disparate sounds and genres; of course her work translates beautifully within this intimate affair. “This is not the usual chaos of a rock show, but you can do a circle pit if you’d like!”
[Photo: Hamish Kay]
Between each track, Cassy takes questions from some very dedicated fans. The connection between artist and audience is tangible, earnestly unfiltered with the truth.
From an anecdotal tour of her tattoos – she’s quite happy writing down the artists’ social media handles for the appreciative fans – to the joking admission that her ‘new meds’ were causing her emotional instability, it’s unbelievably natural.
When the audience begins requesting songs such as BOOM with her guitarist's peer pressure, Tyler Ryder begins strumming the melody of various tracks from the new album to make Cassyette pick a surprise song. The crisis is tentatively resolved with recent fan favourite Ipecac.
Call and response is relegated to Over It, much to Cassy’s delight when half of the crowd provide unprompted backing vocals. Emphasising the quality of her own vocals because they’re bitingly raw and raspy in this acoustic space, a fan is curious how she achieves it.
“Bambie says it’s because I’m a smoker. It probably helps! My vocal coach would kill me if she heard me say that.”
The mention of good friend Bambie Thug urges another fan to ask when the collaboration will be:
“We live with Bambie so it should have happened by now! We’ve written on each other's songs; I don’t know why we haven’t done that yet?
“Blame The Olympics. We’ve been obsessed with watching judo, Bambie and I have been practising in our living room tackling Tyler. Anyone want to take him on? Of course he didn’t win!”
Ryder’s incessant riffing subsequently increases the setlist with another surprise song. Looks like he wins this battle. Dear Goth has been on rotation every live show; hearing it tonight truly redefined the term ‘intimate gig’. The ease with which she handled the emotion brings reputation to her repertoire already and has Rough Trade adlibbing and harmonising like muscle memory.
Cassyette closes the show with the anthemic Friends In Low Places. Melancholic in its pop punk charm, the hazy hooks have got us all swaying our arms in solidarity.
It’s encouraging to recognise the motif of togetherness that is so fond within the alternative scene. The juxtaposition of humility and heavy music that Cassyette herself is an advocate for:
“Thank you for turning up, for streaming and buying the album. Thank you for supporting and investing in me; in Kid Kapichi; in Nova Twins; in Wargasm. If we can get an independent alternative artist on the charts, maybe we are limitless. This world f**king sucks, but it sucks a little less because of you rockers!”
Cassyette performed at Rough Trade Nottingham on 27th August 2024.
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