::Casey Spooner goes solo

Cassey Spooner, better known for his work within the acclaimed electroclash duo FischerSpooner, releases Adult Contemporary, his debut solo album.

In his latest production, Casey takes the makeup and glitter off and adopts a crooner shape, “This is my new image, no hair, no makeup, just me, face, classic”. His fresh new image reflects itself in Adult Contemporary’s sound, resulting in a rock pop, surf, garage album, with only a few hints of his electronic background.

This new Casey Spooner has caught Sissors Sister’s attention, not only because Jake Shears duets with him in Spanish Teenager (Adult Contemporary’s first single), but because they have invited him to be the opening act through out their next tour.

After the release of his brand new album, Casey Spooner talked with WFK to help us discover what he describes as “the most emotional work I may have ever made.”

WFK : Why did you decide to release “Adult Contemporary” as a solo album?
Casey Spoonner: I started working along with Jeff Saltzman (FischerSpooner producer) and slowly it became my own work. I was working in a very unselfconscious manner, it was refreshing to write in an unencumbered way and to work quickly, but my approach for prepping for a FISCHERSPOONER album is very architectural and formal.  It takes a long time to construct the entire concept that is sonic and visual.  I never decided to change the direction, it just happened.  In the beginning I was considering releasing it under a different name but then I kind of tested it with different people but they just didn’t sponsor that idea they really wanted just to call it my own name.

How does it feel to release your first solo album?
It feels kind of the same as releasing any other record. Every record has its character and its own life. Because of the way it was made it feels more naked, it is not about creating a new style, it was drawn so quickly that it is very direct it was what I was saying, what I was thinking, there wasn’t a lot of taking parts, rewriting, rebuilding,  it was very direct album.

What are the differences between Adult Contemporary sound and the sound of your previous work?
All the previous albums were produced by Warren Fischer so they were a lot about Warren style and his approach to music, also it was always about trying to make something that was really pop, avant-garde, embracing electronic music, pushing the relationship between electro and pop, but it feels that that kind of idea it’s been done in a way that ten years later it feels fresh to do something that it was a complete departure. I just wanted to make something that it’s more classic, just to make it with very simple instrumentation and classic sounds like surf, garage, punk, basically more lounge.

How and where did you compose your songs? Do you play any instrument while you are composing?
I don’t play any instrument, usually I’m working with other musicians and they give me tracks and then I take that track and start working over it and then we go back and forth and we work in that way. My main contribution is lyrics and vocal and then, obviously, I’m a performer so my main part is about creating a show, and an image.

… If you don’t play any instruments how does the melody of the lyrics that you write come into your mind?
I will listen to tons of different tracks and I will say “This track feels like this song”, and then I will start working over that track, so I work off of tracks and a lot of times my best ideas happen the first time I hear a track, so some of the songs in the album were literally done in three days.

The way that I work as a performer with the producers is like the way that the actor works with the director, so it’s like they just have to throw material at me and then I react.

Besides your musical career, you also work in theatre and fashion – How does fashion and theatre reflect in your music?
It’s the way that the music is presented through photography, through film, through performance, so when I’m writing I get really clear visual ideas about the way that I want to present something. I think really visually, so when I’m creating the music video, or the photography I try to translate everything I see on the song.

How do you think this solo project will affect your work with Fischer Spooner?
I don’t know, we will see when we start working on the next Fischer Spooner thing. I think that it has been good for Warren (Fischer) to hear my writing and my voice handled in a new way and with a different kind of character so I think that that may influence in how we will work on stuff on the future. But also now, after finishing my solo record I feel that with FischerSpooner  I don’t need to do what I did on this record because I don’t need to write this super personal, autobiographical songs, I feel that now I can go back to FischerSpooner and explore a totally new territory.

What are your plans for the future?
I don’t know yet, I have been considering doing lots of different things, I’m super busy doing several projects right now, I’m working on producing a film, I have been working in all the remixes and the music videos and focusing in all those aspects. I do have a performance idea, a tour version of the show opening for the Scissor Sisters in September.

Are you familiar with Miami music scene? Is there any band, or DJ that from Miami that you admire?
I love Liberty City, Funky Green Dogs and all that  kind of Miami’s 90′s sound that it is coming back.

Watch Spanish Teenager video here::

For more information about Casey Spooner visit::
www.caseyspooner.com
www.facebook.com/caseyspooner
www.twitter.com/caseyspooner