Rob Ellis is the lead singer, guitarist and co-producer of Cassia. A band that have managed to weave a glistening veil of tropical and sun-kissed sound for more than a decade.
The Macclesfield trio are set to release their fourth studio album, Lemon Gelato on Friday (September 4), a project which has been written, produced and mixed entirely by the band. Cassia took the leap of faith and became independent a few years ago, a state of being which appears to fuel this well oiled machine of joy.
Rob explained how this transition came about: “We were (signed) twice and then we just thought, you know what, this is not really for us, we do loads ourselves, it’s always been very DIY. There’s obviously great things about labels but… if we want to go ahead and do something we can go and do it without the approval of other people.”
”So it actually kind of makes it easier for us to not have loads of people breathing down our necks or (doing) whatever they feel like they need to do. It doesn’t skew your judgment though, because you’re free to just do whatever it is you think you should do.”
Complete freedom seems to be the key to the group’s continued success as well as their hands-on involvement with the entire process. Rob and Jake take on the monstrous job of recording, producing and mixing while Jake is predominantly responsible for the visual element of the band.
This fluid and productive self-functioning eco-system extends outwards from the three guys to a network of trusted and close friends that are able to help execute the long, rigorous list of roles a band needs to succeed.
Lemon Gelato signals the band’s second album since going independent; however, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. Rob said: “There’s loads that we still want to achieve but I feel pretty steady now which I think is really nice, there were definitely times where I was like, holy shit, this is tricky. It’s hard! Music’s a hard thing to crack because obviously everyone wants to do it because it’s enjoyable.”
Musicians are already fighting an uphill battle but are repeatedly finding themselves trying to survive as merch cuts, recording fees and touring costs continually place obstacles in front of artists. Rob’s take on the matter was that “there is a problem with the way the whole thing is distributed, the labels have monopoly over a lot of the income and it all flows through their bank accounts but without the musicians and the music, there’s nothing to keep those guys alive”.
Is the solution to this problem going independent? It allows Cassia to avoid this tricky spiderweb that often pushes money away from the artist rather than allowing them to continue making music.
Rob described how being independent benefits them financially: “Everything you put out, you earn from, so you earn more money and it’s pretty good- there’s not that whole process of, ‘can we have ‘x’ amount so we can do this?’ You just go, ‘this is how much we’ve got, we can afford this with it and we can make the decisions on our own’ and that freedom is worth loads, it’s a nice freedom to have.”
Being independent has allowed the band to jump over the music industry’s sneaky money black holes but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a number of challenges still to overcome.
Rob said: “It’s hard for bands, groups of people, there’s a threshold from where you actually start making money. 40,000 monthly listeners (for instance), that’s a successful band, that’s like doing really well and yet it’s still weirdly not recognised by the returns which is crazy.”
Unfortunately, the threshold that must be met for bands to be able to support themselves isn’t the only barrier threatening musicians right now: there is another threat that Rob and the rest of the world are concerned about.
“What I am scared of is conglomerate financial bros being like, ‘lets go and fuck over musicians and make a load of AI music and make loads of money off of it’ and no one will know they’ve done it.”
“That’s the thing that scares me- that these big AI models are being trained off peoples music and you know people that have slaved away making this music, its literally training these models and that to me feels like stealing essentially and I don’t think it’s fair.”
The modern music industry is a minefield. Cassia have found their own way through the jungle; standing alone isn’t easy, but they have absolutely nailed it. Every song, every album from start to finish radiates a certain kind of energy; a kind of energy that can be used to get through hard times and that has clearly helped them get where they are. What is that energy, you ask? A combination of positivity, infinite optimism and hard work.
