Casey Jo & The Friday Night Dads believe in the raw, screwed-up heart of rock ’n roll. I stumbled upon them when they submitted their record “I Don’t Wanna Die 4 U” to us and described it as:
“Groovy, New Wave-y, guitar driven song about if Jesus was a telemarketer”
The band moves effortlessly between Americana, pop and garage-rock with an unparalleled confidence in the pure rock ’n roll form. There is no fame or fortune, no glitz or glam, that stuff doesn’t survive in these modern times. A true story survives, and we need it now more than ever. Casey Jo & The Friday Night Dads know how to tell it.
RIYL: Wilco, Courtney Barnett, Rilo Kiley, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Butch Walker
https://soundcloud.com/misscaseyjones/i-dont-wanna-die-4-u-1/
Casey says the story of the song is partly based on a good friend of her’s who had a rough time in his early-20s and dropped out of college, was feeling lost, but soon found himself working his way up the frustrating, bureaucratic ladder of the non-profit office world. She says,
“He often felt out of place in that environment because he never finished college, suffered from depression, and smoked a ton of weed.”
She says that his problems were fixated around a feeling of dissociation from his coworkers because they had it “all figured out,” and that she thinks, “a lot of people just starting careers feel this kind of isolation and question their sense of purpose. Nobody knows what they’re doing, they’re all just faking it and hope nobody else finds out.”
“What if Jesus was really just a bored, frustrated guy working for minimum wage at a customer service call center, who really just wants to get totally lit and find out things for himself? Nobody wants to sacrifice themselves trying to solve other peoples’ problems all day long.” – CASEY
We’ve got a thing for this girl. Super dope. We asked her to suggest some of her fave women in the industry and she said, “I could go on forever, I’ve met a lot of incredible women in the music and arts businesses here in Nashville, and I’ll admit it has even changed my own perceptions about ladies in the industry, for the better…
…There is still a lot of patriarchal fuckery happening out there, but there is also a lot of productivity and positivity happening that will soon smother it out of existence and hopefully make it a non-issue.”
Casey’s Girl Gang Picks
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Casey’s Girl Gang Picks
Introducing a few of Casey’s favorites:
Kristen Ford
Nashville, TN
“A powerhouse one-woman band (looping pedals and feet-percussion and such) who has excellent indie-pop songwriting skills and has carved herself a place in the lesbian and queer music communities. She is a tireless resource for DIY touring and promoting (she is working on a book about it now, I believe), and exudes positive energy in her actions and messages. She has been working hard and touring for over ten years and has a lot of wisdom. I interviewed her for Original Fuzz magazine here.”
Nellen Dryden
Nashville, TN
“Stylish and immensely compassionate cosmic-Americana singer-songwriter. She does this great song about growing up in a small rural town and how she felt isolated and separate from her peers after Trump was elected, but without being preachy or political at all. She has this gentle, relatable maturity in her writing which I love.”
MC Genesis Blu
Houston, TX
“This girl is truly a bad b. I saw her perform with Kristen, actually, they did a rap/indie rock duo thing. This girl can spit rhymes like nobody’s business and has very uplifting and powerful material. She is like a motivational speaker who can also cut your head off with her words. She also is sort of a throwback to the really really good 90s R&B and rap we grew up on.”
Heather Allen
Nashville, TN
“Experimental photographer. She soaks disposable cameras in various liquids, such as lake water, beer, soda, pretty much whatever she comes across, and she gets these crazy psychedelic effects depending on what kind of liquid she uses. She’s sort of a scientist-meets-photographer. (She also does “normal” for-hire photography.)”
See more of her work here: https://heatherlallen.com