I. CASUAL WAY
is a Lyon ( France )
based group formed by two brothers, Tim and Max, who share a passion for music.
Their influences range from Presley to the Dandy Warhols, via The Beatles, J.J. Cale, Cat Stevens, David Bowie and many others.
Tim Day is the lead singer and producer. Fan of electro-rock ( MGMT, Franz Ferdinand, Midnight Juggernauts, ... ).
Max is the lead guitarist and a lover of blues rock and the vintage sound ( From Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton, and of course, Jimi Hendrix ! )
From this mix of tastes was born the sound of Casual Way.
II. LEAVING FOR THE USA
Rehearsals start in their hometown of Besançon (FR) in 2004.
In 2008 – the big departure ! They left to try their chances in the USA, playing many dates across the country on a long journey that took them from Canada to Mexico.
For them it is the chance to discover legendary places, such as New Orleans, where they met Josh – their first percussionist.
In Montreal they recorded their first acoustic album with Laurent Magne, sound engineer and drummer for the Montreal group “Whywhynot”.
Audiences were much more responsive and enthusiastic than in France, where music is still a bit undervalued.
III. NICE
On their return to France in 2009, the group moved to Nice’s surrounding mountains for 6 months of intensive recording.
It’s at this time that they covered “ Travelin’ Light ” by J.J. Cale and Tim Day composes 6 songs from the EP “ The City Songs ” which came out in 2012.
IV. LYON
In 2009 Max moved to Lyon and was joined by Tim in 2010.
In 2011, they recruited Mathieu Desvignes, a professional drummer, for some concerts.
June 2011, the duo released the EP “Casual Way”.
5th December 2012 saw the release of their new EP “The City Songs”.
In 2012 they started to gain recognition for the quality of their work by world renowned professionals, they are praised by international websites and receive positive feedback from social networking sites.
Not long after, on the 13th January 2013, the group released an acoustic cover of David Bowie’s new single “ Where Are We Now? “ , which had been released several days previously to the surprise of everyone, marking Bowie’s return to the forefront of the music scene.
On the 26th February, Casual Way decided to try and be the first to release an online cover of Bowie’s second single, “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”.
The date was set. On the morning of the 26th(5am GMT, 6am French time), just after the song was released on ITunes, Tim DAY started to learn the lyrics while Max, the guitarist, worked out the chords by ear.
At around 9am, first rehearsal and by the middle of the morning they started to record.
Tim Day produced it. He started by recording the bass line and the drums before moving on to the acoustic guitar played by Max. Lead and backing vocals were next to be recorded before finishing with the electric guitar.
At around 8pm, they started on the music video after quickly making a storyboard.
At 10 pm, the internet’s first multi-track cover of “ The Stars (Are Out Tonight) “ is on youtube.
On the 21st June 2013 in Franche-Comté, Casual Way played their first festival, organised for France’s “fête de la musique”, an annual nationwide day of music.
The group also took part in their first radioshowcase, followed by an interview broadcast live on a local radio channel (France Bleu Besançon).
On the 7th February 2014, ”Everyone”, Casual Way’s new EP, unashamedly Pop Rock, marked a fresh start for the band.
After a first EP, influenced by Electro Rock, Pop k & Blues (”The City Songs"), this new opus of original songs saw the materialisation of the Pop Rock direction taken in January 2013 with the two Bowie covers.
... To Be Continued ...