Mother Nature Calls

Product Information

I said to my mate, "That's me from the other night," and I could see from his face that he was startled. He was a mate of mine who knew his way around a record collection, and I appreciated his musical ear. Every time you are writing a song, especially at that age and that period in your life you are looking for little nuances and things that people say or do. We had already gigged the songs for a year they were all arranged right. None of the songs were carrying any excess: they had all been trimmed and were bulletproof. It wasn’t a breeze it was still quite stressful for me – it always was because I was the singer and I wanted to get it right. The rest of the band were great players. Pete was an accomplished bass player, Skin was an accomplished guitarist, and Keith was a dynamic drummer. I was this person who crafted these songs, and I threw a lot of myself into it, and it took me a long time to recover from that album. (Laughs)

Follow Me Down' actually could have gone on the album. Maybe I wanted to get rid of it because it was something I did with the La’s. I think in the very early days of Cast I was a little bit confused about where I was standing in my relationship with the La’s. Whereas now I can see things a lot clearer and my love for both bands and where I was. 'Follow Me Down' with the riff that Skin got and the Dr Who vibe going down on it on a waltz that could have easily been on the album. The B-sides where great, 'Better Man,' 'Hourglass' and 'Satellites' I had already written. 'Better Man' was one of the first completed songs that I had because I have memories of playing that outside the La’s practice place. I think it was the first song I played to a friend of mine Henry Epstein and he still reminds me about the first time I played it to him outside leaning on his car in the sun. I knew I had something there, and it turned out to be something special. It was a soaring song which became the standard-bearer that gave me a taste for it. It wasn’t confident because confidence means you think you can do it and you know you can do it. I had a will to want to do it, but it gave me a taste for it and to understand what it's like to write a song that you know is good and has got all the parts. It's a great pop song and it’s uplifting and it’s powerful in its own right. Tell It Like It Is is a favourite song. I remember getting the intro riff and singing over it. The melodies just came to me, it's a very haunting and wistful song, and there's something unknowing and uplifting about it. I'm singing about that feeling of being taken over by something. And then the choruses are realist, trying to look through the bullshit and facades that we are given and told is what we are capable of and what we should put up with. 'Tell It Like It Is' says what it's about and where it's at. The La’s is like a double-edged sword people had tried in a hindrance way to compare Cast and myself to when I was in the La’s. That was never what it was about the La’s are still a massive part of my life and how it's shaped me, and I still have a love for those songs and a love for Lee as a songwriter regardless.

Rate/Catalog

Mankind has a slightly Hunky-Dory sort of vibe. Dare I say it? It’s Bowie-esque in a Cast version. It's another great song with a great melody and guitar riffs. We did some gigs in Liverpool last December where we played a different one of our albums each night, and we played All Change in full. One thing I realised when we played it was that it's a youthful album. I had to run hard to keep up with it. It's fast and it’s got energy. 'Mankind' is idealistic. A lot of the songs on the album are about your time, your place and your moment, And recognising that we as a generation have your chance to say something and shape things the way that you feel. 'Mankind' is just another chapter in that book. Selected items are only available for delivery via the Royal Mail 48® service and other items are available for delivery using this service for a charge. The reality of us getting signed and numerous recording sessions and tours and problems within the tours and issues within ourselves were starting to tell on our bearing. It's a weight upon your shoulders and somewhere within all that I started thinking, "Okay I've got these songs, and I may have to play my joker card and try and go and form something myself."

The great thing about that era was when you released the singles from All Change the B-sides were great songs too like ‘Follow Me Down,’ and ‘Better Man.’Liverpool legends Cast celebrate the 25th Anniversary of their classic debut album ‘All Change’. Originally released on 16th October 1995 it became the highest-selling debut album in the history of the Polydor label. With Fine Time I had the verse when I left the La’s, but I didn't have the chorus, and I didn't have the middle eight. A lot of this album was written walking around. I had left the La’s, and I still had a circle of friends, and I was staying at my ma’s or staying wherever, and I would get up out of bed in the morning and just walk across to my mates’. If no one was in, you would end up wandering around all day trying to catch the trail of your buddies or somewhere where you think people would generally hang out and meet midday. So there was a lot of mulling things over as I was just walking around and 'Fine Time' was one of those songs. Did you feel pressure after the success of All Change going in to record the second album Mother Nature Calls? You couldn't do it now because I’m older and things have moved on, and I've got different responsibilities. Still, in those days you could remember the song because you would go to sleep dreaming about keeping hold of the threads of the songs and then you would wake up. And once you had done that you would remember it; it would be in your head. I used to say to myself, "In the morning, if I don't remember it, it’s not good enough.”