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"From the mean streets of Elkton Maryland come six of the baddest assessed..."

Nope.

"Rising like a phoenix from the ashes of a burnt out Boy Sets Fire come these six people, armed with a red guitar and the truth..."

Uh-uh.

"Beginning where the once mighty Boy Sets Fire left off comes the intense roller coaster that is...The Casting Out!"

No.

Guess we are going to have to do this thing ourselves. You know if you want something done right?

I guess the first thing that comes up when I think about the Casting Out is the fact that Nathan flat out lied to me. I remember the call all too clearly.

"So you wanna be in my new band thing? I mean, it is not really a rock thing. It is more of jug band. Really. You can sit down and relax. Barely break a sweat. Seriously. Chill music for chill people, bro. I mean it. Basically just me and Darby, barely playing notes on tiny amps. "

Well I of course knew Darby. She is one of the most talented musicians I knew. And I trusted her. So I agreed.

Well first of all I told him that if I have to play, then roadie Chris Rakus was going to have to as well. I wasn't about to let him get off the hook. Nope. Chris is in. I doubt Nathan even asked him to play bass. Just told him where to be and how much PBR to bring. And I said if I have to play guitar, then so does Nathan. I ain't trying to play all song long! So Nathan agreed. He would play guitar as well as sing. HA! Got him....

How about a drummer?

Nathan had a response.

"You know that guy Patches? Right, the one with way too much fashion sense?"

"Well he claims to play drums."

I was shocked. Shocked!

People usually mention if they play an instrument. Especially if they hang out at the recording studio, like all the time. I mean it comes up, you know?

Turns out he could play. Pretty dang good too.

We practiced once or twice. It was pretty cool. Little amps chill jams. Keyboards and sweet female harmonies. But it seemed one piece was missing.

The final piece slipped into place over a couple of beers Rakus and I were having right around Christmas. Our buddy Lee sauntered over, flipped his hair over a shoulder, looked us in the eye as said, "I hear you guys are in a band with Nathan. I guess I should let you know that I am now in this band. See you on Monday for practice."

A strange thing started happening. What was once mellow became more intense. What was once chill, became catchier. Influences from such mid-nineties bands like Jawbreaker and Samiam started slipping out.

We started to rock.

I had to stand while playing. I began to sweat while playing, something I was promised I was never going to have to do again. We recorded a demo with our buddy Nick who kept turning our gain knobs on our amps up until, oh man, here come the full stacks.

I was fooled. What began as a gentle folky acoustic thing is now a full on rock band with THREE guitars! A bass! A keyboard! A HUGE keyboard! Drums with a double bass pedal. Half-stacks all over the place.

I told you. I was lied to.

Fortunately, I like it. I like it a lot. I think you will too.


Joshua Latshaw