by Marcus Roberts

The Boardwalk 10/08/09 - The Dear Hunter is a progressive rock band started by Casey Cranscenzo, formerly of The Receiving End of Sirens. This interview was conducted in their touring RV...

What album first got you to love music?
I think uh... The Ventures. I forget what the album was, but the song was Walk Don't Run.

How old were you when you listened to that?
I think I was eight.

That's perfect. I love hearing when you're a kid (what gets you into music) because it's always something off the wall and normally pop of some sort.
Yeah, I loved Boys to Men and Ace of Bass when I was 8!

So as far as the story goes, do you have the whole story written out or do you just write the story album to album? (The Dear Hunter is a project started by Casey that will include 6 concept albums telling the story of the son of a prostitute. Act I, II and III are now available through Triple Crown Records.)
It's outlined but it's not really detailed. It's just basically what's going to be there. I wrote it out when I was twenty, so I didn't want it all set in stone from the time I was twenty. Because if I was going to be doing it until I'm twenty seven or twenty eight and beyond, I would be really bored with it.

So you want the story to kind of mature with you?
Yeah, absolutely.

How do you go about your song writing process? Do you write lyrics first or last, and do you write on guitar or piano?
Piano first and then lyrics are usually the last thing. Yeah lyrics and melodies are the last thing.

And does that differ from song to song or do some start on guitar?
Some start on guitar, but mostly for this last record it was all piano. I mean, the more guitar driven songs definitely start on guitar. Like a song like In Cauda Venenum or something like that, which is the second track on our (new) record. That's like a totally guitar driven song so it was all written on guitar, but most of the music is written on piano.

Do you have any intentions of turning the story into a novel or into a screen play for a play or movie or something like that?
I mean for fun, I had one friend do a script for Act Three, but it's just for fun because there's never going to be money to do that. But I would love to do anything like that. It's always fun to make something visual to accompany it.

Yeah, absolutely. Something like one of your records or what Forgive Durden did, it would be really cool to see those played out. Especially, on like, a play stage would be perfect for those kinds of stories.
Yeah, I was talking to Thomas (Dutton) from Forgive Durden the other day, and he said he was going to New York to meet with some play people from Broadway.

I was talking to him a few months ago in an interview and he said he was really pushing for it to come out as a play. That's really how he envisioned it. So this year is panning out to be the year of releases. What albums have you enjoyed the most or are looking forward to?
I don't really know. Not much I don't think. Most of the releases that have been coming out are from bands I don't really like. I respect Brand New and Manchester Orchestra, but I don't really like that type of music you know? Oh, actually the most exciting release I have is Dave Bazan's record (formally of Pedro the Lion).

I've been wanting to get that!
Yeah, it's amazing. Amazing. I think it's the best record in the year, but no one will buy it, you know?

When I read about it conceptually, it sounded like his most mature work. People want to hear the stuff he did when he was younger and it's like...
No, this is definitely; I'm trying to think how to say it. A lot of his music before was really Christian. It's an interesting path. Where he's at right now in his life, that record is a good record. For a bad reason...

He's struggling...
Oh! Yeah, he's struggling big time. It sound like, and it's interesting, from a listener's perspective, to be that honest on a record.

Yeah, absolutely. What are your literary influences for the (Dear Hunter) story? Stories? Authors?
Um, I don't really know. I think I'm more inspired by movies than I am by books.

What Movies?
Um, Brazil. Or... I mean, every Terry Gilliam movie pretty much. A lot of Kubrick, or a... I think I just love visual things and wanted to make music that was as visual as it could be without being actual visuals.

Is that why you take the role to try and go start to finish with your music with producing and everything?
I think so. That's more. Well, half and half. The other half is that I don't necessarily think anyone is going to. When a producer latches himself onto a project, nine times out of ten he's just trying to get paid. He's not doing it necessarily because he believes in what you're doing or is inspired by what you're doing. The types of producers that I think we would be comfortable working with are so outside of our price range. It's the same reason I do our music videos. It's not because I think I'm the best person in the world to do it. It's just because for our budget I'm going to give it more care than a director who's just looking to make five thousand dollars.

So have you ever had any formal schooling or is everything pretty much just trial and error?
I mean, I grew up... my dad always worked from home since I was young and he always had a recording studio in our house. So it was kind of like being schooled but I never had lessons of any kind. I just grew up in it.

The Dear Hunter links

The Dear Hunter on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for The Dear Hunter!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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