Interview Cash Cash

Cash Cash is een Amerikaanse band uit Roseland, New Jersey. Ze staan bekend om hun catchy sound die mede door een talkbox gecreëerd wordt. Cash Cash werd opgericht in 2002 en heette oorspronkelijk The Consenquence. Cash Cash moest hun naam noodgedwongen veranderen nadat ze werden aangeklaagd door een Amerikaanse hip-hop artiest die ook ‘Consenquence’ heette. Ze kozen daarom Cash Cash als hun nieuwe naam. In april 2009 tourde de band met Kevin Rudolf (bekend van ‘Let it rock’). Ook speelde ze in 2009 op de Warped tour als support van Cobra Starship. In de herfst van dit jaar tourde ze zelfs met Breath Carolina. In december brachten ze een cover van Cascada’s single ‘Everytime We Touch’ uit en in maart dit jaar maakte ze nog een cover op het bekende ‘Forever Young’. We vroegen de band een aantal vragen over de toekomst en verleden van de band en meer..

How and when did you start with Cash Cash?
Technically Cash Cash started in March 2008, but me, Sam, Alex, & Anthony have been playing in a band for many years before that under the name The Consequence. After we got signed we change the name to Cash Cash for legal reasons as well as it better fitting the new direction of the band.

What was the reason to change the band name to Cash Cash?
Our song cash cash was written first when we were under the name The Consequence. It was one of the 3 songs that were written between the transitional period of The Consequence almost breaking up to doing the complete opposite and getting signed to Universal. We recorded Party In Your Bedroom, Cash Cash, & Breakout as The Consequence and sparked the interest of a lot of labels…When we realized we had to change the name because Consequence was already taken, we decided to go with Cash Cash after weeks of not being able to agree on anything. One day at home the 4 of us gather trying to agree on a name and out of frustrating i said why don’t we just name this damn band Cash Cash. At the time there was also a lot of money bullshit going around our camp like dealing with bad situations with old agents, other labels trying to get some from us, as well as the rapper Consequence hitting us with legal threats because he had the copyright to the name..so it was a mess and i just said something like “everyone is already after our cash and we don’t even have any yet…lets just name this band Cash Cash. and we kinda laughed but then everyone looked at each other and was like hmm that sounds kinda fresh….and it just stuck!

How do you describe your music to people?
We really just want to write good time fun music. We take a lot of pride in our songs being able to get people off their feet at shows dancing having a killer time. We are pretty poppy and take elements from urban and rhythmic music and mix it with a little bit of dance and remix style music, thrown in with simple pop hooks that everyone can sing along to.

What’s the weirdest thing a fan ever did?
We had a fan bake a cake that replicated Alex’s keytar….i don’t know even how they did it, it was honestly a masterpiece!! it was really crazy!

What are some of your influences?
Our influences range from bands like Goo Goo Dolls to Daft Punk, Kelly Clarkson to Jimi Hendrix. We don’t have any one style that we normally listen to. As kids a lot of grew up listening to bands like Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots as well as pop punk bands like Blink182. In the van we literally thrown on every genre of music. Lets just say we have some severe Celine Dion fans in this band….no joke

Are there any bands that you can compare yourself with?
Not really, especially with our new songs we’re really trying to take it to the next level. I can say that i haven’t heard any bands doing anything close to our new style that we’re going for with our new music! Can’t wait to get it out there for you guys. We have a new single called “Red Cup (I Fly Solo) feat. Lacey Schwimmer & Spose coming out late summer/early fall that I’m really stoked on! It will definitely surprise a lot of listeners but it still has the classic Cash Cash sound kicking off with our actual electric drum sounds from the song “Cash Cash” haha

What advice do you have for people who want to start their own band?
Have fun with it! Practice hard, and take it seriously…a lot of people think playing in a band is easy but it’s not..You have to find ways to stand out and do something different that will make people want to listen to your music! So keep it fresh, obviously everyone takes in a lot of inspiration from other bands but really try put your own twist on it instead of just doing what every other band is doing out there!

Do you have any plans on starting your own headline tour?
Not anytime soon, We did two short headline tours this year. One with our good friends All Night Dynamite that we recorded and produced! It’s always great to tour with your close friends…makes it way better!

A lot of people think CD’s are too expensive, or cant be bothered going down to the local cd-store. What do you think about illegal downloads? Do you feel it’s a threat towards the music industrie, or do you see it as usefull publicity?
I think it all depends. It can be good, and it could be bad at the same time..For most bands, if you’re just a recording artist and have nothing else to bring to the table it’s most likely more bad than good. If you’re a band that tours and actually plays shows getting involved with the fan base on more than just a record music for them to listen to basis then it’s probably more good than bad. That way you can push selling merchandise and make money in other ways. The industry is constantly changing…there’s no formula anymore. whatever works is what i say. and that means you have to constantly be thinking of new ways to promote your band and stay alive without just relying on old methods.

Whats the reason you use the autotune/talkbox effect on most of your songs?
we always have fun with vocoder type effects on our voice. it has a cool vibe that fits our music. my brother does most of it on his talk box pedal that he runs through his keyboard into his mouth. it adds a futuristic sound to our band that our fans seem to love. It adds another element to the live show. We don’t use it cause were bad singers or need to fake it with autotune haha we just like to mix it in our music in small doses for sound and effect purposes..We play a ton of acoustics shows that showcase our actual voices and show we can sing and harmonize very well. so definitely type in Cash Cash acoustic on YouTube when you’re bored! haha

Akoestische versie van ‘Party In Your Bedroom’:

What can we expect from you further this year?
We’re going to tour Brazil for a week in late July, which I’m so stoked for! Touring the UK last year with our friends Cobra Starship was an amazing experience! It’s so crazy so play shows for other countries and i think Brazil is just an amazing place to spread the Cash Cash love to. After that, we’re doing The Stuck On Repeat tour with our friends Stereo Skyline & The Audition. very stoked for that! After that, we’ll see where the wind blows us…we’re definitely gonna be working on more new music and plan on touring more in the fall as well! So check our myspace to keep updated
www.myspace.com/cashcash

Do you have any plans on visiting Europe/the Netherlands in the future?
We don’t have anything planned yet….but i really hope we can get back there soon! We had such a blast last year when we toured the UK! so hopefully we can make something happen this year…::fingers:crossed::

Got anything left to say to our readers?
We really can’t wait to see you guys on our upcoming tours! We are playing a few new songs on it as well so definitely come kick it with us! we miss you guys!! :-)