At Night Watch with Castle Black
Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with Brooklyn-based post punk band Castle Black who recently released the first single off their upcoming LP "Bright-Eyed"
Mustard had the pleasure of speaking with Brooklyn-based post punk band Castle Black who recently released the first single off their upcoming LP "Bright-Eyed.” Together we discussed castles, the genre of rock, dying in dreams, and so much more!
1. Mustard is grateful to have Castle Black join them at On The Shelf. How is everyone doing today?
Leigh: Great weather today, thanks for asking.
Joey: Doing well. Thanks for having us.
2. Mustard has observed that there have been various black castles throughout time. Did a specific black castle inspire your band name?
Leigh: It comes from the A Song of Ice and Fire series – so many good band names in those books! Castle Black is a reference to the main castle of the Night’s Watch, situated up north in Westeros, by the huge ice wall.
3. Has Castle Black had the pleasure of performing in (or outside) a castle? If you could perform at any castle which one would it be and why?
Leigh: I have never played at a castle, but it sounds like it would be very fun. I’d pretty much consider playing in any castle. I’d be particularly interested in playing in a castle in Ireland.
Joey: We’ve played outside every castle (because we’ve never played inside any castle). There is a castle along I-71 between Louisville and Lexington that I’d love to play.
4. According to your Spotify biography it feels like we have met before but can't quite place where. Where would you have met previously?
Leigh: Maybe at a show.
Joey: Maybe in a past life.
5. Mustard has observed that humans love origin stories. Could you share more about the formation of Castle Black?
Leigh: Castle Black’s first EP was in 2015. We had just finished recording the EP, when the recording band imploded (recording bassist, drummer, and vocalist all parted ways). My friend who had been filling in on bass and I decided to find a drummer and move forward as a trio. She and I had met at a band lottery type thing a few years before. The drummer was a recommendation from a friend of hers.
Joey: I met Leigh in July 2018 in Hamtramck, MI. She had asked my band at the time to join the bill of a show that Castle Black was playing while on the road. From there, we kept in touch and when she needed a fill-in drummer on an upcoming tour in November of that year, I volunteered my services and asked if my band from Detroit could tag along. The tour went so well that I decided to move to New York and the rest, as they say, is history.
6. As a band you defy the average rock genre. Who (or what) influences you?
Leigh: I grew up dancing (ballet, tap, jazz), so musically I was surrounded early on by a lot of typical music for that style of dance, like classical, big band, swing, and pop music. And hair metal and hip-hop, but that was not from dancing. I then gravitated toward 90s grunge, early aught indie rock, and other types of rock. We’re influenced by everything though, so I find that our music ends up just as easily being influenced by a cool bird that I see outside as by any particular band.
Joey: Musically, many genres influence our sound. Some of my favorite artists are Minus the Bear, Nirvana, The Books, Daughters, and Thrice. Energetically, what influences me are dogs, plants, and other animals.
7. What is Castle Black's creative process?
Leigh: I generally will write a song on guitar, with vocals and lyrics, and then share that with Joey. I’m sure he will say that I make him write drums to them, but it’s a much more collaborative process, once the main song idea is worked out!
Joey: Leigh writes all of the songs and she makes me write drums to them.
8. 2015 saw the release of your EP "Find You There." Could you share what it was like to put this EP together?
Leigh: That was the first EP. There was a 2014 version of the band and we were very inexperienced, especially when it came to recording. We recorded with the brother of someone who one of the band members randomly met at a bar and it was just very bad quality. The person who was going to master it wouldn’t even work on it because he said the quality was just so bad. So, in 2015, we took that person’s recommendation for a studio and recorded the songs again.
However, the band then broke up right after recording, except for me and the bassist. We had to re-record the vocals for that EP, since we had a different lead singer originally. I had been wanting to sing my own songs anyway, and the bassist also sang, so it all worked out.
9. Can humans have Psychic Surgery performed? Is this surgery covered by insurance providers?
Leigh: It’s very experimental at this point, but you can find someone to do it if you look hard enough.
Joey: Humans can have psychic surgery. It’s covered under most employee health care plans but there’s a long waiting period.
10. Mustard wonders if humans are still trapped underneath everything they know? What does it mean if they are seeing blue?
Leigh: I think humans are very much still trapped under all they know. There are a lot of sad truths out there and that’s heavy. If they are seeing blue, that is a positive development. It means they are using their imaginations and connecting to a different realm.
Joey: Humans are indeed trapped under everything they know. It’s really suffocating in fact, which is why they are seeing blue, from the lack of oxygen and all.
11. If a human dies in a dream do they die in real life?
Leigh: No.
Joey: Yes.
12. You were guided to the City of the Sea. What did you discover once you made it there?
Leigh: A beautiful sea. A serene spot. Peace. Love. Animals. Plants.
Joey: Well New York is a city, of a sea, and I discovered lots here. The subway rats run the city, not us.
13. In 2021 you released your EP "Get Up, Dancer." When did you first begin working on this project? What dance made the performer fall?
Leigh: I think I had two of the song drafts for Get Up, Dancer before the pandemic started in 2020, but we started working on them as a band at some point later in 2020. The dance that made the performer fall was an experimental dance of sorts, incorporating elements of flying via spells that unfortunately didn’t last long enough. This fall was so epic that a poem was written about her.
Joey: We probably started working on it at some point in mid to late 2020. It was a pandemic project of sorts.
14. What are some grand delusions that humans have? How can these delusions be broken?
Leigh: Some humans have grand delusions that they are the center of everything and that they aren’t connected to all the life forms, past and present, in this world and beyond.
15. You just released the first single off your upcoming full length "Bright-Eyed." How does this single serve as an introduction to the album?
Leigh: This single really gives a strong introduction to the forthcoming full-length album, The Highway at Night. It’s pretty emblematic of our current style, although we have a wide array of song types on this album. We like playing with time signatures and “Bright-Eyed” has that, amid this otherwise catchy and straight-forward tune.
16. What are some things that make Castle Black bright-eyed?
Leigh: Dogs. Animals. Music. Positive change. Connecting with people over dogs, animals, music, and positive change.
Joey: Dogs.
17. What is next for Castle Black?
Leigh: I think another full-length. I was originally very neutral (possibly against?) making a full-length album but Joey convinced me that we needed to make one instead of another EP. Having 10 new songs to play is really fun and I think I’d absolutely want our next release to be another full-length.
However, we haven’t even released this first full-length album yet, so we have that coming up in 2024. We will have another single released around March 2024 and then the full-length released in May 2024. We have lots of shows coming up, both in NYC and elsewhere in the US and Canada. We have videos to make and emails to send and all of that stuff that goes with releasing an album.
18. Your live shows have been described as intense. What goes into your live performances? Do you have any upcoming shows?
Leigh: We plan our sets to a certain degree. There is usually some theme or approach that we are using for a few months at a time. We want the experience to be as unique as we can make it. We approach shows more as a full performance, one that can and should change over time, rather than as individual songs being played in a set. As a two-piece, we have put thought and practice into our live sound, because we have other sounds happening that all need to be coordinated and audible to each other.
All of our upcoming shows can be found on our website – www.castleblackmusic.com/shows We also post about shows on Facebook, Instagram, and through our email mailing list (you can sign up at our website).
19. Where can readers listen to your music?
Leigh: We are on Bandcamp and all the usual streaming services, including Spotify (