Castle Black are a rock band that will knock your senses into orbit with their intense sound and solid music that you need to experience up front and in the flesh. The band are out of Brooklyn, New York in the heart of the Big Apple and deliver a “Big” sound that will grab you and pull you in with a hypnotic spell.
Castle Black have evolved or devolved into a due featuring the powerful heart stomping vocals and guitar of Leigh Celent and the pounding beat from Joey Russo on drums.
The duo return with a fierce but familiar sound in 2021 with a new EP Get Up, Dancer featuring five great tracks released in October and a new lineup. “Well, we are now predominantly playing as a duo, so that’s notable. We just released a new EP in October. We made one video for “Sorry” (off the new EP) and are working out details for another. We also started working on the next album, which if all goes well will be a full-length album, which is exciting.”
“Get Up, Dancer was a true product of the pandemic. We had every plan to write earlier when the pandemic first started, but we actually didn’t really get all of the songs together until later in 2020 and then we recorded in early 2021. So, the songs largely came out of that first year, which was a very intense period of loss, isolation, change, nostalgia, hope, and general disgust for how some people conduct themselves during a universal crisis.”
The new EP draws inspiration from a poem penned by Celent printed in the CD sleeve cover. Celent said, “Oh, I wrote it! I wrote it around the time that we were recording; it was kind of a summation of the EP. Originally, we tossed around the idea of recording the poem, as part of the album. We ended up not doing that, but we still wanted to incorporate it somehow so we thought it would work well as part of the physical CD. Oddly enough, we did end up having the poem recorded a few months ago so that we could use it as sound clips during our set.”
“Get Up, Dancer is a line from the track “Radio Queen.” It’s really quite visual, I just see this ornately dressed dancer beautifully collapsed on the floor and I want her to get up, to try again.”
As the year draws to a close there are plenty of good things in the works ahead for Castle Black to look forward to. “Well, we haven’t gone on a proper tour since before the pandemic (we were on the road when States started shutting down in March 2020). We have been playing out of town shows here and there, but I think we are finally trying to string a more proper tour together again. And in general, we’re trying to get as much circulation of the songs as we can with various radio shows. Oh and a second video! We are working on a second video.”
“People can expect us to give everything that we have during a performance and not to hold back any emotion. That’s the beauty of live shows, in my opinion, the in-the-moment genuine emotion that is possible. We don’t adhere to any shoulds in our song-writing or in our shows and we just try to convey the emotion of the songs as honestly as we can.”
In case you have not experienced Castle Black the band brings a intense sound and energy that fills your soul with sound that will give you chills and thrills. The band has been evolving with experience and building something special. “I mean there are obvious differences from formation to now – different line-ups, better production, more complex songs – but the basic heart of the music is the same, in that the music has something to say, it’s hook-driven, it’s catchy. The sound is heavier now, which is what it’s always wanted to be, thanks in large part to our drummer, Joey Russo.”
“I think we’ve adjusted OK! Things are easier in a lot of ways but we now have a more complicated live show set-up, with backing tracks, foot synth, and sound clips. The greatest compliment is when someone tells you that you sound like more than 2 people. Two pieces are even more exposed than three pieces so there’s a bit more pressure at shows to be tight.”
Castle Black are a must see band you need to know. Be sure to check out their videos and keep tuned in to a live show. You will be hypnotized and pulled into their sound and music and will love every minute of it!
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Castle Blackhttp://www.castleblackmusic.com
