John Power was previously the bass player, backing vocalist and only constant member along with Lee Mavers in The La's, but he left the band on 13 December 1991 after becoming frustrated with the ever-increasing number of aborted studio sessions, having played essentially the same set of songs since 1986. Having emerged as a songwriter in his own right, he later commented that by that point he was more interested in his own songs than anyone else's, and so set about forming his own band. Having switched from bass to rhythm guitar whilst residing at Brucklay House, he began jamming with friends, and Cast gradually emerged. The first addition to the band was ex-Shack bassist Peter Wilkinson, while embryonic line-ups of the band featured several guitarists, including Ged Malley and ex-La's member Barry Sutton. This line-up started gigging, but Power was never really happy with it, and so he split the band up and extricated himself from his Go! Discs contract in summer 1993. He set about forming a new line-up, keeping Wilkinson and recruiting Keith O'Neill, who had previously played in The Empty Hours, The Windmills and Tommy Scott's pre-Space band The Australians. An old college friend of Wilkinson's was guitarist Liam 'Skin' Tyson, who joined the band in November 1993, and the new line-up played their first gig in Hull in January 1994. Within months they had secured high-profile support slots with Elvis Costello on two UK tours, and Oasis, and it was during the latter tour that Polydor head of A&R Paul Adam approached the band to sign them, with them joining the label on 13 December 1994, three years to the day that Power left The La's.
The band released their debut single 'Finetime' in July 1995, which went straight in at No. 17 on the UK singles Chart, while the follow-up, 'Alright', an old La's song originally written and performed under the original title 'Fly On', managed to peak four placed higher. The band's John Leckie-produced debut album, 'All Change', was released in October 1995, and it shot straight in at No. 7 in the UK charts, going on to become the fastest selling debut album in the history of the Polydor label, and both 'Sandstorm' and 'Walkaway' were top ten hit singles. A stand-alone single was released in October 1996 titled 'Flying', giving the group their highest chart position in the UK where it reached number 4. Their second album, 'Mother Nature Calls', was released in April 1997, and was made up of rockier material that was now sounding looser and cockier in a Stonesy or Faces-ish way. It peaked at No. 3, and staying in the Top 40 for over 6 months, while four singles were released from the record, which were all top twenty hits. The album received largely mixed reviews in the press, but Power later claimed that this was because it was more of a slow burner than the more instant 'All Change', and apparently a number of critics later told him that repeated listens had changed their perceptions of it. By the time the band set to work on their third album, 'Magic Hour', the Britpop movement was faltering, with a number of their contemporaries disbanding or being dropped by their labels, and so they enlisted Gil Norton as their producer, who had previously produced Pixies, and moved towards a heavier riff based sound.
The first single from 'Magic Hour' was 'Beat Mama', with the band using loops and samples on the record for the first to give the material a more modern feel, but it was to be their last top ten hit, peaking at No. 9 in a chart now awash with teen pop. The album was issued in May 1999 and shot to No. 6 in the UK albums chart, but only one more single was released from it, and that could get no higher than No. 28. Power began writing in early 2000 for the follow-up, 'Beetroot', which was released in July 2001, and although the band were initially set to work with John Leckie again, Power had met producer and programmer Tristin Norwell who he was interested in working with, and the pair worked on the album together for three months before moving to another studio, where other members of the band contributed. The resulting record was very much based on loops, and featured heavy use of horns and flutes, deliberately moving away from the usual guitar sound, as Power claimed that the band wanted to come back with something that felt fresh and enticing. Only one single was released from the album, with 'Desert Drought' stalling at No. 45 in the charts, and the album fared even worse, only crawling in at No. 78. Following the cancellation of a planned UK Autumn tour due to "internal band circumstances", Cast split in August 2001 just one month after the release of 'Beetroot', with this last album being blamed, as it seemed that some of the band didn't like it, and looking back, Power admitted that it should have been a solo album.
Following the split, Power released an actual solo album entitled 'Happening For Love' in 2003 through Eagle Rock Entertainment, followed by two further albums more in the acoustic folk vein through Tanuki Tanuki, a label set up by former La's A&R man and his then manager Jona Cox. Peter Wilkinson, along with the band's live keyboardist Paul Ellison, joined Echo & The Bunnymen and appeared on the 2005 album 'Siberia', before leaving shortly after to re-join the re-formed Shack. Tyson joined Robert Plant's band Strange Sensation in early 2002, touring Plant's album 'Dreamland' before appearing on and co-writing the follow-up 'Mighty ReArranger'. On 22 June 2010 it was officially announced that Cast were to re-form, with plans to work on new material, and they released their fifth studio album, 'Troubled Times', produced by John Leckie, as a download to pledgers through Pledgemusic on 2 November 2011, followed by a physical release in March 2012. Despite this much-anticipated come-back, I think even their most ardent fans would have to admit that their finest hour was that half-decade between 1995 and 2001, and it was also when they were at their most prolific, adding two or three extra songs to every single that they released, so here they all are in one place, alongside a couple of choice out-takes, to remind us of just what a great band they were.
Track listing
Disc I - 1995-1997
01 Better Man (b-side of 'Finetime' 1995)
02 Satellites (b-side of 'Finetime' 1995)
03 Follow Me Down (b-side of 'Alright' 1995)
04 Meet Me (b-side of 'Alright' 1995)
05 Hourglass (b-side of 'Sandstorm' 1996)
06 All My Days (out-take 1995)
07 Walkaway (Strings version) (single 1996)
08 Fulfill (b-side of 'Walkaway')
09 Mother (b-side of 'Walkaway')
10 Flying (single 1996)
11 Between The Eyes (b-side of 'Flying')
12 For So Long (b-side of 'Flying')
Disc II - 1997
01 Come On Everybody (b-side of 'Free Me' 1997)
02 Canter (b-side of 'Free Me' 1997)
03 Release My Soul (b-side of 'Free Me' 1997)
04 Dancing On The Flames (b-side of 'Free Me' 1997)
05 Hold On (b-side of 'Live The Dream' 1997)
06 Flow (b-side of 'Live The Dream' 1997)
07 Effectomatic Who (b-side of 'Live The Dream' 1997)
08 Out Of The Blue (b-side of 'Guiding Star' 1997)
09 Keep It Alive (b-side of 'Guiding Star' 1997)
10 Redemption Song (b-side of 'Guiding Star' 1997)
Disc III - 1997-2001
01 The Things You Make Me Do (b-side of 'I'm So Lonely' 1997)
02 Theme From (b-side of 'I'm So Lonely' 1997)
03 Get On You (b-side of 'Beat Mama' 1999)
04 3 Nines Are 28 (b-side of 'Beat Mama' 1999)
05 Hoedown (b-side of 'Beat Mama' 1999)
06 Whiskey Song (b-side of 'Beat Mama' 1999)
07 Gyspy Song (b-side of 'Magic Hour' 1999)
08 I Never Wanna Lose You (b-side of 'Magic Hour' 1999)
09 What You Gonna Do? (b-side of 'Magic Hour' 1999)
10 The Seeker (out-take 1999)
11 Cobwebs (b-side of 'Desert Drought' 2001)
