Cass McCombs
BIOGRAPHY
It’s sometimes difficult to differentiate between singer-songwriters, maybe because of the never-ending back stories that inevitably accompany their emergence, only to blur into stories you might have heard about someone else. Cass McCombs avoids this clash of personalities (or lack of) by keeping quiet, only ever revealing parts of his story reluctantly and with a cynical attitude that makes interviewers’ jobs an absolute nightmare. It’s this enigmatic persona that makes him so interesting, you always want more of what he doesn’t want you to have, and subsequently people trawl through his music to gain any sort of insight they can into his psyche.
McCombs was born in Concord, California, although trying to tie him down to one location is futile. His lifestyle is often described as nomadic. His early working life consisted of jobs as diverse as a film projectionist, a janitor, a stable hand and a builder. At the age of 23 he headed for New York, where he started to play open mic nights in an attempt to hone his song writing skills, in which time he developed his narrative style of storytelling.
His songs are often written about characters, bucking the current trend of singer-songwriters talking exclusively about themselves, finding it difficult to express his emotions in song (he describes his feelings as “impudent to himself”). The characters are drawn from memories of his past, people he grew up with in Northern California, their quirks and behavioural traits. This allows him to write with a dry wit that often manifests itself in stories dealing with darker subject matter.
His first two releases, EP Not The Way and the full-length A were written shortly after McCombs’ move to San Francisco following the September 11th attacks, drawing from the experience the New York natives had been through. The following couple of years were spent touring, with McCombs dividing his time between Baltimore and England, before decamping to Michigan to record his third release, 2005’s concept album PREfection on Domino Records. The album takes inspiration musically from the 60s, with it often being compared to the production style of Phil Spector and song writing of The Beatles.
His next move was to move to Southern California and record Dropping the Writ, often seen as a stepping-stone album before moving on to his first shot at the mainstream with 2009’s Catacombs. Knowing his reluctance to appear in promotional material, Domino hired a photographic private investigator to follow McCombs, and shoot what would become the promotional material for his fifth (and a half) album Wit’s End, released in April this year.
The album is his sparsest and darkest to date, ditching some of the more obvious humour from his previous releases, instead burying his wry jokes deeper in the songs. As if to cleanse his musical palette, Wit’s End was swiftly followed up by Humour Risk, released this month. His latest release is a far more upbeat affair, with big melodies and more expansive arrangements, and also sees a return to some of the more light-hearted material he has been known for, notably on ‘Mystery Mail’.
McCombs’ live band is constantly changing and evolving, having contained as few as three musicians in the past, and more recently existing as an eight-piece. The criteria for joining the band aren’t strict according to McCombs, being quoted as saying “beggars can't be choosers. We don't have all the money in the world. So anyone who wants to be in the band and be broke-- that's their own death wish.”
His lack of media presence makes Cass McCombs one of the most intriguing characters in music, whether you consider him a dour genius or a wry (but dour) genius. It’s obvious from his history of relocation, and the sentiments contained in his songs that McCombs has never felt at ease with himself or with the world. It’s fitting, then, that he has already chosen what will be written on his tombstone, “Home At Last”.
Live Dates
11-30 Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
12-01 San Diego, CA – Casbah
12-04 San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
12-06 Vancouver, BC – Electric Owl
12-07 Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
12-08 Portland, OR – Doug Fir
12-09 Eugene, OR – Cozmic
Links
Website
Facebook
Myspace
Last FM
Twitter
Videos
Dreams Come True Girl
County Line
Interview