Unbeknown to the world, The Casual Sexists have been operating under the radar from the confines of their Brooklyn apartment, assembling their soon to be released debut album, ‘Your Prescription Is Ready’. Bold and unapologetically daring, the duo have inadvertently created a genre that is entirely their own, simultaneously moving between the club and the explosive echoes of a protest — call it dance-pop, Avant-pop, call it electro-punk. Honing in on their craft, the record sizzles with hot beats, infectious melodies and a fluency of potent, tongue-in-cheek lyricism. Being this outrageous, DMCWORLD had to speak to them…
Hello Ed and Varrick, where in the world can we find you today?
Hello from Brooklyn, NYC.
Prior to your project as The Casual Sexists and getting married, you were in the London-based band The Inconsolables. How did you two first meet and what went down with The Inconsolables?
We met when Varrick was on vacation in London, fell in love more or less instantaneously, and were married three months later. Naturally everyone we knew thought we were both batshit insane, but here we are happy together many years down the line, so who’s laughing now, friends and family, huh?!
The aim of our first band was to be a group that we ourselves would want to watch and listen to, so we combined our love of punk and synthpop to create the six-headed hydra that was The Inconsolables. We had one of the loudest drummers either of us has ever heard, and together we played a raucous, skewed kind of pop that was very, very noisy indeed.
The Casual Sexists actually began as a low-key offshoot of that band, with the two of us recording songs at home, some of which would go on to become Inconsolables numbers. But when that band met its demise and the two of us moved to Varrick’s native NYC, The Casual Sexists went into full flight, bearing all of our skewed pop dreams.
You’ve just released ‘Fresh Legs’ and are soon to release your debut album ‘Your Prescription Is Ready’, what inspired the title and your introspective lyricism?
When we named the album in late 2019, little did we know how prescient the title would become.
The album was conceived during a time when Ed was experiencing a prolonged bout of ill health, which, coupled with the various themes of decay which permeate the album, made ‘Your Prescription is Ready’ seem like a very fitting title. Then COVID happened of course, and would you believe that before the vaccines even appeared, we named each side of the record ‘Dose 1’ and ‘Dose 2’? We’re like a shit Nostradamus or something.
Both of us are preoccupied with anxiety, mortality and the peculiar nature of time, so these themes feature heavily in the lyrical content of ‘Prescription’, as well as the profound political ructions of recent times, holographic technology which attempts to transcend death, and our long and robust relationship with alcohol. Many of our songs deal with the ghoulish spectre of sexism, and although this theme isn’t as present on ‘Prescription’, it is never far from the surface, as heard in the lambasting of aggressive dancefloor suitors, ‘Fresh Legs’.
All of the above could perhaps be mistaken for depressing topics if they weren’t offset by the queasy sense of humour which snakes through a good portion of our work. Gotta ‘ave a larf, aintcha, even in the shadow of the gallows…
Tell us about recording music from your one-bed, Brooklyn apartment.
We bloody love recording in our one-bed Brooklyn apartment. The DIY approach and the creative freedom it affords is very important to both of us, and this applies to our music, our videos and our artwork.
We’re not studio whizzkids by any stretch, but having taught ourselves the basic principles of home recording at The Casual Sexists’ inception, we now have our technique down pat.
Songs are built rather than written, usually starting with drums and a lot of percussion, and if a melody tentatively taps on the door during the process, we’ll let it in after a fashion.
Since we create and work in a domestic setting, we like to incorporate the sounds of domestic objects into our music, such as kitchenware, bins, dripping taps, and occasionally even noisy neighbors.
We love animal sounds too, so things like birdsong, coyote yips and the various noises of our own cats can be heard throughout the Casuals’ catalogue.
An album you would never sell…
‘Your Prescription Is Ready’ by The Casual Sexists? Nah, hopefully we’ll sell a few of those.
Too many to choose from – ‘Because I’m Worth It’ by Copeland, ‘LESS IS MOOR’ by Zebra Katz, ‘Cut’ by The Slits, ‘Wormfood’ by Jamaican Queens and ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ by The Cure to name a random but vital handful.
Do you have a dedicated creative space or do you find inspiration wherever you are?
Inspiration for us can come from absolutely anywhere. Cities and their deep complexities are an infinite source of inspiration, both sonically and lyrically, as are some natural environments, particularly deserts.
I think we need a certain degree of environmental hostility or harshness in order to flourish creatively. Anxiety is a key factor in our work whether we like it or not, and big cities are more than willing to dish that out in abundance.
Ed you’re originally from London, how’s life in the USA different to the UK – what do you miss?
I miss the exquisite chaos of how London streets are laid out. The grid system of NYC should be far easier to navigate, but the ancient maze that is London just somehow makes more sense to me. I also miss Scotch eggs, fish ‘n’ chips, free museums, free healthcare, and the word ‘bollocks’.
On the negative side however, back when we were living in London there was often the threat of random violence from people who didn’t like the way we dressed, which I definitely don’t miss.
That doesn’t happen much in NYC, and if it does, people will stand up for you far more readily than they did in London.
How has lockdown been for you two?
Although we fervently miss the human interactions, culture and life that we previously took for granted, we’re very lucky in that the two of us love sharing the same space and have many creative outlets that can be explored from home.
On the downside, Varrick lost her job last year and has been unable to secure work since (though her creative pursuits and studies have kept her very busy), and Ed’s job has become far more stressful owing to the changes that the COVID era has brought with it.
Considering the profound, often life-changing negative impact that lockdown has had on so many folks in the world however, our own experience feels decidedly benign.
What else have you got cooking? Any plans to release music after this album?
Oh definitely. We’re currently working on a new EP which will be out later this year, as well as a compilation of previously unreleased early Casuals material. We’re also very excited about our collaboration single with Rihanna, though she hasn’t gotten back to us yet. Soon, hopefully.
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