Cast
Having kicked off an epic Summer with the first two shows of their mega stadium tour with Oasis, there’s still much more to come from Cast before the year is out, including their first US dates in 29 years, with Oasis and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and a just-announced headline show at New York’s Sony Hall on September 3rd.
In addition, the band will head out on an extensive UK tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their landmark debut album, ‘All Change’, later this year. Cast are set to continue riding high into 2026, with the news that they will release their new album, ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’, on January 30th via the Manchester-based independent label, Scruff of the Neck Records. They previewed the record this week on Vernon Kaye’s show on Radio 2, with the new single, ‘Poison Vine’, featuring soul legend, P.P. Arnold. ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ is an album that seemingly shaped its own future. John Power had written some song ideas, but an unexpected opportunity to start recording emerged late in 2024 - months before he had originally planned to hit the studio.
He travelled to Spain with bandmates Liam ‘Skin’ Tyson (guitar) and Keith O’Neill (drums), where the trio recorded the set with renowned producer, Youth (The Verve, Pink Floyd, Primal Scream), at his Space Mountain studio. They arrived to see the almond trees in blossom, which John took to be a good omen for the sessions. The result is a record that radiates the liberated spirit and unrestrained creativity it was captured in. It traverses Cast’s myriad sounds, from string-laden, gospel-tinged anthems to their timeless wistful melancholy, with moments of hard-hitting intensity, psychedelic funk and calm, acoustic serenity. John says, “‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ just arrived out of the blue.
There was a window of opportunity - Youth was free, the studio was free, and the band were free - and I thought, let providence prevail. No one had heard the songs apart from myself and Alan McGee, but we both thought that we had something. You could feel it, even though none of the songs were really finished, and so we decided to roll with it and record them. It was more than just trying to capture a vibe - it was about trying to record something majestic, which is how Youth describes the record.” Majestic is certainly an apt description for the single, ‘Poison Vine’. It is swaggering, groove-heavy rock ‘n’ roll in a way that we perhaps haven’t heard from Cast before - but with the kind of instantly memorable hook that is a long-established hallmark of John’s songwriting. It’s further elevated by blistering vocals from P.P. Arnold, who brings a Merry Clayton-style rush of power and class to the track. No wonder that John admits to being blown away by her delivery and soul. John adds, “There’s an angst to ‘Poison Vine’ that wrote itself: ‘Something deep inside you want me to find.’ It’s got a groove and a sassiness throughout the track, but when I heard them two vocals kicking in on the chorus, then I just knew we had it! I thought, that’s it, that’s the real thing.””
The sixties soul survivor P.P. Arnold is enjoying a new spell in the spotlight following her sensational Glastonbury set. The London-based American artist rose to prominence with classic solo hits such as ‘The First Cut Is The Deepest’ and ‘Angel of the Morning’, but she has played a part in all manner of famous moments, including Ike & Tina Turner’s ‘River Deep, Mountain High’, as well as collaborators with everyone from Small Faces and Nick Drake to Peter Gabriel and Rogers Waters, through to The KLF and Oasis. She first met Youth at a gig just a few days prior to recording ‘Poison Vine’, and will also feature on a second song on the ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ album.
