INTERVIEW: Brett & The Cassette Want You to Activate Your Inner Smile

Brett & The Cassette performs as a band when doing live shows, but the songs are all written and co-produced by Gary Cawker, who previously released albums under this name. There are 2 queer members of Brett & The Cassette: Gary Cawker (songwriter, vocals, guitar) and his bestie bass player Rhi White.

They met at End Of The Road music festival way back in 2008, became firm friends immediately based on a mutual appreciation of music, whiskey, weed and wokeness. Neither were performing or creating musicians back then. A few years later, Gary helped Rhi navigate her own coming out story. The fact that they now perform in a band together at queer festivals and other gigs is a dream come true. "I sometimes glance across the stage at her swaying behind her bass and I swell with joy and pride (and Pride),” says Cawker.

How do you feel your queer identity ties into your performance style or music?

My songwriting is explicitly and unapologetically queer. Our most popular songs tend to be those that openly reference queer love. When you think about it, it’s still quite rare to hear many men singing love songs to men. So I relish the opportunity to do so, in the hope that it adds to the great big soup of gay love and acceptance served up through music. In "Dalston Strut," I sing joyously about feeling at home with the "freaks and the queers" who are able to live, love and express themselves openly in Dalston (the vibey, muti-cultural, multi-everything part of London, UK where I live).

How do you feel your coming out journey plays into your music?

I grew up in small town Apartheid-era South Africa, which wouldn’t have been too dissimilar from growing up in the Bible Belt …. even today I guess. Most of my songs have a strong autobiographical thread to them, which includes coming out and shaking off the chains of prejudice and religious guilt (and surviving conversion therapy!) One of my strongest muses has been my first girlfriend, who was incredibly supportive in helping me to navigate my coming out journey. One of my earliest songs references “I’ve got love for you, but there’s another love too” - charting how I slowly became aware there was this gay side in me that just couldn’t be suppressed much longer. It needed to be released in order to live an authentic life and those closet doors were about to burst wide open.

Where are some places you’ve found joy within the country/Americana world?

Growing up in South Africa, we were heavily influenced by Country music and Southern Rock, so the rootsy sound and authentic, sincere storytelling has always been a part of my musical core and in my veins. What strikes me most about Americana music is its open-heartedness, the desire to tell real stories about real people in an inclusive way. Nothing like the awful Bro Country bullshit that feels so exclusionary and pandering to dated gender and other roles & stereotypes.

I have been a lifelong fan of artists like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen - based on both their music as well as their radically progressive badass open-heartedness, in the face of some of the prejudice and small-mindedness they were faced with when growing up. You just need to look at the line ups of Americanfest in Nashville every year to see how much more inclusive Americana music has become - there’s a real effort at forging connections between people, finding common ground.

What would you like to say to people who are currently questioning their identities?

As cliche as it sounds, just try to get to know and accept your true self and don’t give a damn about the labels that society tries to place on you. Find some values that you want to live your live by and just follow those without exception. Don’t surround yourself with anyone at all doesn’t build you up. If your blood family doesn’t show any interest in knowing your authentic self, don’t waste years of your life desperately hoping they’ll come around, while you waste away inside craving their love and acceptance. Find your Chosen Family and invest in them.

You don’t have to fit into any box, however hard people might try to force you to do so. I find that ‘Queer’ is a wonderful catch-all description that gives you space to explore your identity, while also clearly signalling to everyone else that you’re different, and proud of that! When debating anything about your identity with someone else, ask them one simple question: “What would it take for you to understand and accept what I am going through?”. If they say "Nothing,” then just walk away - you’ll waste way too much time speaking into a void.

Does your album have an overarching theme?

The over-riding aim when starting to produce this album was to prompt a feeling of warmth within the listener, an inner smile. There are a handful of more introspective songs, but the bulk have a toe-tapping, playful, sometimes sexy groove. After a period of writing some sombre songs with more gravitas, I really wanted to produce something that showed the more playful sides of my life and personality. Oh, and falling in love after 15 years of being single colours this album in a very meaningful way. I had a few "love" songs lying in the drawer for ages that could finally be given an airing - it feels damn good to sing them to a real person, rather than some imaginary vision of someone I hoped to be able to meet (or never meet) one day!

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