Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
I talk with Seth Casana, an entertainment consultant at BigWig Productions, DJ, and musician based in Fredericksburg, VA. At first glance, Seth appears unassuming, but his stage presence is unforgettable. He's known for his soulful funk performances in unique costumes, including a moped helmet with bowling trophies and samurai armor made from computer keyboards. Seth was a crucial part of my Frostapalooza concert, bringing both his band, Elby Brass, and infectious energy. We explore the power of live music, the importance of shared joyful experiences, the arts as a profession vs. a practice, the effort behind creating fun experiences, the role of humor and whimsy in tough times, and tips for cultivating creativity.
Topics discussed:
Topics discussed:
- (00:00) - Introduction
- (01:49) - Supporting the Show
- (02:18) - Starting the Conversation
- (02:35) - Seth's Journey in Music
- (03:01) - Entertainment Consulting Explained
- (07:47) - Challenges and Decisions
- (12:45) - The Magazine Venture
- (18:04) - Pursuing Creative Passions
- (33:56) - The Role of Music in Society
- (38:54) - DJing vs. Live Performance
- (41:59) - The DJ's Litmus Test: Is My Set Working?
- (42:22) - The Power of Music in Human Connection
- (45:34) - Live DJing vs. Pre-recorded Sets
- (48:37) - The Impact of COVID on Live Music
- (56:30) - Creating Joy with the Walking Disco
- (01:02:10) - The Role of Humor and Levity in Creativity
- (01:07:38) - The Importance of Live Music and Community
- (01:15:43) - Music as a Universal Language
- (01:19:09) - Where to Find More About Seth and His Projects
Creators and Guests
What is Wake Up Excited!?
Inspiring conversations with exuberant humans about how to live a creative, fulfilling, and authentic life. Hosted by enthusiasm enthusiast, Brad Frost.
We experience a brief moment of truth when we first wake up in the morning. Before the cold shower of reality, our infinite to-do lists, and macro-level woes seize our consciousness. We experience a brief moment of excitement — and this pure moment tells us something important about ourselves.
There are people out there who seem to move through life with intention, authenticity, creativity, kindness, and enthusiasm. And they do this despite the deeply inperfect world we inhabit. This podcast is an attempt to learn from these people.
Through wide-ranging conversations, Wake Up Excited explores guests' passions, interests, enthusiasms, and philosophy of life.
Brad Frost (2): Welcome
to Wake Up Excited.
In this episode, I talk with Seth Casana.
Seth is an entertainment consultant at
Bigwig Productions, a DJ and musician
based in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
At first glance, Seth is a very
unassuming, normal looking guy.
But that all changes when he's on stage.
I've known Seth since our college days
at JMU, and I've seen Seth built out
soulful funk while wearing a moped helmet
with bowling trophies, duct taped to it.
I've seen him wrap while wearing
samurai armor made from old
computer keyboards and mice.
I've seen him marching down the
street with a brass band wearing old
high school marching band uniforms.
And I've seen him strut through
town wearing a disco ball helmet
with a DJ rig strapped to him.
Seth was my secret weapon at my big
Frostapalooza concert last year.
Not only did he supply his incredible
band, LB Brass to be our horn section, he
was also our Bruno Mars, David Byrne and
Thom York, equipped with a sousaphone.
Everyone was like.
What is going on here?
But Seth's energy and creativity and
originality is, is truly unrivaled.
It's amazing.
Seth and I have a great conversation
where we talk about the power
and the potency of live music.
We talk about the importance of shared,
joyful experiences, the arts as a
profession versus as a practice, the
immense effort that goes into creating a
light and fun experience for other people.
The role of levity, humor, and whimsy
in these bleak times and real practical
tips for cultivating your own creativity.
Before we get into our conversation,
I want to say that Wake Up Excited
is a real labor of love, and
this whole thing is self-funded.
So if you want to support me and the show
and my other endeavors, I'd really love
it if you checked out our online courses
about digital design and development,
design tokens, design systems, atomic
design, and you could check all of those
courses out at bradfrost.com/courses.
All right.
Without any further windup, here's
my conversation with Seth Casana.
Brad Frost: Hey Seth, how's it going?
Seth Casana: Hey, what's up Brad?
Good to see you.
Brad Frost: Thank you so much
for, for being on the show.
I am very, very excited to talk with you.
And we're just gonna jump right in
with the first question, which is what
has you waking up excited right now?
Seth Casana: Uh, live music,
trying to make more of it and be
part of the live music scene in
Virginia where I am and helping more
musicians get paid for doing it.
that's really where I'm at these days.
Uh, and it's been a long and
winding road to get here.
Uh, you know, the,
Brad Frost: wore my,
my music shirt, uh, to,
Seth Casana: yeah.
Brad Frost: support you
and to plug into that.
Seth Casana: Yeah.
So big Wig Productions
is my production company.
I kind of build myself as
an entertainment consultant.
I think event consultant is a more
common term, but I really just try to
focus on the performance aspect of it.
And that can be a lot of things.
And there's a lot of administrative
and promotional aspects that
go along with that so it's
really that particular strain.
I feel like I invented
that title for myself.
I, I haven't seen other people
out there with that specifically,
but I think there should be more.
Folks who provide entertainment
consulting services.
'cause there's a real gap that a lot of
businesses, restaurants, you know, maybe
not music venues, they probably got that
under control, but like almost everybody
else who's not actually a music venue
probably needs some help doing better if
that's something that they wanna focus on.
So just imagine, for example, you got a
restaurant, they want to have live music,
they've got the space to do it and maybe
they know some people in town who play
music who want to come in to do it there.
But once you've burned through
that initial, friend network,
what are you supposed to do?
Right?
Like, you've got some bartender
who like knows a couple people who
play guitar to come in and play
on Friday nights or something.
But unless you want it to
just be that forever, right?
Like the same four people coming
in week after week, right.
You need to expand,
you need to promote it.
You need to maybe like up the
infrastructure of what you got going on.
Like sound equipment wise, space
wise, lighting wise, and they are not
necessarily set up to figure that all
out, you know, especially you're running
your own business at the same time,
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: you're trying
to be a restaurant, right?
And the music's not the primary
spot in there, but it's a component
of the overall experience.
It brings in new people.
And you want it to be fresh.
You want it to be like a specific genre.
You need it to provide a
certain atmosphere, especially
in a restaurant setting.
And somebody like me, who's been a
professional performer for over 20 years.
Who has like always been like the
band manager, the guy booking the
shows, the guy promoting the stuff,
the guy building the websites.
I've seen a lot of stuff.
I've got a huge network of local musicians
who are all like, ready and eager to
go and very professional and have all
their own stuff and show up on time.
you want someone like me to come in and
be like, Hey, let me, let's talk about it.
What are you trying to do?
Oh, have you thought about this?
Brad Frost: yeah,
Seth Casana: you tried this other thing?
You, you're gonna have some huge
problems if you try going that route.
You should not do that.
this is what I bring to the
table and I, you don't have
to hire me as a full employee.
You know, I can come in and just
like the amount that you want.
are you doing it once a month?
Are you doing it once a week?
Are you doing it 12 times a week?
Like, what are you doing?
Right.
Let's talk about that.
Brad Frost: What's
wild as you're saying this.
So,
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: known, we've
known each other for 20 years.
you've been doing this in, in various
capacities for that entire time.
And
Seth Casana: Right.
Brad Frost: I'd love to pick at that
because obviously like there's so much we
can go into, I think that there's music
a source of community, as a source of,
weaving in between these different worlds
and pulling different people together
to create fun and entertainment and, and
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: and then you yourself emanate.
That as, as like a performer.
So, there's a lot of steps of like how
I've always kind of, I think, perceived
you as like somebody who, you're out
there quite literally walking the walk,
uh, in the form of a walking disco.
And maybe we could sort
of get into that, uh,
Seth Casana: Yeah,
Brad Frost: But you're out there
radiating that kind of energy out there,
but you're not just oh, look at me.
You're like, here's the party and
here's all these other people who
do this, and let's try to utilize
everyone your sphere to, to do
good things and, and have things be
Successful and, successful for sure the
venues that are, that are putting this
stuff on, but, but also sort of successful
and equitable for the people performing.
But
Seth Casana: absolutely.
Brad Frost: just kind of seems like.
You, you have a real instinct for
kind of going, okay, and who do
I have to work with and how do
we do something fun with that?
like,
Seth Casana: That,
Brad Frost: resonate?
Is That, accurate?
Seth Casana: that is a great way
to describe my outlook on life.
The entire time I've been an adult
is walk, walking into a random room,
any room, any space, anywhere, and be
like, how can I throw a party here?
That's just, I can't
stop thinking about that.
And that's why I'm doing this now, because
it's really hard for me to turn that
part of my brain off, I had day gigs,
office jobs, I'd worked in it doing web
development for a long time, different
capacities, and through all of that I was
still I let me throw a music festival.
Oh, let me, like, I. Lemme start a band.
Let me, you know, like, and eventually,
I got to the point where I had to make
some decisions about I can't just keep
doing both, uh, I was having a daughter
and somebody had to take care of this new
person that was gonna exist in the world
and couldn't have a day job and do all
of that stuff and take care of a baby.
And I had to decide like, is this
working for a big company, making their
websites what I want on my tombstone?
Like, is this my life's work?
You know?
And I tried to think about it as like,
what will I regret not doing more?
That's a good metric.
I've had close friends who've been
through like hard decision points where
you wanna do more than one thing, right?
Like.
It is easy to make a decision
if everything's bad and
there's only one clear choice.
Like that's not hard.
What's hard is when you have
like lots of good options, very
strong competing trajectories.
but they're mutually exclusive.
You can't do them all, especially
not at the same time, you
know, or maybe not ever.
And so it's really hard, like
if you try to think about, well,
what's good about each one of them?
You can come up with a big long list,
Brad Frost: yeah.
Seth Casana: you kind of
have to do the opposite.
You have to think about like, if
I didn't do this one, what are
the bad things that would happen?
And that's sort of a little
counterintuitive, but it, it can
really put things in stark contrast
of what's important to you.
Because for me, I was like, if I
never worked another day Building
websites for somebody else
that I thought were important.
But if I didn't do that,
would I be really sad?
Like, would I be sad?
Like I told my daughter, you know,
I really gave up on my passion by
not building generic websites for
a big company that I worked for,
for nine years doing the same job.
that doesn't sound right, that's not,
or or is it more like, would I be
really sad, really regretful being
like, you know, I had this shot to
start my own business where all I was
doing was like making new opportunities
to play music, giving opportunities
to my local musician community and
like playing a lot of music myself
and earning the same amount of money.
But you know what, it just wasn't for me.
I gave, I didn't do that.
That sounds really bad.
That sounds like not the way
that I wanted my life to go.
And once they framed it like
that, I was like, cool, uh,
guys, here's your laptop back.
Here's my two weeks.
Thanks for all the good times, but I'm
onto the next chapter and I just haven't
looked back and to, I mean, it wasn't
as simple as that for sure, but making
the decision was pretty simple, right?
Like implementing the decision.
Whole different ball of wax.
but coming to that point where I
was like, now I know what I'm doing.
I can, I don't have to equivocate
between all these different
life options right now.
I know what problem I'm actually trying
to solve instead of deliberating on
which problem is important to me.
Brad Frost: Yeah, that's great.
And like with that decision comes with
a whole host of, like you said, like
the hard part of, of implementing it.
But at the same time because you
stepped out into your own vision,
in the driver's seat, right?
So
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: not necessarily like having
to pad your enthusiasm or pad your vision.
You just need to get to work
and actualize the actual vision.
Seth Casana: Yeah.
It can be scary because you don't always
know what you're doing or you think you
have an idea of what you're doing and
it doesn't work, but it's also really
liberating because you don't need to
ask permission from anybody, you know,
and especially when you're working like
I am, where it's mostly independently,
you also don't have a huge team of
people that you have to coordinate with.
I don't have bosses, I
don't have employees.
I just have clients, you know, and
if a client starts to be really hard
to work with, I just tell 'em that.
And if they keep being hard to work
with, I just stop working with them
and I move on to the next thing.
You know, there's a lot
of people out there.
And to be really honest, I kind of like
glossed over a very hard beginning chapter
because when I quit my day job, I did not
immediately start Big Week Productions.
I had a completely different,
side hustle that I thought was
going to become the main gig.
And that was Work magazine, W-H-U-R-K,
which was like a monthly print magazine,
that we distributed throughout Virginia.
It was the Virginia Cultural Review.
And at the time, that was
definitely like the most involved
creative extracurricular.
Activity that I had going on and when I
was telling my wife Anna at the time, I
was like, you know, I just, I'm going to,
this is right for me and I'm gonna stop.
And I just want one of my side
projects to become like my main job.
I'm not super picky about which
one it is, but like, I think
that would be a much better.
Way for, for me to go.
And now I've got some time to like,
just think about that while I'm
taking care of infant cocoa, my
daughter, and a hundred percent right.
Like, no doubt in my mind that it
was like the magazine, obviously it's
got the biggest upside, it's clearly
the most, it entrenched right now.
We were like several years in, we're
distributing like 15,000 copies a month.
We've got a whole team of like journalists
and photographers and, advertising
partners and a whole like, self built out,
distribution network of like couriers and
people and everybody's getting paid like
obviously this is, this is the right one.
We just need to like, figure out
how to ramp up to that next step.
That next step never came.
There was no next step.
We were at the plateau
and it wasn't sustainable.
And then like as soon as.
my life and the other life
of the co-founders changed.
It was like the whole thing
just had to come back down.
And that was really hard.
Unwinding all of that very hard
emotionally, just feeling like
you're letting everybody down.
And also, like, I had staked
my whole life on this.
I had chosen that pimp it's all ending.
What am I gonna do?
You know?
Right.
Like, thank goodness that like my wife
is there, she's a nurse, she is not
trying to build like weird creative
empires, you know, like, so that's cool.
We still have health insurance and
things, but it was through all of that
work, the magazine work and the hard
work of putting it together I, you
know, 'cause I was driving all over
the state, going to different cities,
setting up these distribution routes.
Meeting with advertisers, meeting with all
the people that we wanted to write about.
Musicians, artists, authors, working
with music venues, working with
promoters, working with festivals, right.
Any kind of, anything
culturally interesting.
Like it was a very wide net, as
long as it was in Virginia and
was sort of like quirky and fun.
Like we wanted to write about it.
Brad Frost: Beautiful.
Seth Casana: when that all ended, which
was like 2019, what now I've I don't
want this huge network that we've spent
six years building up to just evaporate.
Um, but I don't want to just, I don't
want to do the same thing again.
You know, I've always dreamed
of opening a music venue.
I have never ever been in a situation
where that made any sense financially.
Brad Frost: I,
Seth Casana: even,
Brad Frost: most music venues
would, would agree with
Seth Casana: yeah, they,
Brad Frost: ones.
Yeah.
Seth Casana: they probably should
have hired me 'cause I could have told
them, I've got a bunch of spreadsheets
that show like, this is a bad idea.
You should not do this.
I've been convincing myself
for like 15, 16, 17, 18 years.
This is a bad idea.
You should not do this.
And I still keep thinking about it.
the nice thing about building
out a business model, it won't
tell you if you're gonna succeed.
It'll definitely tell you
if you're gonna fail, right?
Like, there's no theoretical way
this is gonna be profitable at all.
Right?
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: So I've got a lot of
those, so I was like, okay, back up.
One step from that.
Um, what is a way that I could work
towards that, given where I'm at now,
that points me in that direction.
That's another good useful tool.
If you're trying to think about,
I have some dreams, I have some
stuff I can't stop thinking about.
I have some things that I think would
be, make the world better, right?
Like, how do I do that?
that seems impossible, right?
And it's like, okay, well what is it?
Figure out what that is, make that
really clear for yourself, and
then work backwards from there.
Well, if, if, if that's the thing
that I wanted to have happen, what
would've been the step before that?
And then, okay, cool.
That seems clear.
What's the step before that?
And just keep going backwards
until you're where you are now.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: Right.
And then you got a really clear path.
It's super easy.
It's just to do all that stuff, right?
but the point is, is that once you get
back to where you are now you can go,
okay, well what is the, what's like
the smallest thing, what's the easiest
thing that I could do given where
I'm at currently, given my resources,
given my time, what could I be, what's
something that would put me on that path?
Uh, 'cause if you're not doing any of
it, then is it really important to you?
Do you care about it?
Brad Frost: I think that's something
that a lot of people fall into.
When we talk about dreams and when
we talk about lofty ambitions, it
can feel incredibly distant and a lot
of people that, that is definitely
this self defeatist mentality because
it's like, oh wow, this is so big.
I, I could never get close to that.
So I'm not even going to take
that, take that first step.
And I think that, that there really
are a ton like pragmatic first steps
that are very, very, very low risk.
Like what you're describing, I feel like
is like you, you kind of went for it.
You like, you actually like
did jump off the cliff.
while You were working your IT
job, you were building up of those
connections, building up all of those
networks, building up all those skills,
building up like all of that stuff.
So that what you did eventually
make that hard decision.
You weren't just jumping
out into the void and.
starting that, that work then, right?
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: that, that
your, your journey started.
I, well, hell, 20 years ago or, right.
But, but
Seth Casana: it's a continual journey.
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Yeah.
As, as we all are on, but, but
Seth Casana: Yeah,
Brad Frost: like, I see like so
many people that are just like,
well, like I wanna, wanna get here,
feel like I need to do this like,
big dramatic thing in order to
Seth Casana: right.
Brad Frost: And, you might get to that
point, like you said, like you, you
gotta make a decision on like, do I
still have the day job and pursue this?
It's like eventually you
need to make that decision.
whether it's building a business,
obviously like, kinda like startups
and like other things like that
and stuff like, follow this route.
like the safest way to start inching
your way closer to that bigger vision.
that doesn't have you like screw it,
I'm cutting the cord and whatever.
Like, 'cause most people don't ever start
because they're like, oh, it's so risky.
It's like, well what, like you said,
like kind of working your way backwards.
Like what is that very, very
low risk first step that you
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
Brad Frost: do that is like, it
doesn't work, then it doesn't work.
Seth Casana: I, you know, it startup
culture is a good source of inspiration.
There's a lot about.
Startup culture that I don't think is
great, but, but, in terms of going from
nothing to something, which I think
I'm particularly good at, it, you can
draw a lot from the ideas of iterating
quickly, failing fast, you know, exper
treating everything as like a little
experiment and then building off of
your successes with the goal of getting
towards a minimum viable product, right?
that part of it is really instructive for
a lot of aspects of life outside of it.
because what it does is it, it, if
you have the opportunity to jump
in big and you're really confident
about your idea and you know that
it's right for you, go for it, right?
Like, don't pass up those opportunities.
But what we're talking about here
is that so many people I. Don't
feel like they ever get that shot.
Right?
And they go through their
whole lives feeling like I, I
could have been a contender.
Right?
Like they, they know, like, they
know they have something inside
of them that's important that
they wanna share with the world.
And they have this narrative that like,
if only I had been given the opportunity,
I've been shut down my whole life.
You know?
And I can't do that 'cause I
never got the shot to do it right?
And what I'm trying to say is that
you don't need to wait for that shot.
you can think about it as these
incremental steps and, and orienting
yourself in a way that primes you.
That if that shot ever comes around,
which is no guarantee, you know,
there's not a guarantee that some
Daddy Warbucks is gonna come on
and be like, you're really cool.
Let me give you a ton of money
so you can do your thing.
Like, that's not gonna
happen to everybody,
Brad Frost: right.
Seth Casana: you're not gonna
be ready for it if something
like that does ever happen.
You will have prepared yourself
to, to take full advantage of it.
If you start making the incremental
steps, the smallest thing you can do.
So what's the, what's the smallest
change that you can make right now that
gets you a little bit closer, one step
closer, you know, one day closer to
that thing that you think is important.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Uh,
Seth Casana: how I
approach all of it, right?
Like, that's really instructive
and, and just continually resetting
that process anew at every time
that it feels appropriate, right?
So you did it and now you are
doing your small little thing.
Great.
This feels good.
Okay.
Start over again.
I, here I am.
This is new day one.
This is my new starting point.
What is my big goal?
Where do I want to be oriented?
And if you do that regularly, then.
In the worst case, you just did a bunch of
cool stuff that you thought was important
given the resources you had available.
And in the best case, when that big
opportunity came along, you were like, I'm
the person who's gonna make that happen.
And the, the person you're
pitching that to will be like,
huh, this, this person's right.
You know, let, let's go sign the contract.
You know, like,
Brad Frost: you're really hitting at, I
feel like the premise of the show, right?
Like, it's there on the tin.
It's like, it's like, wake up excited
and I feel like there's, there's this,
like, this, the way I describe it is
this, that, that moment of truth or that.
this, this kind of instinct.
It's this, it's this thing we, we
hold for a brief sliver of time, often
like, yeah, first thing in the morning.
Seth Casana: When I'm taking
a shower is the best idea.
If I need an idea, I go take a shower.
Brad Frost: there You go.
Seth Casana: get a little zen.
Brad Frost: that,
But then you, the to-do lists and the
calendars and the, you know, and the
bills to pay and the everything else
kind of like, comes in and, and kind
of like, talks, talks you out of that.
And I think.
that
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
Brad Frost: what you're describing
is like, here are these like very
pragmatic and low risk ways of
starting to pursue this stuff.
That it, it's, these things are
not all or nothing things and
you, and you live that Right.
Where you are able to sort of chip away at
this and kind of like, I like how you're
saying it, this, this kind of priming
and this just kind of like building
the muscles and building the, the, the
connections and, and doing all of that.
It's, it's work, it's labor
work, but it's a labor of love.
Right.
Seth Casana: It should be.
Brad Frost: Yeah, It should be.
And and that's a, and that's a good,
I think signal to, to listen to
is it's like, am I enjoying this?
Is this turning me on?
uh, I love how you said it.
It's like, well, I just
did a bunch of cool stuff.
And even if it's, that's all it
ever does, then that's something
Seth Casana: that's
still important, right?
Like
Brad Frost: important.
Seth Casana: it's a sad reality, right?
That like.
We're not all trust fund babies.
There's not some government
program to give everybody a huge
stipend to commit to their dream.
That's just the reality of the world.
but it would be too depressing
to think that because of that, we
should abandon our hopes and dreams.
Right.
Like, screw that.
That's, that's dumb.
Brad Frost: That's, that's one of the
things I, I'd love to ask you about
this, because this, this comes up a
lot whenever it's, you know, I, I have.
I increasingly been wearing my,
my musical self on my sleeve a bit
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: And when you do that, and I'm
sure you encounter it as well, you get the
people that say, oh, I used to play music.
And,
Seth Casana: Sure.
Brad Frost: that's something that
I, that I pick at all the time.
'cause I'm like, you, you still
do, you still do play music.
You just are not, know, actively
doing that in any capacity right now.
Yeah.
You're on hiatus, but like, but, but
people sort of build up these things of
like, oh, here's what being a musician is.
And, and, you have these songs, you have
the, you know, you have the SoundCloud
and the Spotify, or what's your band?
And you know, how often are you playing
out or these, these kind of shapes, right.
Of what these things are.
And I think a lot of people
talk themselves out of different
pursuits, creative pursuits, because.
They have these kind of false or,
visions of what being that thing is.
And like to remind people that it's
like, you still know how to play guitar.
Just pick it up and play.
And then there we go.
You're and there's a step you could take.
And, and this is my advice to people is
they're like, if you do that, get the damn
guitar out from under your bed and get a,
$15 guitar stand and put it in the path of
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: it is you're, you're walking.
Right?
you're in your
Seth Casana: Put in your living room.
Yeah.
Brad Frost: or, yeah.
Like between the, the kitchen
and the TV or whatever.
Seth Casana: Put it in front of the tv.
have your unlock password.
Be play the guitar, you know, like
do something to make it pop.
Top of mind.
Right.
Brad Frost: I think that there's this,
like, this, this thing that I think
is really interesting when you talk
about people who have the capacity for
expressing their creative selves, whether,
whether it's writing or photography
or whatever, just get so fascinated
by all of the reasons why they're not
actively, you know, kind of doing their
craft or, or sort of, practicing it,
cultivating it, trying to move towards it.
my antenna just goes up all
the time whenever I hear
people saying I can't, because.
Seth Casana: it's understandable.
It's not, I mean, all the
reasons are, are real reasons.
It's not, they're not faking it.
Right?
Brad Frost: like those
are, those are big things,
Seth Casana: sure.
Brad Frost: be with my kids.
I'm in a period of time where I gotta
make as much money as humanly possible.
Like,
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: the roof is leaking,
Seth Casana: My, my parents are dying,
you know, like stuff happens man.
And I, I don't want to downplay anybody's
life circumstances or reasons, like it's
hard, but compounding that in addition
to the real challenges that people
face on a day-to-day basis, there's
also expectations that don't deserve
as much credit as people give them.
Right?
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: just makes it exponentially
harder to overcome those day-to-day
challenges because you think that unless
I'm doing it a certain way, unless I am
meeting some mark, like you're talking
about, that it's not worth it to even try.
Like, why would I waste my time
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: going to all the trouble?
To do this thing when it's so hard in
the first place and it's so unrealistic.
So many people that I've done to be
very creative lights don't pursue
that aspect of themselves because
they say stuff like, it's unrealistic,
I need something more stable.
This other thing that I'm doing that I
don't like as much, it pays more money.
There's just practical
reasons like that, but
Brad Frost: yeah.
Seth Casana: trying to hold up the
two things to saying, unless the thing
that I'm doing creatively also pays my
rent and puts my kids through college
and stuff, it's not worth doing.
And it's kind of dumb that's really
dismissive, and like, by the way, for
the most of all of humanity, like that
was not how creativity works, right?
That wasn't what it was for.
That's not how it functioned in society.
That's not what the
cultural expectations were.
Like.
Musicians were broke and bouncing
around from town to town,
they were essentially carnies.
Brad Frost: yeah,
Seth Casana: only in this current blip
of a moment in history that it's been
anything else, uh, except for like the
most elite people in the world, right?
The few examples from history where
this is like not the case, they are the
dramatic exception, and everyone else
was just bumbling along playing piano
for their friends, uh, after dinner and
everyone's singing off of sheet music
because that's how you had fun, because
there wasn't any other option, you know?
And we have a lot more options now
and options are great, but like
you've also for, we've forgotten.
A lot in large part that like,
that's the function of it.
The function of it is to be creative,
not to like have a pension, you know?
Uh, it's great if you can do both.
I'm not saying don't do both, but it's
also very valuable from a human aspect
to pursue it in spite of that, you know?
Brad Frost: there's the, Slim reality
that you're going to make a living doing
creative work, uh, in any capacity.
And, you know, some that there's
the reason why the, the web design
and development fields have so
many musicians, the kinda littering
the, the field is like, uh, it's
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: here's these like,
adjacent things that can still
sort of pay the bills and whatever.
But, being in a a 15 passenger
van traveling around the, the, the
country is, is it's hard to raise a
family in that environment and stuff.
So totally get that.
So it's like that decoupling is, is good.
other thing that I think is
interesting, 'cause I hear the
same as well with the whole, here
are all these reasons why I can't.
Do this.
And one of the things that, I've been
trying to do has been to, to kind of break
down again, that, that whole, here's what
these expectations are when you say, oh,
I, I used to be a musician, or in order
to be a musician it, you need to assume a
certain shape and do certain activities.
You're a musician if you pick up
the guitar for, for five minutes,
uh, or you're a pianist if you
sit down at the piano for for five
minutes or you're an artist if you
sketch on, on a napkin, you know?
at lunchtime.
what I found is in my own sort of
reclaiming that my kind of full
creative self and allowing me to do
that stuff when I go through those
really hard seasons of life with really
challenging things and trying to figure
those things out, those outlets that
could sometimes just take the form of.
5, 10, 15 minutes.
If I get longer.
Once in a while, even better, like
giving myself permission to, to
activate that part of myself is
the most healing and restorative
thing that allows me to kind of like
venture back into the, the hard thing.
And, and, and that's that, that,
that false binary of like, oh yeah,
well I gotta earn a living and
take care of my family, therefore
this stuff is fully off limits.
It's like, no, like
there's the five minute?
Version of practicing the thing that gives
you joy, that that fills your cup, that
connects you with your creative self and,
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
just getting, getting rid of all of
that kind of, just narrative that this,
and I don't know like where it comes
from, I guess, like it, that, that's
something that I'm, I'm fascinated by.
'cause it's like, I think that
there are a lot of like extrinsic
factors, but like a lot of it
really does kinda seem like this.
We're just like logical creatures
and they're like, ah, these
things are big and important.
things feel frivolous comparison,
so therefore I won't pursue them.
Seth Casana: Some of it's the way
that that, um, very successful
people in any particular field
are much more visible these days.
So you have something else to
compare to in a way that feels really
visceral that maybe it hasn't had,
been like that for a long time.
And in terms of music specifically,
I think that, music literacy was
probably, more broadly dispersed,
uh, in pa past generations where I.
It was just more, natural to assume that
somebody would be familiar and like,
feel comfortable singing casually with
other people playing an instrument,
um, even if they didn't read music.
But reading music was really the much
more common being able to read music.
'cause that was how you
shared music, right?
That there wasn't recorded music
up until very, very recently,
in the human times scale.
and once recorded music came around,
now you have this whole other way to
transmit music that wasn't actually people
performing it or reading it, you know?
what's interesting to me is that, music is
one of the few things that makes humans,
humans, like we're really good at it and
we think a lot about it and everybody.
intuitively understands it.
It's, you know, you can understand
musical stuff before you can
walk, before you can talk.
Uh, and so that spark is still there.
but the ways that we're
communicating music with each
other are dramatically different.
Um, and the tools to create
music have totally shifted.
Where now, like the computer is sort
of the focus of how it's all supposed
to come together, and the instruments
are just kind of like ancillary players
to help you get a particular sound.
That that is a huge shift.
And we're still sort of like feeling
out what the implications of that are.
They're not all bad.
I'm not trying to, to
downplay any of this stuff.
I think it's great that you can actually
hear recordings from a hundred years ago
of how a particular piece was played or.
what was popular back then?
You know, go, go back to the, uh, charts.
the earliest sort of like top 10 charts
were from like the 1890s, when Edison
cylinders were being sold and stuff,
and it's stuff like John Phillips
Susa was crushing it in the 1890s.
There was a lot, like a
lot of marches being sold.
Um, the one one song that's
like not instrumental, that like
has words that we still know
today is the, uh, hello my baby.
Hello my dog.
Hello Marta gal. That, that
was very popular back then.
Brad Frost: the Charleston.
Seth Casana: yeah.
but trading the technology
aspect of it for the kind of, um.
Cultural heritage of being able to
perform music and feeling comfortable
enough to do that by yourself in
a public setting with friends.
I don't know if it's a great trade off.
I, I wouldn't trade the technology to lose
the, broad cultural aspect of, of where
performance is kind of a more implicitly
assumed from the average person,
Brad Frost: It's, it's really fascinating.
I've had like the, the, the
privilege of traveling to a bunch
of countries and there's real.
Obvious differences and how in
that comfort of performing, of
singing in, front of other people
and just how embedded it is.
Like, Melissa's family is,
is from the Philippines.
And so I've been over
there a couple times.
It's like, they don't like blink an
eye and they're like singing together
in unison and it's freaking beautiful.
and other cultures have that.
But then there's also this, this
reserved and, yeah, I, I like how
you're describing there's this kind of
barrier that has, many ways improved
things and made music more accessible.
But at the same time,
there's been this kind of.
factor where it's like the, it's the
gathering of people in and around
music and that transmission of energy.
That what, whether it's a DJ
setting, and this is fascinating
'cause you're both right.
It's
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: you're, you can play music
and you're out there singing and, and
performing, but then you're also a dj
and it's like there gotta be similarities
and, and differences in the effect
because you're ultimately talking
about the exchange of, of, of music
and you're bringing people together and
people instinctively know what to do
when they receive that, that energy.
But I'm curious to get, like, do
you feel there's like a fundamental
difference in kind of a DJ situation
versus a live band situation?
Seth Casana: No.
And I actually exploit the fact
that there's not a difference
when I'm DJing, I take advantage
of that underlying commonality.
if you've been to a concert.
that's large.
You'll often hear people s
singing along to the song, right?
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: And that's not
cool in a lot of circumstances.
Imagine doing that at an opera.
You would be thrown out at a punk show.
It's probably expected.
If you're standing there very still,
sitting quietly, someone's gonna check
in on you and be like, are you okay?
Is everything cool?
so there's different cultural
expectations about when it's appropriate
to join in as an audience member.
In the performative aspect of
it, in it's singing lyrics,
specifically I'm talking about here.
But when you're DJing there,
there is no, such expectation.
You, nobody's ever gonna get like
mad at you for singing along when a
DJ is performing because you're not.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: with them, you're building
off of, what's happening musically
and sharing your own excitement.
and, and like being in the moment.
And I can tell when I'm doing
a good job DJing by the number
of people who are singing
Brad Frost: Beautiful.
Seth Casana: for the kind of events
that I do, which I do a lot of
weddings these days, but even when
it's not a wedding, you know, and this
doesn't work for all kinds of music.
Again, I wanna be respectful for
the other DJs out there who I'm
about to say, because not everybody,
uh, plays songs that have words.
Not everybody
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: trying to make everybody
like lose their minds dancing.
Right.
Um, and, and I recognize that the
kinds of sets that I do, the kind
of DJ that I am does play a lot
off of nostalgia and like shared.
Cultural backgrounds and stuff.
But even in circumstances when I feel
completely, uh, foreign to whatever's
going on culturally in the music,
like I'm playing for a wedding that
is not an American wedding, right?
Like any other culture where they are
spoonfeeding me what the set list is,
and I'm just like, okay, cool, let's go.
It's in a different language, right?
even then, even in those circumstances,
what's what I'm doing is I'm gauging
not our people dancing, but are,
are they like all out there on
the dance floor singing along?
Right.
And like not just to the chorus,
like the whole song, right?
Like I would throw on Licious.
Okay.
And I want to hear every single
person out there doing the entire
rap, like from front to back.
And just, just killing it.
what that's tapping into
is that innate human
Brad Frost: Yes.
Seth Casana: of music and the
recognition that, like, we're part of
a community, it's a communal activity.
There's, what have we got here?
We got a little DJ choir going on.
It's amazing.
And, and that's really what
I'm like internally measuring.
That's, that's the litmus test
for me is, is my set working?
Is am I in the moment?
Are people feeling what
I'm laying down here?
You know, not, are they doing
the Macarena, that's easy,
are they singing along to the
Macarena or whatever, you know?
Um, and that wouldn't be possible
if, if there weren't some kind
of like common human musical
experience that connects us all.
Right?
Like, 'cause Nope.
I guarantee you if you asked.
Most of the people at any of these
shows, you want to get up and
karaoke that song by yourself.
You clearly know all the words.
You want to get up in front
of a room of people and get
on a microphone and sing it.
Hell no, you couldn't pay me
enough money to do that, would
be the the expected answer.
Sure, you're gonna find some
folks who are like, cool, but,
but it's so much more common.
to meet people who feel
the exact opposite.
They, is no way they would ever
debase themselves by trying to
sing that when clearly, like
they could write down the lyrics.
They know the song.
Brad Frost: Right,
Seth Casana: it's in
there, it's not going away.
Right.
Like somewhere in their persona.
Licious.
they are licious.
You are licious baby.
Right?
Like, and I want people to recognize
that and music helps 'em do that.
And then the communal setting, when
everything clicks, they feel licious.
It's so great.
Brad Frost: that is the, your
gift and that is the service that,
that you're providing and that,
and that is the, the real power
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: all of this.
And, and, and this is, I think
what's really like fascinating.
Is what I've found is that
people need permission
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
Brad Frost: you are giving
them that permission.
You are,
Seth Casana: It's an open invitation.
Brad Frost: But, but it's like
you're, you're out there and
you're modeling that, right?
Like, it's like if you weren't behind
It, if you just like hit play on
an iPod and like, you know, like
walked away or whatever, like you
Seth Casana: it
Brad Frost: that
Seth Casana: could still work.
Brad Frost: for like a bit.
It could it could,
Seth Casana: It could work.
Brad Frost: but I'm, but I,
Seth Casana: You don't need much.
It's true that not
everybody needs a big push.
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: get some people
a little nudge and they're
gonna let their light shine.
Okay.
But what I'm doing is really
lowering the bar as low as possible
to, to say it's even for you.
Even the people who don't think they're
good at dancing, even the people who
feel really socially in inhibited,
even the people who, again, don't
think of themselves as musicians.
Right.
Brad Frost: Yes,
Seth Casana: I'm, I'm not a musician.
Even you baby are gonna be out there
being part of the musical experience, you
know, and, and, and that's hard to do.
That takes a lot of deliberate thought.
That takes, a huge amount of
like practical implementation.
I'm drawing a lot on intuition and being
able to read the dance floor of like, who
is here and what have they told me they
wanna listen to, and what do I know works
and doesn't work in this certain context.
Uh, what have people requested?
I do all of my sets live.
I think about what I'm gonna
do beforehand, but I definitely
don't pre-plan out the set.
Exactly.
You know, it's very, the, the
whole point of it is that it's in
the moment and you're responding
to what's happening in real time.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: And when I.
Learned, like I've been doing this
DJing specifically professionally
for about 10 years, you know, I
started DJing back in college WXJM
at 8.7 fm JMU baby, what's going on?
And, uh, when I learned that there are
people out there who prerecord their
sets or that have exactly the whole set
programmed out and there's no way to
adjust and they don't take requests.
I was like, what are you even doing?
Like, why, why are we here?
What's Yeah.
That's not,
what are you doing?
Why?
I. Work digitally.
Uh, you know, but I've done
vinyl sets before and if it
was vinyl, okay, I get it.
You know, can't bring the second van of
vinyl like we used to in the bad old days.
I know old DJs who said one
van was for the gear and the
other van was for the vinyl.
And that's a lot.
Okay?
And that second van of vinyl, it's,
it's only gonna have like the hits.
You asking for a deep cut,
it's not gonna be there.
Okay?
In that circumstance, maybe
you can be a little more rigid
in, in your set structure, but
we live in a modern age, man.
You have access to the
entirety of recorded music.
you can literally play anything.
You can be programming beats on the fly.
You can be.
Sampling the crowd in real
time and remixing it in front
of a live audience and you're,
you're pre-recording your sets.
Go home, put it on SoundCloud, man.
Like, give some space to somebody
who actually wants to perform.
Brad Frost: you're picking at something
that, that is like really That is,
music is so incredibly powerful.
So there's the, there's the
transmission of, of music, right?
But, like any good conversation or energy
exchange, there's, there's a feedback
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: is, it is live and it is
the, the, the ability to, react and,
you know, improvise and, and create.
a singular experience.
And, and that was something that, it
really took me, and I'm curious to, to ask
you this, but it's like, it took me a long
time actually understand that, that it's
like, oh, okay, this is this real, like I
felt it obviously, like as a musician and
like we'd be playing shows and dynamics
and you're going up and down and you're
like, you know, starting and stopping any
sort of like, change in the energy right?
As we're performing has a reaction
to the audience and, and you end up
sort of beautiful cycle that is all
part of the same musical moment.
But it wasn't until after COVID
kind of started loosening up and
I was able to go back to my first.
of proper con you know, concerts
where I'm like, you know,
paying, paying for a ticket
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: I'm in the crowd.
And I like really understood how
much I missed that, that even as part
of the audience was participating.
And I, and I, and I felt it and
I felt the lack of that over
the, a stretch of a couple years
where I couldn't go to concerts.
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
Brad Frost: was, it was really through
that kind of it ripped away from me
for a while and then kind of coming
back to, to realize that I understood
my role as, as the audience in that.
That singular experience and
that, that's where we all want to
get to because that's what, what
creates the, the elevation, right?
That's what creates the, the, the joy is
in that sort of bi-directional nature.
Uh, it's, it's a conversation even though
You're the only person behind the decks,
Seth Casana: you're a participant
as an audience member, you know,
Brad Frost: Yes.
Seth Casana: make, you help make the
experience and, and if you want an analogy
for that, because a lot of stuff is not
in person these days, it's the difference
between a. Watching a YouTube video of
a concert or a live stream of a concert,
what's happening in a live stream concert?
You got the comment section, right?
Like you got you.
You know that the people are out there.
It, it's happening in real time.
Like there, that is special.
And for a live performance,
that's all that it is.
There's not another thing you
can watch, a recording of it.
Not the same as being there,
and playing to a room full of
people who are not responding
Brad Frost: you know,
Seth Casana: versus playing to a room
of people who are really dialed in.
Oh my gosh.
Everyone knows that's what's special
about any performative art is that, uh,
you know, whether it's working or not.
Right?
Then, you know, for a lot of creative
pursuits, there's kind of a delay in the
act of making it, and then the reception.
Of it and the analysis of it.
in when you are,
Brad Frost: It's like
Seth Casana: in that environment, if
you're trying to like, get people to
pay you to do things, or if you're a
purchaser of those services, there can
be a lot of buyer's remorse, right?
Like, I work with a lot
of wedding photographers.
Brad Frost: this song.
Yeah, yeah,
Seth Casana: No, I, I'm talking about
like the people who are not performative
in, in the moment in some way, right?
Brad Frost: sure, sure.
Yeah.
Seth Casana: I deal with a lot of wedding
photographers and I've heard some real
horror stories about people being upset
with the photos that they saw like several
weeks later when they're finally done.
and I'm so glad that I don't have to deal
with that because you know, right now
in the moments whether what I'm doing is
working and it's very hard to argue with
a full dance floor of people going crazy.
To be like, you're doing a bad job.
And I'm like, well, they
disagree with you, you know?
And, um,
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: so, but that's, but
that's a real, that's a real thing.
You know, the, the simultaneous of
it, the group experience of it, tho
those are intangibles, but powerful.
having that timeframe when,
when it was unsafe to experience
that, really, I agree.
Put it in stark contrast, the
co coming back those, I saw the
killers capital Stadium, like in
DC And I was like, oh my gosh.
Like
Brad Frost: yeah.
Seth Casana: just ev that first year
coming, coming out when you could go
to concerts again, every person who
came out on stage, there was a moment
that when they first walk on, they
took the first step on stage and they
hear the crowd be like, yeah, right.
And you could see on their face
it's just like, oh my gosh.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: know?
Like,
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: it's crazy.
It it's magical, you know?
Brad Frost: it, it real, it really is.
It's, it's it's magic and it's powerful
and everyone, I feel like should, go see
more live music, I think because of that.
Because, because I think what's,
what's really fascinating, you
know, in this moment in time,
I feel like is particularly
challenging on a lot of levels.
I feel that hopelessness tends to take
root there's this just kind of, there's
just this daily bombardment with just.
crap.
Right?
The world's woes and everything sucks,
and we're all just trying to grind away.
And we're, again, we're, we
got the bills to pay, we got
these like things to, to do.
it can often just feel like there's just,
again, like we already talked about with
just our own personal creativity, it's
like, ah, there's like just no room for
exuberance or there's no room for joy,
or there's no room for, for this stuff.
And, and that's why like as time's
gone on, I'm like, oh my God.
Like things, things like live music, which
historically I've always, you know, really
enjoyed, uh, both as a recipient of it,
you know, or, or sort of audience member,
participant, or as a, as a performer.
I've always really loved it.
But now like I. I think I'd like
really understand, like at, at a, I've
developed a much deeper appreciation
for it, for the role that it plays and
really sort of tearing people out that,
that hopelessness of that just kind
of normal rut that, that like, here's
the, yeah, we're all doom scrolling.
We're all just getting like
the, the latest, uh, You know,
dose of whatever crap is is
happening and there is just Yeah.
Despair and hopelessness and normalcy.
then you go to a show or, or,
or to your DJ set or, or to, to
anything that's, that's happening.
And you're reminded,
Seth Casana: You get reset.
Brad Frost: you're ripped away from
that and that, and that has a, that
has a long tail that doesn't just end.
The moment, the last note of the song is
played right, uh, of, of the last song.
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: like, that carries you,
Seth Casana: It's restorative.
Brad Frost: carries people.
Yeah.
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: It's, um, it's a restorative
process that help, that reminds you.
Of what's good in life.
You I, definitely felt the absence
talking about the pandemic and its
impact on, on live performances.
You know, my band, uh, LB Brass play Tuba
and sing, and there is definitely no way
that you can get a bunch of horn players
together in a room safely blowing, spit
everywhere, shouting at each other like
Brad Frost: I,
Seth Casana: that.
That's wasn't gonna work.
We, we, over a year, we couldn't,
we couldn't even practice.
You know, we, we've been a
band 16 years at this point.
It's the one gap in the time when
we weren't publicly performing,
for over a year, that first
part of the pandemic there.
And then even getting back,
we had to be real safe.
We went to a, like a campground,
a huge outdoor open walled picnic,
awning, and we're, we're all
standing like 20 feet apart, like.
Eight people taking up the whole
pavilion, playing with, we did whatever
we needed to do to make it work.
But, I really felt the absence of all of
what we're talking about in my own life.
that's when I, I made the walking disco.
It was a project of desperation, you know,
to overcome some of those challenges.
which is a, uh, chest mounted,
battery powered DJ set up.
and, uh, it's, it's powered by a dead
and prime go, it's the smallest DJ
recorder that has professional, Outputs
and all of the features that are needed.
There's, this came out in
2019, if you can imagine.
I don't know what, what the
product designers had done and
thought the market was for this.
But when I saw it in 2019 before the
pandemic, immediately my thought was, wow.
I could like strap that to my chest
and walk around with it, not thinking
I would ever actually 'cause like
it's not cheap, but, and how would I
do that and why would I even do that?
But, uh, you know, two years
later I had a lot of compelling
reasons of why to do all of that.
So I bought one and I found
a, uh, like a little speaker.
It's and I bought those two things.
vaccines are coming out and I'm like,
okay, I, and I gotta do something.
Right.
I've been like, miserable, depressed, you
know, taking care of my infant daughter.
My wife's going crazy as a nurse,
like dealing with everybody who's sick
and, and I was like, this could work.
And I, I bought the two things and
before I even had all of the rest of
the harness, I was like, plug them
into each other and I'm holding like.
You know, $2,000 worth
of equipment in my hands.
And I walked down to the
bar at the end of my street.
I'm like, Hey guys, look at this.
It works.
It did it.
I'm gonna do it.
And like, just play.
They're like, great job, Seth.
Go back home.
You know, like, so then, um, you
know, I had the marching band drum
carriers and from the, from El Brass,
Brad Frost: is like the, the harness,
Seth Casana: like,
you're gonna play snare.
Yeah.
You have the harness
and the snare attaches.
So take the snare off and put on
my custom designed aluminum harness
chassis that I had a friend of a friend
fabricate out of aluminum for me.
That thing is rock solid.
And then strap all those pieces in
together and then I can just walk around.
Hey.
And uh, and
Brad Frost: you're missing an important
Seth Casana: that came later.
The disco ball helmet came later.
At first I went it, Natural.
But yeah, the, you know, but the
vision was always that I would have
a disco ball helmet to go with it.
completing the, the package.
but the concept of it was that I
could just go out on the street,
I could be walking around, I could
be socially distanced from people,
and I was essentially busking,
but just really doing it again.
uh, it's about that connection on
the street with whoever is right in
front of you really showing them that
like their life could be a lot more
interesting if they wanted it to be.
Brad Frost: Yeah, yeah.
Seth Casana: I get a
lot of confused looks.
I get a lot of people who maybe
I. Are not into it, which is fine.
That's the also the nice thing if you're
not into it, I can just skedaddle, I
can just go walk somewhere else, right?
I don't need permission to show up,
but I'm also not trying to punk people.
You know, there's some, there's a few
other people out there now, uh, who are
doing similar things, at the time also.
But, but some of them were
very much in the vein of like,
we want to cause some drama.
We want to cause some controversy here.
Brad Frost: Okay.
Seth Casana: and again, getting
back to like live streaming, talking
about a little live streaming
versus in person performance.
The people who are punking folks
are always live streaming because
they're not, they're treating the, the
individuals around them as like props.
And the audience is some disembodied
internet audience that gets a
kick out of like, that's not
me, I want what's happening.
I want like the one person right in
front of me right now to be like having
a moment that's gonna change their
whole day for the better, you know?
just create some joy on the street.
Marathons are great, you know,
because you got 10,000 people
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: by doing
something really hard.
And then they turn the corner
and I'm there in my getup,
pumping some really upbeat, happy
song, and they're like, whoa.
And then they keep going, and then that
happens like 10,000 times in an hour.
It's great.
Brad Frost: Amazing.
Amazing.
Yeah.
That is, that is like a
perfect environment where
Seth Casana: Yeah,
Brad Frost: like literal,
literal pump up music.
you're, you're a weird milestone.
they're probably like the finish line or
after they've, they've vised their feet.
They're like, did you see that guy?
Seth Casana: I've got
people who come back.
I've been doing it enough now.
They're like, oh, remember me?
I've got marathon friends who
are like expecting me to be the
walk disco while I'm out there.
They're like, yeah, baby.
I got my, get my selfie for the year.
Brad Frost: one thing that's interesting
and, and this is something I think
that we both share, the sort of
intersection between, I feel like
music, fun, But also like, like
legitimacy and, and like originality.
Like there's, there's this kind of
like strange like brew of, know, 'cause
obviously wearing a disco ball helmet, uh,
is not something that everybody is doing.
Seth Casana: Granted,
Brad Frost: carry yourself a certain way.
Seth Casana: you gotta
have a certain mindset
Brad Frost: As
Seth Casana: be cool with that.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
But like, could you like, talk about like,
that, intersection, I feel like between
kind of like, I, I don't know if you wanna
call it like humor, but like, certainly
like, like whimsy or like, like some other
sort of like lightheartedness that is like
a pretty key ingredient in your creativity
Seth Casana: it talking about how does
humor or levity or lightheartedness
joy inform my creative work?
You could contrast that with
really important creative work
that is not any of those things.
You know, I think for a lot of people,
the way that they're channeling
their creativity is to express.
Dark stuff that they're
experiencing, you know?
Brad Frost: Yes.
Seth Casana: And that, that's important.
That's valid, you know,
but it ain't, it ain't me.
You know,
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: even the things that,
that are the hardest in my life,
you know, they come out in a way
where I want to work through it, it,
I want you to experience me on the
other side of it, not at the bottom.
You know?
That's not the, that's not the part
that I want that be on the album I
want other people to get there too.
I want people to know
that you can get there.
Like, everybody's going through something.
No, nobody gets out.
Alive
Brad Frost: Yep,
Seth Casana: but it doesn't
have to be a slog the whole way.
And the things that, that I gravitate
towards are the absurd aspect
of it, the joyful aspects of it.
I want people to be shocked
into a smile when they see
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: I'm doing.
'cause I want them to
know it can be better.
Right?
Like,
Brad Frost: yeah,
Seth Casana: knows it can be worse.
I just want people to
know it can be better.
Brad Frost: yeah.
Seth Casana: And I've got such a clear.
Perspective that, that I
feel fully confident of that.
I don't mind being a little
dorky or goofy to make it happen.
I've got a very low anxiety level.
it's, it's one of my superpowers
that, that I wish more people had.
'cause it's not always good.
It's, it's not, it gets me in trouble.
Uh, and it, and it causes interpersonal
problems when I have to remember
other people feel a lot more anxiety.
Brad Frost: yeah,
Seth Casana: I have to like consciously
remind myself that not everybody
experiences the world the way that I do.
But what that does allow me is to just
like, walk out on stage in front of
a big giant room full of strangers
and be like, Hey gang, we're gonna
have a lot of fun here tonight.
And then everybody actually have fun.
And I've been doing
that a really long time.
Like, I feel really
comfortable in that setting.
Not to take away from anybody else's
creative expression, but the things
that I want people to get out of mine
is that you're allowed to enjoy life.
And I wanna show you how
Brad Frost: Yeah.
love that because there's, there's
almost like a, there's like a
contrast of the optics of it.
and I feel like the, the deeper
philosophical underpinnings of
it, I feel that a bit in my own.
Seth Casana: the optics of it.
Brad Frost: feel like I'm like the optics.
Yeah.
I have seen you Where, uh, samurai outfit,
uh, like armor built out of computer
keyboards swinging a, a mace, uh, full of,
computer mice on, on stage and, you know,
a a, uh, a moped helmet with, with, uh,
bowling trophies, duck duct tape to it,
Seth Casana: Yep.
Brad Frost: We probably should have just
like, led with, with some of that stuff.
But it's like, that's the
thing that you're like, oh wow.
in that, for as long as I've known
you, it sets a stage for a certain
type of, experience to happen.
I love that there is,
it's not just, don't know.
'cause it's fun.
It, and it is that, but there's
actually a lot of like depth in that.
And I think that's the thing that I am
trying to cultivate a little bit more
and explore through the show and beyond
is like, depths of fun and enthusiasm
in humor and, and absurdity and all of
those kind of more like positive qualities
tend to be thought of as, frivolous or
how could you be even entertaining this
type of attitude when there's so much
hard shit going on in the world and it,
and it's like, it's like, no, no, no.
Like this is actually really
important, this is it.
This is not like kids stuff.
Like this is not frivolous.
This is actually a really important part
of the antidote to the, to the other
end of the, the, the human spectrum.
Yeah.
Seth Casana: You know, the DC punk
scene is rich and like 40, 50 decades
old, you know, that years old.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: I, I'm not in it, that's
not my scene, but I really respect,
the community and for them, it's
like the music is just the excuse
for their community to get together.
And they not to say that it's
performing the kind of music that the
bands in that scene perform doesn't
take skill, but they don't care.
It's like way less important
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: that you are
technically proficient or, you know,
Brad Frost: Yes.
Seth Casana: using very odd chord
arrangements or something, the concert
is sort of an excuse to address real
social problems and build solidarity and
fundraise money for important causes.
Like the music's just sort of the
vehicle to make that stuff happen.
That's the point of it all.
If, if they weren't doing that,
they would, could lodge the
same, co complaints, you know,
like, it, why are you doing this?
It's so frivolous, and, and I think
there's some validity to that, right?
because you could, if you look at
somebody who is a musician and they
feel really hedonistic and there doesn't
seem to be a lot else beyond that,
you can say like, what are you doing?
Right?
And I even, I even, I, you know,
in this moment, especially thinking
to myself, what, what am I doing?
Right?
Like, come to my party please.
You know, like it can feel really
bad am I focusing on the wrong thing?
Could I be spending my time better?
Are there more important issues that,
that my energy could be going towards?
And like we've been talking about this
whole time, once you actually get into
that moment when you're really doing it,
when it's not just simply hedonistic.
But there is some deeper
connection going on.
It reminds you, oh yeah.
Oh, okay.
People, people needed this.
I needed this.
I feel that way after every time, but
currently it's been a lot harder going in.
it's easier to forget that that's how
it's gonna feel on the other side.
I found myself having to be that
much more, regimented in just being
like, you know what you gotta do?
You know the motions you gotta go through.
You gotta put all the pieces
in place and make it happen.
'cause then when it happens,
you're gonna feel better.
That's been really hard recently.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
that stark contrast is, is the hard
that you're feeling is that like, this,
this moment feels so incredibly rough
again, to to to exist anywhere on the
other end of the, the human experience
feels like I don't, I don't know.
And, and what I've like learned is that
like, sort of what I'm, what I'm starting
to pick at a little bit is that there are
like people that really operate really
well in that sort of, they're able to
fight fire with fire, for instance, right?
Like they're able to like show up.
There, there are people, term I had it
described, me by a, by a friend is, uh.
Istic plurality.
And what it is, what it, what it means
is, is it's like there are people who
fight by whatever throwing a brick through
a window or something like that, right?
And it's like, at some level it's
like, you could be like, okay,
that's one way to address this.
There's other people that
are like, get out the vote.
There's other people that are,
you know, sign these petitions,
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: money, do stuff like that.
And none of these things are
mutually exclusive, but they exist
like along a spectrum, right?
And there's like, I feel like what's
kind of one, what's been the sort
of predominant thing is it's like
there's negative stuff happen.
We all need to focus our energy and
attention towards addressing that.
We need to address that through
this band of, of fighting,
against the stuff.
And I think what's fascinating
is that there's this whole other.
Aspect of human experience that actually
is like, can be wielded in order to,
to move things in the right direction.
After all, the hell is it all for?
Right?
Like
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: we need to be able to show
there are better ways of being, that
there are better ways of existing.
That we are all the same and we all can
all sing the words of licious or, or, or
to just be reminded of our, of our sort
of, you know, humanity and our, and our
sort of like shared human values, right?
And, and it's like that party, right?
That, that joyful, that exuberant
experience is just as important and is
an important part of the broader fight
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
We all.
Brad Frost: a better place, right?
Seth Casana: we've got warriors
and clerics, but we've also got
Bards, you know, like every,
Brad Frost: Yeah,
Seth Casana: we each have our own
character class and we each bring our own
strengths and weaknesses to the table.
Brad Frost: yeah.
Seth Casana: And, and it doesn't
have to be a single front battle.
It's true.
You know,
Brad Frost: and especially like when you
think about what those bards are doing,
like, and I see comedy in this way a lot.
It's like there's just so much can be
said in through these mediums that that
literally can't be said any other way.
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: like you, you could just
like read out the couple sentences of
declarative, you know, just prose, here's
this, here's like the logic or whatever.
But it's really in those narratives,
it's really through the, the lens
of, of the arts and stuff that, that
you get real potency to, to a message
Seth Casana: Humor is such an effective
tool for pointing out absurdity,
for pointing out hypocrisy, for
speaking truth to power, you know,
because it's really disarming in a
way that a direct confrontation would
instantly put up people's defenses.
Um, you can talk about subjects if you do
it artfully, that are taboo in a way that
people, that really resonates with people.
You can, really tap in to people's
anxiety in a way that feels positive,
you know, uh, that feels joyful.
That, that says like, okay,
yeah, things are really hard.
But, uh, it, it's kind of silly, right?
Like it, you can, when you, when you do
it the right way, it can, it can really
make a. a large enemy seems small.
and, and music in the same way can
help you process, uh, emotions, express
emotions that, uh, in a, in a communal
way that is really hard to rival.
Um, and, and that's just as important
to, to dismiss either of those aspects
of the human experience as somehow,
like lesser than or, or not, as,
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: not as critical to
confronting real problems in the
world would be to throw away some
really important tools that have
taken us, uh, eons to develop.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's, it, it is
really, it's like, yeah.
When you think of those eons, it's
like, yeah, we're a bunch of small
tribes warring with each other out
through things, and it's really only
been through the, evolution of how we
learn to cooperate with one another.
Seth Casana: the,
Brad Frost: we get to society as, as
Seth Casana: yeah.
Brad Frost: today.
Seth Casana: Music has been
theorized to be one of the ways
that information was transmitted
in, in the earliest human cultures.
The, you would sing a song and
it would be something like, don't
go over that mountain because
our grandfather died when he did.
You know?
And then you would remember that,
and then you wouldn't do that.
Don't eat the red mushrooms
because you will die.
You know, it was probably a lot about
like, what killed you, you know?
Um, when you see the flowers
bloom, it's time to go have sex.
You know, like whatever it was, people
ha that was a way before writing,
before, you know, anything like that.
It was a way to codify and transmit
knowledge across generations.
And so people who are able to do that
well could, could build up a community
knowledge store and, and, um, be
more effective as a society that way.
Uh, and we've just, I just hope
we never lose that, you know?
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Oh no, a hundred, a hundred percent.
And, and, and, and like using music as a
way, as we've all of been talking about
in this conversation is like, it's like
if you are there, if you are on that dance
floor, if you are in that room, if you're
in that venue, you're part of the the in
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Brad Frost: so like that ability.
galvanize a group of people to, to
unify them under the same sort of
experience, like emotional experience and
Seth Casana: Mm-hmm.
Brad Frost: is so incredibly
powerful for, for doing this.
And this is why, you know, like
that, that, you know, music as a
universal language, like reminding
us of, of our oneness and stuff.
Like, man, oh man, this is some
potent stuff that we're talking about.
And, and again, it's, it's to, to
trivialize it or to diminish it or to
see it as like less than, it's like I, I
think that there's a real opportunity to,
to kind of like shine the light on it.
I feel like these, these more
positive of being and, and positive
aspects of the human experience to,
to try to like really shine a light.
On that and to focus that as, as a
vehicle, as a way of, getting out, from
this, like just kind of what feels like
a really negative feedback loop there
are different ways of doing things.
There are ways of being together.
There are ways of, living
under like the same tent.
There are ways to bring people together.
There are ways to cut across differences.
There are ways to get us all
out on the dance floor and,
and move into the same beat.
get out there, go to go to
Fredericksburg, Virginia and to go to
a, a restaurant or, or a bar or a venue
and, and, and listen to some music
Seth Casana: Yeah.
Brad Frost: people.
Seth Casana: I'd say
Brad Frost: do your soul some good.
Seth Casana: if you're feeling
lonely, read an actual book
and then go see a concert.
it will, it will at least jog you
out of whatever funk you're in.
You know?
If nothing else, if you don't make
a friend or learn something about
yourself, you'll at least like
give yourself a reset, you know?
Brad Frost: no, it's beautiful.
Ah, it's beautiful.
I love it.
a few things, uh, before we go, so,
so we've talked about a number of
your projects, um, but like, where
could people learn more about you and,
and support you and, and check you
Seth Casana: yeah.
Uh, big Wig Productions is
bigwig Live, LIVE and you can
find my link to Instagram.
That's where I posting most of
the shows for the venues and
the people that I work with.
Um, uh, my band, LB Brass, ELBY brass.com.
Uh, we're still playing, still
playing Summa, still wearing
the marching band uniforms.
Uh, still out there.
We're recording an album this
year, so trying to get that
out by the end of the year.
New original stuff, for my dj.
Steph Seth casana.com.
Uh, if you're trying to book me or if
you just wanna see what's interesting
on Instagram, it's at walking disco.
you can see my HTICs there, post
little snippets from the shows.
yeah, that's, um, that's most of it.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Seth Casana: I'm out there a lot.
Brad Frost: de definitely, definitely
check out all of all of SES music.
And then the, the last question that
I've asked everybody, uh, beyond, your
own music, what music would you love
more people to know about and listen to?
Seth Casana: I mean, I really love pec.
Uh, I feel like they've become much
more high profile over recent years,
which I'm really happy for them.
But if you haven't checked them out,
these, these are some of the nastiest
musicians that are just like doing their
own thing and, and doing it their own way.
It's really inspiring to see in such a
good groove, um, if you're, if you want
something that's a little bit more chill,
um, the Band Lake, outta Washington, they
did like the Adventure time, theme song.
They've done like a
lot of stuff with them.
That, that's the band.
Their band is called Blake.
I have become obsessed recently
with like all their albums.
I never watched that show.
Like I've seen bits and pieces
of it here or there, but I wasn't
like an adventure time fan.
Uh, like some people are.
I know that it's a really like
meaningful show to a lot of people.
So if it is, then you are definitely gonna
love going into the actual bands albums.
These things are.
Like in heavy rotation when I come home
and I just want to like, chill out and,
and like kind of calm down for the day.
It's, it's such, it's such a, a
deeply connecting but, and, and
quirky, musical corpus there.
yeah.
In Lake Street Dive, I love so much.
I've seen them live a bunch of times.
Uh, they, again, they are, I, I just
really love, uh, the kind of joyful
but also emotional, creative and, uh,
brilliantly technically executed songs
that they're writing and performing
Brad Frost: Beautiful.
Yeah.
That's great.
Yeah.
No,
Seth Casana: Few Lakes.
How do we get two lakes in there?
Brad Frost: two Two lakes.
Seth Casana: to Lake and
then go to Lake Street Dive.
I like lakes.
I do like lakes.
I grew up with Lakewood of Pasa.
Brad Frost: there we go.
Seth Casana: Brad, it's been a joy.
Thank you.
Brad Frost: Yeah.
Thank you so much.
Yeah, thank you so much
for, for being here.
This is great.