Steven Brown, Andy Bennette and Bryn Daniels, were teens when the seeds of C-Saim were first sown. Beginning as a hard rock outfit and evolving into something more jangly and punk-ish, the band was all about the live energy they generated.
Working with various engineers and producers, the band started to realise the excitement of the live gigs was difficult to duplicate in a studio. Each time a recording was completed the result didn’t quite hit the mark. By the time their first single, Night Air/Give and Take, was released, rifts had appeared born of frustration over the direction writing and production was going. So with a pile of vinyl waiting to be distributed, the band split up and went their separate ways.
Bryn, Steven and Andy then spent the following years with various bands and other projects and very occasionally caught up with each other. Sadly in 2013, Steven lost his battle with cancer and the world lost a fun and inspiring individual. Up to that time there had been no thoughts of the band working together again but Steven’s passing prompted a bit more communication between Bryn and Andy.
There was talk of the two doing some recording together but nothing happened until 10 years later when the time finally seemed right. Rather than working together on new songs Bryn and Andy decided there was a trove of ideas from the past that had never really been finished - the focus back then had been more about the live shows and less about serious song writing.
So with experience in other bands and much studio work behind them, they began pulling a plan together to regenerate C-Saim and continue what was started long ago. But this time round Andy and Bryn were going to be self producing to capture that live energy in the studio recordings. The results so far have seen the sound heading into the post-punk genre which, whilst a little general, does cover the energy and eclectic nature of the recordings and the songs yet to come.
Teaming up with studio owner/engineer Steve Carlaw, who would also be co-producing, C-Saim began rearranging, rewriting and recording. The first single, ESP, was released in March ‘24 with ‘Out Of My Depth’ following in June.
Whilst the plan so far has been to produce a series of singles through the year, it is hoped that, with the right people, C-Saim will start playing live shows again and taking up where they left off in 1983 with new purpose.
Work began early this year, recording an album that we would like to see released by the end of 2024. Best laid plans etc mean it may take a little longer to finish but at least it's in progress. We may even decide to release singles through the year and then group them all in a collection with a few bonuses rather than release an album in the traditional sense.
So few singles will be released throughout the year and the first two, ESP and Out Of My Depth are already out there for you to stream. Work has started on the next track, Sordid Dreams, and we are hoping that will be ready for release some time in August. In the meantime we might be putting a video together for Out Of My Depth which will end up on Youtube shortly.
We are lucky enough to be working here with Steve Carlaw who is a brilliant mix and mastering engineer. The state-of-the-art studio is equipped with latest digital kit and even some unique tech designed and built by Steve. The coffee is pretty good too.
The working title of 'Unfinished Business' references the fact many of the songs were partly written years ago when Steve was part of the band. Now we are dipping into the melting pot of material and re-arranging, re-producing, and re-writing. We'll also be including some completely new songs if there's enough room! As times have changed it may even be that we release a load of singles and then issue a compilation with a couple of bonus tracks. Watch this space!
Just released at the beginning of June, Out of my Depth started out as a story of teenage crushes and by the end of the recording had evolved into a tale of delusion and obsession. It also turned out very different to the original demo we started with. It's always fascinating to look back at how a song develops in a studio.
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