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The Band

Fifteen years ago,  Biz Denton and Joe Bothamley met for the first time. Two young Yorkshire lads who found themselves in a hall every Saturday morning hitting bin lids, xylophones and anything else that ‘made-noise-when-hit.’ They were both members of a youth percussion ensemble, which would be the place where a shared excitement for creating and performing live music would push Biz and Joe to start playing music together.

After living in London for a couple of years with their first band, Biz and Joe decided to head back up North to form Kasiuss.

“Being in London was a priceless experience for us, and we loved it, but we couldn’t afford to gig outside of London. We decided to move home to the much more affordable, not to mention healthier lifestyle of North Yorkshire, and set out to form the band.”

Kasiuss was born in the spring of 2009, and a culmination of events helped in the forming of the band.

“Biz had been through some hard times. We had built a strong bond and new that this was what we wanted to do forever. The experiences Biz had encountered really affected his song writing in a positive way. It is brilliant that music can help you make something positive out of particularly difficult times.”

Biz and Joe started performing as a two piece in and around their home town to start with, and within a few months they had a strong following of regular fans coming to watch every gig. This led to them branching out into the surrounding cities of Leeds and York.

During the time that Biz and Joe spent as a two piece, they knew at some point soon they’d need more band members. The pair felt that the best way of finding good committed musicians was to get out there and gig, with the hope of finding people along the way.

This approach paid off for the pair, and the line-up of the band came together with Adam Odle on Lead Guitar and Dan Mizen on Bass Guitar. Adam started out playing Bass for the band, but in the process of finding their way, the band realised he would be best suited on Lead Guitar. Adam was passionate about this change and couldn’t wait to get stuck in.  Dan owns a studio that Kasiuss used to rehearse and track song ideas.

“I wasn’t expecting to get offered a place in Kasiuss, I was always a fan of the band and through recording and mixing some tracks for them I knew we were all on the same wavelength musically, so I was delighted when I got the call, and I felt that I could bring something to the table that would benefit them.”  Explains Dan.

This is when the band’s direction truly settled in. They started recording their own material in Dan’s studio and filmed performance based videos for them to allow their fans to get into the new material.

The sound of Kasiuss is hard to pigeon hole. Flitting from the emotive, heart tugging songs like ‘City Lights’, to the quirky, uplifting sound of songs like ‘Give Me Seasons’.

“Biz is constantly writing, and he isn’t afraid to write songs that are sonically different from each other. This is something we like to do as it keeps the music interesting for the listener. Biz draws his lyrical content from experience and situations, so the stories are always going to differ, and we like our music to relate to that change people feel throughout the different trials of their lives.”

Kasiuss have set out with a work ethic that works for them perfectly- To do the things they love to do as often as possible. 

“It sounds simple and it is. We don’t like to over complicate things. We love to write and record music, we love to film videos and have a laugh, and we REALLY love to gig, so that’s what we do.”

2012 onwards is going to be exciting for Kasiuss; showing as many people as possible what they are about and continuing to better themselves. With national touring, Radio airplay, and performances at Leeds and Reading Festivals already under their belt, their traditional ‘band’ attitude to getting themselves out there can only continue to increase the momentum they have built from the ground upwards.

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