Casper Allen & The Naturals – Damned Old Sun

By starrymag | May 12, 2025

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

A) Shawn [Hess] and I were just talking about how every time we try to describe it, it sounds sooooo much lamer than it is. I guess it’s all the blues, if you look at it right.

Q) Who are some of the band’s musical influences?

A) Oh, we listen to everything. Some days it’s Roy Orbison, some days it’s Neil Young, some days it’s New Edition.

Q) The Naturals came together after what was supposed to be a one time project. Talk about how you discovered your chemistry was worth exploring a longer creative partnership. 

A) We just played! and it just felt GOOD! We’re all buddies and it just made sense. 

Q) Tell us the story behind your breezy yet harrowing new single “Damned Old Sun.” What do you think it is about the single that fans connect to? 

A) I’ve always admired bands like The Cure that can write these saccharine pop melodies that make you dance, with lyrics that tap into heartbreak and alienation. And I think it’s kinda the first time I’ve succeeded at trying to do that myself.

Q) “Damned Old Sun” is a deeply personal exploration of a life gone off track. Did you find catharsis in its creation? 

A) I was going through a divorce so, yeah. And if you ever wanna make a breakup more confusing, just go through it on the beach.

Q) The music video for “Damned Old Sun” feels like a trip down memory lane, reminiscent of one’s favorite indie film. How did you come up with the simple, effective aesthetic of it? 

A) Me and my buddy Mario were just hanging out in LA with my video guy, BabyFlex, and it just happened naturally. Shout out to Mario by the way—he just caught a three year sentence for a gun case, but he’s holdin it down and I have so much love and respect for that guy.

Q) What is your songwriting process? Do melodies come before lyrics?

A) It really just depends. I write lyrics all the time without melody but for “Damned Old Sun,” for instance, they came out together.

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

A) Both of my hands are all the way in. Ruebin Buchanan engineers everything on 4-track tape and the four of us talk direction. Then, I take the tapes to my buddy Ben Waligoske and he and I work out any overdubs and effects stuff together.

Q) With this track out now is it a prelude to a full album or EP?

A) We dropped another single on May 2nd called “Natural 7” and a 4-track EP on 5/15. We’ve got two whole records done that were just sitting on til the time is right…

Q) The band was a recent guest at SXSW this year. Share one of your favorite stories from the festival. 

A) Oh, the last show we played was at White Horse where I have a TON of history — I know and love all the employees and it was my favorite place to get drunk for years. We had our homies Willy McGee and Spaceman Sam Norris sit in on lead guitars and a buncha other Austin friends sit in for vocals and guitars. Willy had a Texas-shaped guitar on one side of the stage and Sam had a cowhide-wrapped Les Paul on the other side. Me and the boys ate about a quarter-zip of mushrooms before we got on stage and it was just MAGICAL. It felt like I was in Lynyrd Skynyrd for an hour and a half. Fucking best night ever. The whole room was communicating back with us and everyone that was there was SO present. It really felt like everything came together to show me and Shawn and Cooper that we’re on the right path as a band. And that we have a real connection with the audience when we loosen our inhibitions and just LIVE in the music.

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the near future? 

A) The band might have a different answer than me but… as far as producers, I’d say Jon Brion (that’s always been a dream for me). And as far as artists go, I’d love to collaborate with LUCKI or Earl Sweatshirt in some capacity. Or Z-Ro. Or Isaiah Rashad. Or if I could just MEET Future. And where visual art is concerned, I’d love to collaborate with this artist BluetheGreat, who’s from Dallas and I really admired when I was in high school.

Q) What artists are you currently listening to and what about that caught your ear? 

A) I go through phases where I really just explore or reexamine one or two artists at a time and I’ve been on a HEAVY Future kick. His mixtape run from Monster to Beast Mode to 56 Nights to Dirty Sprite 2 to Purple Reign to Save Me is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting and groundbreaking runs in American music. Future fascinates me. And I really hope that his work will be appreciated more than his celebrity eventually. He just taps into such a wide range of emotions and manages to sound so disconnected and so vulnerable at the same time. Go listen to the second half of “Throw Away” or put on “Xanax Damage” and he’s just…he’s a genius.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of your work?

A) WASSAM?!?!?! LET’S GROOVE!