Cas Lucas

Modern Rock with a 1920's blues sensibility. Hybrid Delta Funk. Has taken the Bay Area by Storm. This talent from the East Coast has the versatility of playing Solo or with his own self-created group and other bands such as hip hip artist Ken Phlow, and the Cas Lucas Blues Band.
Contact Cas Directly

Song Previews and Downloads	Format(s)
Feelin'	download mp3
Dream a Window	download mp3
Home	download mp3
By and By	download mp3
Blind	download mp3

Upcoming Shows	Venue
Check website, he is always playing	click here for dates

Band's Other Web Sites
Official Cas Lucas Website
MP3.com page

Discography
Album Name	Purchase URL(S)	Price
Giving it Back		$11.99
One Takes		$9.99

BOOKING INFORMATION

Available for Solo Blues Sets and Origninal Band Bookings at all types of events and venues.
Contact Chameleon Music at 415.282.2927 for bookings.

Band Biography

Raised outside Orlando in central Florida, a place not usually assorted with the blues, Cas Lucas received his first acoustic guitar at age six. Tracing the roots of the rock and roll, soul, and hip hop music he gravitated to in his teen years, he discovered the music of post-war blues legends like Robert Johnson, Son House and Blind Lemon Jefferson. It was the virtuostic guitar work of these pioneering delta blues greats, as well as the playing of contemporary players such as Ben Harper, Kelly Joe Phelps, and John Mooney, that led to Lucas taking up slide guitar.

Though he had been performing in bands and solo throughout his high school years and playing guitar since he could remember, picking up the slide was a musical rebirth. "It was like starting from scratch in a sense," said Lucas. "I really took to it though. The chops came to me very easily. Within a couple months I was already playing Robert Johnson and Son House songs. I knew I had stumbled onto something" it just came naturally." Soon after this discovery Lucas got his national steel guitar, the same style used by many past and present acoustic blues players.

Combining the traditional delta roots of Johnson and House with modern influences, Lucas’s brand of blues is a hybrid of delta, funk, rock, and soul music. Performing traditionals, original blues, and slide guitar adaptations of songs by a diverse selection of modern artists such as Paul Simon, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, and Sting, Lucas brings a lot to the table in his solo performances.

Lucas studied blues history as well as composition, performance, and production in Amherst Massachusetts at Hampshire College where he received a BA in May 2000. At Hampshire Lucas had the good fortune of studying with legendary multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef. His influence added a new element to Lucas’s playing. "Though I never studied one on one with Dr. Lateef, just playing in his performance seminars showed me how broad the tonal spectrum could be within a piece of music, " said Lucas. "It made me want to go beyond the standard 1,4,5 progression of traditional blues music. Though I don’t play atonal music for my own pleasure, Yusef’s compositions, concepts, and playing showed me that there really are no wrong notes."

Since leaving college, Cas has set up camp in Northern California living outside San Francisco in nearby Berkeley. The other half of Cas's musical split personality are the original electric and acoustic grooves he lays down in the Cas Lucas Band. This trio which features Jordan Brysk on bass and drummer Tim Bulkley (also a major player on the local jazz scene) gigs freaquently in both San Francisco and the East Bay. The CLB has been compared to Dave Matthews, Paul Simon, and the Police, playing a funk infused mix of blues, soul, jazz, and good ole' southern rock and roll. Be ready to tap your foot. Cas now lives in Berkeley, where he teaches delta blues slide guitar and acoustic blues for a living. Give him a call, if you're interested in finding your feeling for the blues.

Band News

News:

Cas has started work with his newest group/recording project Groove Incorporated. Working with San Leandro-based DJ/producers Steve ass and Harold butt, Groove Inc. will be a combination of some of Cas’s more pop/groove-oriented original tunes with electronic drums, mixing, samples, as well as other acoustic and electric instruments. The trio hopes to come away with a multi-textured, high-impact sound that hits you in the way a Beck, Hendrix, Portishead, Sting, or Pink Floyd record might. The rough demos from these sessions have been very well received, and Groove Inc. plans to be churning out its first album over the next year or so.

Ass and Butt were co-DJ’s for rap-rock band Spitass, performing all over California including an opening-act slot for Kid Rock. The producing team has also worked with a variety of local hip-hop acts.

Keep your eyes open for new Groove Inc. MP3’s in the next few weeks.

Cas recorded One Takes, a disc of acoustic blues with San Francisco producer Mark Werlin in December. One Takes contains such live performace staples as John Mooney’s “Broken Mold,” original tunes like “By and By” and “Blind,” and Cas’s crowd pleasing re-arrangement of Paul Simon’s “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.”

One Takes is available by sending a check or money order payable to Cas Lucas for $6.99 to
Shady Dog Productions
1646 Berkeley Way #8
Berkeley CA 94703F

Cas had the pleasure of opening for one of his favorite contemporary acoustic musicians Paul Curreri at San Francisco’s Hotel Utah Saloon in February. The show was one of his favorite live music experiences in recent memory. Check out Paul Curreri in our links section, if you haven’t already. Joining Cas on a few tunes was long-time musical collaborator, guitarist/singer/composer Sky Cooper. With Cooper currently based in Portland Oregon, it was Cas’s and Sky’s first time on stage together since their countless shows back in college.

The Curreri show was the second night of a weekend stint at the club for Cas. The previous night he opened the show for John Lee Hooker Jr. and his electric blues quintet.

The Curreri show will be Cas’s last acoustic blues performance for a while. Enjoying the new direction of Groove Inc, Cas has put the blues and performing in general on the back burner for the time being. Look for Cas Lucas Band shows and Groove Inc.’s live debut as soon as late summer.

Cas has parted ways with hip-hop act Ken Phlow after a few months as the group’s guitar player. File under “oops” along with Peluka, last year’s side-project. Both groups are alive and well.

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