WHEN John Power says "me dad's from Waterford, you know", that ol' deja vu feeling descends. The Smiths had Irish parents, Oasis have Irish parents - we've quite enough first generation Irish bands to do us for the moment, John, thanks anyway, and while we're at it, don't even think of telling us how you grew up listening to your father singing Irish ballads and how that inspired you to become a musician. "Well, my father did sing as a matter of fact," he says, "but it would be stuff like Twist and Shout, decent stuff like that."
It only took him 30 seconds to get a Beatles reference in, but no surprise there as this likeable young scally is prouder than proud of his Mersey roots. "Liverpool is special, la. There's a magic there - I mean you grow up with the best football team in the world and the best band in the world - it's great," he chirps.
If it's so special then why do you try and sound like a band from London, namely The Who, and is it true that when Cast signed to Polygram you insisted your records went out under the Polydor label, the same label The Who went out under? "Yeah, but get this our debut album on Polydor, All Change, has sold more than The Who's debut album and it has also sold more than Polydor's other biggest sellers - Jimi Hendrix, The Jam and Slade," he gushes.
Apart from the mightily impressive record sales, Cast have also notched up some Grade A references. The Who's own John Entwhistle says of them "they're the closest thing to our band I've ever seen", while Mr Noel Gallagher claims that Cast are "a religious experience".
The Gallagher quote ain't surprising, considering that John Power's previous band, the semi legendary La's, were a major influence on the early Oasis. "First thing about The La's is that everyone thought we were named after `la' as in `alright, la' as we say in Liverpool. But it was actually after la, la, la - as in singing," he says, helpfully. One glorious single in There She Goes and a patchy debut album was the net result of The La's career but as bass player in the band, John Power developed a taste for the classic jinglyjangly English guitar sound that he later refined, but maybe not improved, with Cast.
"I left The La's to get something new. I was just feeling uninspired and I left to do my own stuff - somewhere along the line you have to make a decision about what you want out of life." Previous to The La's he had left school early and had one short lived job in the British Home Office - leaving when he had enough money to buy a bass guitar.
The La's vs Cast? Compare and contrast? "It's impossible really. Lee (Mavers) wrote the stuff in the La's and I write all the stuff in Cast, plus I'm not a bass player any more, I'm the guitarist. Also, we don't fight as much on stage (The La's were always good for a bit of on stage Gallagher-esque fisticuffs) and the music and lyrics are different," he says. Still in touch with them? "I don't see Lee much. I've seen him on the street once or twice but I just leave him to lead his own life, la."
Ironic, maybe, that while The La's got all the critical acclaim but few record sales, the case is reversed with Cast. Initially frowned upon as "Britpop bandwagon jumpers", Cast now stand accused of fostering retro rock upon the masses and being paid up members, alongside Ocean Colour Scene and Kula Shakers, of the "we love 1960s music" fan club.
"Cynics. They're all just cynics who write these stupid words," says Power, becoming a tad tetchy. "We do offer today's interpretation of an ancient thing, the vibe between people when they're sharing a feeling, when they're being entertained, but we were never Britpop; that was just a handy metaphor that suited at the time. Kula Shaker are different in that they actually dress up like people from the 1960s and Ocean Colour Scene's music is very different to ours. We've never wanted to have our music defined by the shores of Britain. I mean fads come and go, but this new album will certainly change that."
If normally he's hyper active and overly loquacious and happy to play the Mersey scally, he comes over all serious and earnest (and rapidly develops a new vocabulary) when talking about Cast's new album, Mother Nature Calls. "The album's all about the hidden questions in life; it's about the theatre of life and is a sort of a plea to the universe. The new songs are all about love, hope and redemption - and about emancipation.
He certainly talks a good album, and early indications are that he has succeeded in "totally broadening out the Cast sound". Melancholic odes like Tell Me What To Do (Revolution), I'm So Lonely (Callin' You Back) and Live The Dream show a side of his song writing that was simply not present on the debut album - with the possible exception of Walkaway.
"I'm more ambitious now than I was on the first album," he says, "but I'm also wise to that ambition. I think the first album was a foundation, that's all - we're doing things on this album which will surprise people." The "cynics" he spoke of earlier might or might not want to know that they can now safely substitute references to The Who with references to The Small Faces or mid period Rolling Stones when talking about Cast.
And still on the retro vibe, shouldn't someone of his years (he's 29), who was not only too young for the 1960s the first time around but also too young for the punk revolution, be experimenting with breakbeats and getting into some serious drum'n'bass instead of trying to re record I Can't Explain all over again? "Oh, but I'm bang into hip hop and good beats and I really like acts like Beck and The Prodigy; but just because we play guitars and have a certain sound doesn't mean that it's necessarily retro. It's Just music, however you make it - whatever path you choose to take to get your sound across, you'll find that the journey meanders just as much".
