If ever there was a real instance of striking while the iron is hot, the four fellas from Davidson, NC who constitute the group Cast Iron Filter are it. The band’s upcoming itinerary reaches as far south as Texas, as far north as New York and as far westward as Illinois. And since the release of their third independent album last fall, Cast Iron Filter could soon reach the impressive benchmark of 10,000 units in sales (collectively). The thing is, if you were to somehow count all the bootleg recordings downloaded or traded through the Internet, they’d most likely already be there. Not too bad for a bunch who started out playing as an acoustic trio for the pure enjoyment of the art.
Taking a few minutes out of their busy schedule, singer/guitarist Dustin Edge and drummer Tim Helfrich sat down with CL for a chat.
CL: Explain the evolution of Cast Iron Filter.
Edge: When Mike [Orlando, mandolin player] and I were still in college, we started playing some shows together off and on. We were just kind of getting together for fun. Eventually we started trying to get some more shows out of town and then it just picked up. By our senior year, we were playing on weekends, and after graduation, we decided we wanted to do it full time.
Helfrich: We were fortunate to kind of have a year to mess around with things. Dustin and I graduated in 2000, but Mike wasn’t going to graduate until May 2001. Basically, the decision was made when we graduated that this was something we would try to do on a part-time basis until Mike graduated. Dustin and I both got jobs around the Lake Norman area. We continued playing gigs and by that time we had added Mason [Bissett, bass]. It was kind of our trial year. We tried our best to get out on the road every weekend to see what we felt like. At the end of that year, when Mike graduated, whether it was premature or not, we said we were sick of doing it part time, so let’s chase it down.
So how many people are currently in the band?
Helfrich: The core of the group is the four of us, but we frequently have a fifth player that comes and plays with us. The three who join us most often are Jim Ashton on steel guitar and banjo, Sam Manriguez on electric guitar or Glenn Alexander, who’s a fiddle champion. The original acoustic roots elements are still there; we just kind of built on it.
It’s been interesting to see the evolution of the music because you have four unique musicians and each one brings something different to the table. And that’s why we also love having these fifth guys coming and playing with us because you recreate the songs night in and night out.
Edge: It definitely brings something fresh and unique to it each time we’re playing. Most times we don’t even know what to expect or what’s going to happen because we play these songs differently from night to night. It keeps it very new and exciting even for us.
You guys seem to do well with touring. Do you consider that to be the most important element of a band, as opposed to publicity via press/radio/Internet?
Helfrich: The right answer has to be a good mix of it all. If you had to prioritize them, I’d say touring would be first for us. That’s our best selling feature at this point. I think all the other things are almost designed to help bring people to the show. That’s kind of what it’s all based around right now, and that’s what we’re more focused on.
Edge: Of course, that’s what we like doing best, too. It’s not just because we feel that’s what’s going to make the biggest impact. We just like getting up there and playing.
How well is the band received outside of the South?
Helfrich: I think we’re really well-received outside of the South. I don’t know why that is. We happen to sell a lot of CDs outside of our region and in places we’ve never played before. That’s a good sign that the music is getting out there. The Internet allows an independent band to do things we could never do in the past because there’s such a network. It’s almost like radio as far as being a tool for a band. We’re selling CDs in places that we’ve never played or have never been on the radio and it’s because of things like Napster and all those other sites. People can share music that way. The other thing is we’re starting to get people who come out and tape our shows. They put those on the Internet and there’s just a huge network of people who download live shows. I have a friend up in Connecticut who called me a couple days after the new year and told me we had a great encore at our New Year’s show. I thought, how is that even possible? (laughs)
It appears that you don’t have an issue with your fans getting your music for free. Do you think you’d feel the same if you were signed to a major record label, and do you want to get signed to a label?
Helfrich: At this point, just the opportunity to get our music out there is the most important thing. That’s invaluable. Chances are it may become more of an issue at some point, and you can certainly understand where the big labels are coming from, so I guess it’s clearly a touchy subject. But I guess the best we can do is enjoy it while it’s working for us and see what happens. It’s not the goal [to get signed], but it is something to consider. We’ll consider it all. We want to do what is necessary to put ourselves in the position that we can continue to do this full time, and if a record label can help with that, which it very well might, then we’ll consider it.
Edge: Right now, we’re just excited about being on the road and playing and doing everything that’s encapsulated into just being a band.
Cast Iron Filter will perform at the Visulite Theatre on Saturday, March 16. Call the club at 704-358-9200 for more details. *
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2002.
