From EPs to their debut album, Sacramento band K Será is making its mark on the world

Words by Natalie Basurto – Photo by Daniel Dare

The last time Mike Caswell, lead singer/guitarist and creator of the band K Será was interviewed by Submerge it was 2008. He was the band’s lone official member and had just created his first EP with the help of other artists. Since then, Caswell’s band has grown to include three more members, who he says make the band what it is today.

K Será’s debut album, Collisions and Near Misses, is set to drop Jan. 21, 2013, and the band is already gearing up for a nationwide tour. But before they hit the road, they will be holding their album release party here in their hometown of Sacramento. On Jan. 10, 2013, the band will play songs from the new album, giving attendees a full listen before the album is released to the public. They will also be playing at South by Southwest this coming year.

Caswell described the sound of the album as “spacey,” as in galactic, infinite and atmospheric. He said it was made to be experienced as a cohesive product. Instead of a favorite song on the album, Caswell said he has “favorite moments… We view the album as a work as a whole so it’s hard to pick out one song.”

The album’s single, “Dream Like I Do,” definitely gives that floating in space type feeling, complete with subtle old school video game noises and Caswell’s melodic and heavy voice. It basically sounds like an astronomical explosion and the rock genre made a baby.

“The concept of Collisions and Near Misses is based around how life is essentially a summation of small decisions you make. You go out one night you meet that person, you stay in and you don’t…and from there, it’s an infinite realm of possibilities that follows that,” he said.

According to Caswell, many genres inspired the album, making it a mix of all types of sounds coming together in one place. His musical influences include the British band Muse, who are famous for their fusion of multiple genres and space-inspired sounds: Think of the song and album of the same name, “Black Holes and Revelations.”

But Caswell says his biggest inspiration and “half the reason” he started K Será was because of the support of Casey Crescenzo, the producer of Collisions and Near Misses. Crescenzo is also the frontman of the band The Dear Hunter, originally from Providence, R.I. Caswell named The Dear Hunter as one of his favorite bands alongside Seattle’s Forgive Durden.

“To have [Crescenzo] on board working on the record and so passionate about it was awesome,” he said.

Caswell, 25, the youngest of his twenty-something band mates, said they committed themselves to a certain amount of hours per week to write and then locked themselves in a small room to “hash it out… it was just grinding.”

He met his band mates, David Christensen (piano), Dustin Combs (drums) and Jordan McCoy (bass), through friends and Sacramento acquaintances. Caswell said he can play piano in addition to wielding a guitar and singing, but he was quick to give props to his band mates and their impressive skills.

“The guys I play with are so astronomically more talented than I am that I wouldn’t want to interfere with what they do [on stage],” he said modestly. “What’s changed in the last five years was going from a solo project to having the most talented musicians I’ve ever worked with…really took this band to the next level.”

K Será is Spanish for, “Whatever will be,” a name Caswell came up with as a way to remind himself to relinquish control of certain things and “free up the stress in my life,” he said.

Caswell said he’s been playing music since he was 13. He and a couple childhood friends created the band F.F.G., of the pop-punk genre. His love for creating and performing music clearly never gave out and he’s still going strong: even after months of working on the album, he expressed his longing for always wanting to make more music.

“I hope people buy the album. We definitely can’t make more if people don’t buy this one… We’d love to continue doing this… The fan support is always tremendously appreciated,” he said.

He said K Será’s fans are “the nicest, most interesting people… they’re very passionate about us and what we’re doing. It’s constantly surprising.”

If you take a look at the band’s Facebook page, it’s easy to see that passion. Many excited and supportive comments flood the page: from lyric quotes to pure excitement for the album and even fans begging the band to come to their hometowns.

Caswell said K Será holds a strong fan base not only in Sacramento, but also in Seattle, Southern California and on the East Coast. Possibly the most unexpected is that their third largest fan base is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to the band’s Facebook stats. Attribute it to the band’s Spanish name or purely their talent, either way they undoubtedly have a far reach.

Collisions and Near Misses is set to drop later next month, but in the mean time, take a listen to their single “Dream Like I Do,” on K Será’s Facebook page and get hyped for the soon to be released music video that’s being animated by the band’s own McCoy. A video of the band playing a live session at Green Day’s studio in Oakland will also be out soon. Visit http://www.facebook.com/kseratheband for more information. To get a listen of the band’s EP The Cantos, visit their website http://ksera.bandcamp.com/. K Será’s Jan. 10, 2012 CD release show will take place at BarFly and is for fans 18 and over.

Whatever will be…

K Sera is not a typical rock band by any means. It is a gathering of many talented local musicians headed by Mike Caswell. Its debut EP, The Machinist, features a roster of around a dozen individuals from bands such as Self Against City, Heroes Last Mission and Broken Iris. There really is something special about listening to these recordings; it’s as if one can sense the amount of time, energy, commitment and passion that went into each measure of every song. On March 8 at The Underground in Roseville K Sera will be on hand live, in the flesh, for its debut live performance and to celebrate the EP’s release. Mike Caswell was nice enough to take time from his busy schedule to answer some of Submerge‘s questions via the wonderful weave that is the World Wide Web.

I understand that you started this project all by your lonesome. How was it that you recruited so many talented musicians to collaborate on the recordings for The Machinist, K Sera’s debut EP?
I really wanted the EP to have a collective feel to it, so we made a list of all the instruments and musicians we wanted and got to work. When it came down to it, all we had to do was ask. Everyone was really easy to talk to and fun to work with. It was a cool experience having so many amazing musicians help me out.

When listening to these tracks the first thing I think is, “Damn, these sound good. Must have been expensive!” How was it that you were able to finance recording such a collaborative type of EP? And how were you able to schedule getting everyone in the studio to lay down their tracks? How long did it take to complete these recordings?
Scheduling was a bit tough, but with the help of my manager, we were able to get everyone there. The whole process took about two months of basically just living in the studio, plus another month of preproduction before that. Sounds like a lot of time, but it went by incredibly fast. The whole process was a learning experience from start to finish.

What was it like to work with producer/engineer Jay Trammel? I personally have worked with him in the past and know he can be quite demanding and can push you musically to perform your best. Did you find this to be the case when you worked with him?
Jay definitely pushes you and expects the best, that’s why I was so set on him producing the EP. We wanted to make the songs the best they can be and Jay is never afraid to tell you, “You can do it better.” He gave Sean and I total freedom to try any ideas that we had, even if it meant going to Toys R Us to buy a Playschool piano. Jay has a way of making you work, without it feeling like work. Yes, it was a demanding schedule, but it was exactly what I needed.

So for this show on March 8 at The Underground, what will the live lineup be and what can people expect?
Most of the guys who recorded on the EP are playing with me [at the show], except for Lee [Hurtado, bass, of Heros Last Mission] and Justin [Barnes, drums, of Self Against City] who will be playing in their own bands. We are going to be playing all the songs on the EP, have some guest performances, visual art to go along with the music, and the entire night is going to be filmed, so it should be a good time. It’s one of those shows that the bands who are playing it are just as excited as the kids going to see it. Personally, I have ties to all the bands so it will be a night hanging out with friends and doing what we all love to do.

What are your plans for K Sera in the future? Any motivation to tour, shop the EP to record labels, etc?
I’ve already started work on ideas for the next record, but the main focus is touring. We want to get on the road as soon as we can.

Anything else you want to share with the readers of Submerge?
Sean Stack is the only other official member. I found him after a couple of open auditions. He’s amazing.
We rarely had a night alone in the studio. My closest friends were always stopping by to hang out, bring us food, and make sure we were all healthy and well rested. Also, other bands would stop by and offer advice and feedback on the parts we were working on, which was awesome.