Indie Music Women’s Featured Artist of the Day is…
Cassady Southern (@cassadysouthern)
Cassady Southern grew up in a musical household in Victoria, with her father playing in pioneering rock bands in Melbourne during the 70s. She was brought up on the blues as well as musical bands like the Rolling Stones.
Cassady released her first EP ‘Don’t ask me’ in 2012. The EP received airplay on a number of radio stations including Triple R, FBI and PBS and the opening track ‘Why didn’t you want me?’ was a finalist in the Rock category of the 2013 ‘MusicOz Awards’. Cassady then released her second EP ‘Heart’ in 2016. ‘Heart’ also received airplay on radio stations across Australia and internationally and made the top 100 Triple J Unearthed Charts. Three of the four tracks were also shortlisted in the ‘Songsalive’ song competition.
Cassady’s music is largely pop-rock/country rock but rooted in the authentic blues of her upbringing. Her music emphasizes the use of instruments, particularly the electric guitar, as well as strong melodies, lyrics, and arrangements. Her influences include the Rolling Stones, Powderfinger, and The Divinyls.
Cassady played with her band around Sydney in 2018 and 2019 and in 2020 she completed a Diploma of Music Production at SAE Creative Media Institute. During this time she continued to collaborate with her band in Sydney remotely and in late 2020 they recorded her first full-length album at Damien Gerard Studios on the Central Coast. The first 2 singles are being played on the radio and receiving positive reviews. Her debut full-length album is to follow. (Bio courtesy of Cassady)
Cassady shared with me what it means to her to be an indie music woman artist:
“I love songwriting, producing, and performing and I love having the freedom to write and release music I like. These are some of the freedoms that come with being an independent artist. Being an independent artist can also involve a lot of work too though. In the development of my latest album over the last few months, there would be very few days that I have not put in at least a couple of hours of work every day in some capacity and this would be the case for many indie artists. This is usually on top of your day job which is often what is funding the release!
The reason for this is that, as an indie artist, you have a role to play in almost everything from start to finish – obviously writing and recording the songs and booking gigs, etc but also the promotion: Building social media profiles, creating music videos, designing artwork, generating media and press, etc. Promotion can be a large and ongoing part of being an independent artist and can be crucial to your success. It is a part that I am still trying to get better at. So I am really grateful to platforms like yours, Indie Music for Women, for helping to promote independent artists.”