Julian Cassanetti aka Bogus Bones

BOGUS BONES TAKES THE LONG WAY HOME

by Tim Moffatt

Science equates time and stress as pre-requisites for diamonds; Bogus Bones, is the offspring of time + stress / creativity. Julian Cassanetti, formerly of The Lot Six and Drug Rug, poured himself into lockdown song writing and invited some friends to help. The result, The Long Way Home, is a pastiche of arrangements via close friends; Twenty three to be exact. The experience is a journey evoking much more than the aural medium: a musical painting? A cinematic mind scape? It’s certainly a fun record from a hive mind on their own planet. Here’s what Julian had to say about the process:

Would you say The Long Way Home is the penultimate pandemic statement? Itís dreamy at times, evokes longing at other times, and has a nostalgic feel; that seems pretty spot on for 2020.

“100% it took a pandemic to make the record, some songs are new some are old. What we got out of the pandemic was time, being locked at home gave us that. Some of the lyric’s pre-date the pandemic, but somehow, they fit. Pepper is very pandemic y, but it pre-dates the pandemic and the lyrics are spot on. Remote recording has been available for a long time, but time is really what we needed to explore ourselves inside the house rather than outside.” 

How does time and isolation reflect on this record? I know many of the players were somewhat estranged friends, how did that play into the songwriting process?

“Before the pandemic you go to band practice, you show band mates parts; now it was more like here’s the song, see what you can do to make things fit. Everyone has their shot and it is what it is in the end, it’s like a painting, every stroke is permanent. Isolation is helpful in letting the songs be themselves without any sort of hand holding. Being genuine is important and I was at the whim of people who could collaborate and what they would do, I felt less isolated and I think my friends felt less isolated because of the record. People sent their parts in and mutated the songs into something completely different. It was wild.”

Were most people game to contribute?

“I had 100% no expectations for anyone to show up, but everyone was down, and some wanted to be a part of the whole process; technically and beyond. I haven’t talked to some of these people in over a decade, but certain people just make you feel like you’re suddenly on the right planet. We share a bond and it was an excuse to rekindle that bond.”

What happens next for Bogus Bones?

“I won’t do this again the same way, I want to make the process harder! I don’t know what the next thing is going to be, but I have ideas for whatever it is. The whole process is an experiment, I can’t recreate. I asked one person and it grew to 23 people, it became a huge thing!”

Find, listen, purchase and download The Long Way Home
by Bogus Bones on most platforms.
BOGUSBONES.com