Castlefield celebrates 25th show

An interview with four-piece emo band Castlefield as they celebrate playing their 25th show.

Canadian emo band Castlefield played their first show in October 2016. Just five months later, the band debuted The Mascot EP, their first release. July 27 marked their 25th show. This includes the dates they’ve played in their hometown, Ottawa, as well as several small tours throughout Canada.

The Mascot EP was met with positive feedback and has over 8,500 plays on Spotify alone.

“We’re by no means a big band, but definitely I don’t think any of us really expected for more than our friends to dig that EP,” said vocalist/guitarist Ryan Fitz. “We really just poured a lot of ourselves into it and it’s still paying off. We still get new people listening to it every day and that’s the most rewarding part of it.”

Castlefield has another tour planned in October, and will be recording an additional EP in a few months.

“We have plans for a second EP,” said guitarist Connor Neilson. “We’ll be in the studio in January.”

The band admitted that they want the upcoming EP to be a bit different than Mascot.

“It will definitely be a different sound because the songs we’re writing are a lot more mature than our first EP,” said Fitz. “On top of that, I think they’ll be structured a bit differently.”

The band has also had their fair share of issues. One of these issues being how young some members are.

“We’ve had venues that have said they aren’t comfortable with us playing because I’m only 17,” said drummer Matt Spafford.

However, Castlefield tries to make their shows as inclusive and accessible as possible, even going to far as to create a safe-space hotline this past summer.

“Shows are supposed to be good for everybody...and no one should feel uncomfortable doing anything, but especially doing something they love,” said Dexter Reid, bassist.

The hotline started as a safety precaution, in case any sort of harassment occurred at one of their shows.

“There’s a number to text so we can immediately deal with venue staff and say, ‘Hey look, this is happening and we need to make it stop,’” Reid said.

As of the band’s 25th show, the hotline has not yet been used.

The Mascot EP is available on Bandcamp.