It’s been an exceptionally emotional past six months for keyboardist Adam MacDougall. In spring he left the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, a group for which he was a founding member. He turned his full-time attention to Circles Around The Sun, a band he co-founded with guitarist Neal Casal, bassist Dan Horne, and drummer Mark Levy, that formed as a conceptual ensemble initially charged with creating set-break music for 2015’s Fare Thee Well Grateful Dead reunion performances.
The quartet had blossomed from concept into working band, and spent part of this summer recording a third LP, working with Grammy-winning producer Jim Scott (Tom Petty, Tedeschi Trucks Band) at Scott’s Southern California studio. They turned in a captivating late-night set at the Lockn Festival in late August, and also finished prepping an EP, recorded with a guesting Joe Russo on drums, for an October 18 release. Just days after their turn at Lockn, on August 26, Casal committed suicide.
It was a shocking tragedy for MacDougall and his bandmates, but also for a community of music fans that had grown to appreciate Casal as a rising talent, and CATS as one of the scene’s most exciting and progressive artists. MacDougall not only lost his best friend and musical partner, but was also left with the questions of how, or if, to move forward with Circles Around The Sun.
MacDougall, Horn, and Levy agreed to continue, asking guitarist Eric Krasno to appear with the band at an upcoming memorial for Casal at the Capitol Theatre on September 25th, as well as on the band’s scheduled run of fall tour dates. Of Krasno, MacDougall says, “It’s nice to have someone we trust to step in.” From his studio in Los Angeles, the keyboardist spoke about Casal and his influence as a friend and musician, the hard decision to carry on, and the next two CATS releases- their final recordings with Casal. Understandably deliberate with his answers, MacDougall expressed his thoughts during this difficult time with a noticeably conscientious and subdued tone.
I have feelings ofconfusion regarding Neal’s passing. Isthere anything you can say to those of us who are confused as to why thishappened?
No, I don’t think so. I think everybody’s confused. I’mequally as confused. I don’t think thereis anyone out there saying it makes sense. A lot of people are in pain over it. People get down. You can see it. You can feel it. Everyone’s just confused as to the extent ofwhat happened. I don’t think I’ll ever havean answer for that one. I’ll miss himevery day and I don’t think I’ll ever know why this happened.
On the weekendfollowing his passing you sat-in with Chris Robinson and his Green LeafRustlers band. How was that?
We played together and everything’s great with us. I love the guy. It was a terrible way (for us) to come close,but, yes, that was nice to play with him. It was nice to be around the members of CRB that were there during thoseshows. I hadn’t seen (CRB drummer) Tony(Leone) in a while, and it’s terrible circumstances to see him. For people who really understand having thoseconnections, us hanging out together- to be around people who lived with Nealin a bus for close to a decade- it’s good to be with people that were closewith him. That was nice, andhelpful. I really felt terribly for thepeople that knew him well and were out-of-state or in places where they couldn’tbe with someone that also knew him. It’svery lonely to go through that by yourself. My heart went out to those who were alone.
Circles Around theSun was working on a new album when Neal passed. What’s the status of the record?
I’m in front of my keyboard rig as we speak because we arefinishing the record. We got Neal to a certainpoint and we are going to finish it. I’mnot sure exactly when, but it will definitely come out; probably beginning ofnext year, if we remain on schedule. That was something we felt we had to do because it was close todone. We’d gotten some really greatstuff out of him. He’s here, on therecord.
You have enough ofNeal’s recordings so that he will be the only guitar on it?
As it stands, yes, that’s the way it is. We all agreed we want to keep it clean; tohim. We’re going to do our best to makeit all work. Luckily we had a day out ofhim at Jim’s place so there are overdubs and ideas that Neal wanted tohave. So now it’ll go to mix prettysoon.
Did you ever thinkabout continuing just as a trio?
We definitely went through a lot of thinking about that, andif it was something we should eventhink about. It was really tough. We’re going to go on with Eric Krasno, one ofour good friends and great musical companions, who has stepped in to be a partof the shows we have coming up.
You sound like youare getting more comfortable with the idea of continuing on.
It’s definitely a process, but we love this music. The three of us- Dan, Mark, and myself- wereally love it and really don’t want to stop playing it. I don’t want [our decision] to come off inany other way than based on the fact we really, really love this band somuch. We had done sideman gigs for along time- especially Neal and I had. Wewould always sit around and talk about the dream: the feeling of what it waslike to be a teenager and start your own band. It’s your band, with everyone pulling their own weight, doing theirpart. It’s yours. But, then you have to make a living and thatfeeling goes away. You do learn a lotfrom playing other people’s music. It’sgreat. It’s amazing. But, this band felt like being in high schoolagain.
I’ll say thisdelicately: Implicit in your decision seems to be an assurance that you hadfrom Neal to continue on in his absence.
Yes. And to finishthis record, as well. Those were his wishes.
And Eric will startwith you this week and continue on for the fall dates as scheduled?
We’ll play this memorial for Neal at the CapitolTheatre. And there’s another memorialout here in California on the 30th. Eric is going to do the Capitol memorial and be a part of our shows thisfall.
The guest list forthe Capitol memorial is growing in numbers and diversity of artists.
It speaks volumes of Neal as a musician and as a person. A lot of people have known him for a lotlonger than I have and played with him for a lot longer, too. For me, just in the nine years or so that Ihave, he’s been a huge musical mentor. And, my best friend; my person to go to dinner with after soundcheck andall that.
Give me an example ofthat mentorship.
He was a musical guru in a way. He studied records in a way that I had neverreally seen. He knew why every note wascool, and how it was done. We used to gorecord shopping all the time on the road. He’d always come up with a bunch of records I had to have, and they werealways great. He did that for a lot ofpeople.
And as a musician?
He had some of the biggest ears musically of someone thatI’ve ever played with. He was mypartner. We could pretty much finisheach other’s musical phrases. He wouldreally listen to what I was doing. Hedid that with everybody. That’s a verybeautiful and sensitive trait. Hetouched a lot of people.
As you see it, whatis Neal Casal’s legacy?
Oh, man. In additionto his guitar work, he was also a prolific, beautiful songwriter. And an incredible singer that you could useas a lead voice. And he was anunbelievable background singer. Hewasn’t just a guitarist on so many sessions; he was also a session singer. He had such a great ear for harmony. His legacy is so huge, I don’t know how topinpoint it. He studied music and recordsin ways that were kind of staggering. Hewas a really deep, thoughtful musician.
Circles is a group offour individual voices working collectively to form one greater voice. Does that present the ultimate challenge toanyone that comes in to the group- to be a strong enough individual voice, butrespectful of the collective?
The band is almost a concept. No one is going to come in and fill Neal’sshoes. The dynamic will, of course,change. The music is very free. Add another character to the plot and it willbe different. But, the spirit of whatthe band does, in moving energy around the room, will remain: to go and heargood music, have a good time, and dance. That will still be happening. Itwill never happen again in the same way. It’s impossible. Yes, everyone’svoice is very strong. The guitar needsto hold its space as much as any of the other instruments. We’ve had some really good jams withEric. He is able to hold the space, andwe can all weave together.
Speaking of adding acharacter to the plot, you have a new four-song EP, Circles Around The Sun Meets Joe Russo, coming out in October thatfeatures Russo guesting with the band. Tell me about that experience.
We did that in March in New York. We didn’t really have much prepped. We had two days in Brooklyn, and it wasawesome. Russo is incredible. He was a kick-starter for us. He has ideas and knows how to make somethinghappen. If we were sitting scratchingour heads, he was ready to go in the room and start playing something. He was a catalyst for creativity.
What was it likehaving two drummers?
It was really cool. Russo is very aware, when it’s double-drumming, that you shouldn’t havetoo much redundancy between the kits. Itmade Mark really creative. It was fun towatch and to listen to. It was a lot ofjamming. Only one of the four tunes wassomething that was written. The rest wasouttakes from the hours we were having fun.
Did the EP inform oraffect the new album in any way- whether the timing of the release or the wayyou played?
Everything worked out. The release date for the EP was always set for October. The EP is a very special moment in time. Having Russo in the room made everyone playin a certain character. Everyone put ona different hat for those two days. Ireally like it. It’s very free.
For those that carryon the memory and the music after a tragedy like this, they have to be therecipient of everyone’s well-intentioned condolences in each city and town asthey return to the road. So, they oftenhave to go through that sadness again and again. Are you prepared for that?
Yes, of course. It’sgoing to be with me forever, and definitely with everyone in CATS forever. As we go forward, it’s part of the DNAnow. It’s terrible what happened. Neal was my musical partner and he’sgone. He was really close to everybody so,yes, were going to be “there” about it; be present about it.
