Wailing City Spotlight: Interview With Casey Alger of Pencils Down

Published January 23, 2025

Interview By Meghan Killimade

Tell us about Pencils Down! Who’s in the band and how did you all come together?
Let's see -- I believe in a linear way you could say that it all began when James Burke; our bassist, reached out to ask me (Casey Alger), when I was "going to start a band again". It was a good question and I thought about it. It had been years since I had played a guitar in a show or wrote collaboratively with other musicians and there were parts of me that began to think that performing was something I was going to leave in the past. I replied sourly "Yeah, someday", not thinking much of it. Eventually, James's prescience came to fruition and I asked him if he was available to play bass for a performing act with myself on guitar and our friend Glen Metcalfe on drums. Shortly after, we wrangled Syd Scelfo on lead guitar and things seemed perfectly right.

What kind of music are you creating and what can folks expect from your live show?
I would say that before anything else, Pencils Down is a guitar-pop band. That being said; because of the widening, swirling gyre of genre that guitar-pop is, I should probably specifically say we have a 'raucous-adjacent' jangle-pop sound. In regards to our shows, I can't exactly say since I've never been in the crowd for one of them. Anecdotally, I will say that someone did tell the band that I looked like the "happiest person in the world" while I was on stage performing. 

Talk about your songwriting process! Do you guys write as a collective or do certain members do the majority of the writing and then bring it to the rest of the band?
Pencils Down is actually one of the more interesting songwriting processes that I have ever been a part of. For the most part, you could say that both myself and Syd are where the songs begin but both in very different ways. A song penned by me tends to be like a large hunk of granite, foundational but ready to be chiseled away for finer arrangement and figure by the rest of the band. On the other hand, a song penned by Syd tends to begin as a a series of intricate guitar parts, more like the hands or feet of a sculpture that we then build a body around. Approaching his process of writing verses, choruses, and bridges has been illuminating and in a sense the contrast in writing styles has changed the way I look at my own guitar. As fine as a representation that may be; I can plainly say that it would not be a 'working' process without the tasteful hand that James provides to the work, on top of his immaculate ear for nuance. All of this is possible from the foundational bedrock of Glen’s well-honed talent and inclination towards curiosity during the process.

Pencils Down just debuted at 33 Golden last month – how was the show and where are some places you are hoping to play in the new year?

You know, there was a part of me that wanted the first show to be more of a 'soft-launch' than a debut. That was before the entire roster of my high-school wrestling team showed up as the seeming taste makers of the night to be there for us. In regards to where we'd like to play next? You know, I'm not quite sure. If I'm allowed to be intimate and grandiose, I'd say the venue I'd like to play a show at the most would be the bow of the Mary Ellen over at Cross-Sound Ferry while it was transiting over the water.

You have all been in different local projects over the years – tell us about some of those bands and how they may differ and/or influence (or not) what you’re creating now with Pencils Down?
Syd and I came across an old photo of ourselves playing with the earliest incarnation of "Wonderlust!" just a few days ago. He made the point that he and I had "defaulted to factory settings" with Pencils Down, falling back to our previous roles from when we were in our teens ploughing away chords through fuzz pedals. I can't speak to James' experience as an artist, but I will say that I still remember seeing Incessant Pop Group for the first time and knowing that they were something important, at least for the German Club. It was slick and artful, which is to say they were all dressed better than me on top of being better songwriters. James recently gave me a copy of his latest solo work 'Here Right Now', that lit up my apartment from the record player. Glen's an odd man out, in that he isn't from Southeastern Connecticut, despite having absolutely stomped his percussive footprint with almost every musician (including myself, with our previous act Slept.) across town. A testament to that is his double-billing at The Rock Fix this year, playing with both Pencils Down and earlier on with The Pretty Graves.

Wailing City Archive: Casey & Syd playing in Wonderlust! @ Sailfest 2008

Wailing City Archive: James playing in Incessant Pop Group @ Mystic German Club July 2006

What are some records you guys have been listening to lately?
I recently got my hands on a copy of The Bear Quartet's Moby Dick record from 96 that I've been listening to in the car, which has been phenomenal. A highlight of the LP is the track "Before the Trenches" that originally piqued my interest when I heard it on WCNI. Outside of that, I've come back to The Kink's "Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire" for the first time in a while, with the added realization that I prefer this Kinks record to "The Village Green Preservation Society", which Syd may give me a charlie-horse for saying here. James has also been trying to slow roll me into liking hyper-pop as best as he can, and despite my best efforts I did come across a song called "Kodak Moment" by Jane Remover that I thought was something I wanted to dive into.

Pencils Down will be playing at The Telegraph Autonomous Zone’s annual “Rock Fix” on January 25th – how does it feel to be on such a diverse bill that has been such a prominent showcase of our scene for the last 2 decades? Also, who are you looking forward to seeing?

TAZ Rock Fix! It's going to be quite the show, according to the bill. I'm excited to see Perennial (at last) live after having listened to their records and following their social media for some time. This will also actually be my first time seeing bands in the new TAZ space, which I am ecstatic about. I will say this though -- I dearly miss when New London did The Rock Lobster alongside The Rock Fix, even if it was only once to my recollection and it was quite wacky.

If you could bring back one local band that doesn’t exist anymore, who would it be and why?
C'mon. Thick Thieves. Next Question.
Kidding aside, I wish I could have seen [Matt] Potter sing "Birds of Paradise Lost" with Conversion Party at some point.

Wailing City Archive: James playing in The Thick Thieves @ Sailfest 2008

What’s up next for you guys in the new year – can we expect a recording at some point? More shows?
We're currently recording our first as-of-yet-unnamed EP to support our line of shows we have in the coming months. After that? World's our oyster, I think.




CATCH THE SHOW

Saturday 1/25
@ The Telegraph Autonomous Zone
137 Bank Street - New London, CT
3pm / Donations / All Ages
(3pm) Pretty Graves
(4pm) Crescents
(5pm) Mitch Kramer
(5:45pm) Dirt Pile
(6:45pm) Pencils Down
(7:45pm) Perennial
(8:30pm) Strega Dada
(9:15pm) Slyne & The Family Stoned


Thursday 2/20
@ Strange Brew Pub
86 Water Street - Norwich
8pm / $10 / 21+
w/ The Pretty Graves
& Flight Of Silence


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