In Place: “Maybe Around the Fourth Listen, You Will Start to Kind of Make More of a Connection.”

Our Tim Mulhern caught up with Brandon Cassel of the relatively new, two-man instrumental rock band called In Place. They talked about the band’s origins, inspirations and aspirations.

How and when did you and Justin Leggio come together to form In Place?

We formed In Place during the summer of 2013, but we met, believe it or not, early school years. We are actually childhood friends. We played in our first band in seventh grade. So yeah, we’ve played in a bunch of bands [and] we took some time off. And then we started up, played a little bit and since summer of 2014, we’ve been trying to grind pretty hard.

Did your friendship inspire you guys to come back together to play music?

Definitely. I would say that we are definitely comfortable with each other when we play. We kind of know where the other person is going to go with their parts.

As an instrumental duo, In Place stands out in the Philly scene. Do you think you have to prove your music to your audiences or are they generally receptive to what you guys are doing?

I think that they are generally receptive. We typically get positive feedback and encouragement. We’re not the most accessible. We like to kind of think that we’re definitely a “grower band.” That maybe not be the first or second or even third listen but maybe around the fourth listen, you will start to kind of make more of a connection and attachment to the actual song.

What was the writing and recording process like for “Koolwhip City”?

Typically, the way that we start when we write music is with what we call a sketch. It’s just a really good idea. Maybe it’s a riff, a melody or a drum beat. So this sketch, “Koolwhip City,” came about and we liked the way it sounded. We spent a couple weeks and we developed it. I always say that music is really a true time capsule of where the artist or musician was in their life. So when we listen back to “Koolwhip City,” we can remember where we were and how we felt as individuals.

How does “Koolwhip City” compare to “The Pet,” In Place’s other single?

When we put out “The Pet,” we definitely wanted to put out a track that was a little bit more intense. We started saying that “The Pet” is almost kind of like controlled chaos. Because while it’s extremely contained, you go through the movements of the song really quickly and there’s a lot going on. The tension and release is pretty significant. We wanted the first song to be a little bit more aggressive and I think we achieved that with “The Pet.” But when we were talking about “Koolwhip,” of course we have multiple sides to us, and we felt that “Koolwhip” really represented the sound that we are currently moving in the direction of.

Are these tracks building to a full-length release?

Right now we are writing and demoing for a more significant effort. I would say more so for an EP. I don’t think that we’re ready for a full-length yet.

Have you developed connections with other bands in the scene?

Through playing around the scene we definitely have become friends with other instrumental bands. One would be Air is Human. Another one, Allora Mis, as well as the instrumental rock band Mohican. They are all, for the most part, Philly-based.

Where do you want to see In Place go in the future?

A giant priority for us is to just to keep writing as much as we can. Ultimately, the biggest goal is to improve the sound that we are starting to really develop right now.