No generation has yet to escape the powerful pull of nostalgia, and millennials have embraced a rebirth of alternative styles like emo and pop-punk. There’s not only a large market of music listeners, but also people seeking community around this resurgence. Athens transplant Dan Lacasse has successfully navigated this landscape to bring together his personal interests, meet like-minded people and create music under the Phantom Dan moniker.
The recently released EP Are You a Phase of the Dark? is a culmination of Lacasse finding his way back to creating music and channeling it as a means of catharsis. He described this project as “a collection of songs that have to do with when you’re not in the right space and how to purge that.”
Moving around the country to join different bands, the New Hampshire native found himself in Atlanta. When his band at the time called it quits, years of building burnout led him to taking a break from music. Lacasse and his wife, Jenna, decided to take a “life reset” and travel around the country for a year in an RV. Acclimating back to society and moving to Ellijay, Lacasse had a renewed itch to create music again, but no music scene within a reasonable distance.
Eventually the couple explored Athens and decided to make it their home in 2018. After a year of settling in, Lacasse found a tribute show at the Caledonia Lounge with local bands covering My Chemical Romance and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not knowing much about Athens’ rich music history but finding some musicians with mutual interests, Lacasse decided to form the party band That’s Rad and perform pop-punk covers around town.
“One of the biggest things for me was making personal connections with the people that were there. That’s been the real recipe for having good events is fostering a community where everyone is welcome,” says Lacasse. “Phantom Dan, a big reason that it exists is because of the community that I started with That’s Rad. Which has been abso-fucking-lutely amazing. So it’s not here without it.”
Lacasse decided to launch his original solo project Phantom Dan with an EP called Keep On Moving as a personal creative outlet. After performing an acoustic version of the EP on a whim for a friend’s show, the compulsion to write was reignited. He set out with an agenda and careful plan to write a new EP, only to find five months later that he didn’t connect with any of the songs. Bogged down by work and feeling disconnected from his music, Lacasse began to spiral into a depression.
One night Lacasse was messing around with one of the songs in his recording software and caught a beat that inspired him to pour out a stream-of-conscious freestyle literally for hours.
“It was just coming out like when those women speak in tongues at church,” says Lacasse. “It was the most cathartic experience that I had in years. I was just unloading every thought that was ever in my mind… I had come up with the verse to ‘Bad Habits,’ the first song on this new EP. Now I had the first piece of art that I was excited about in years.”
“Bad Habits” has a variety of influences, from the nu metal crossover of hip hop and rock to more traditional pop-punk. The hip-hop undertone made Lacasse decide to invite his neighbor Anthony Hill, also known as musician and producer P.O. the Priceless One, over to listen to the new track. Ultimately Lacasse asked Hill to write a piano intro to the song. Continuing the spirit of collaboration and community, Lacasse invited a group of people he met through shows over to his house to record gang vocals for the project. The effect brings that live show energy and feel to the recorded song.
“This is quite a dark record lyrically. It’s really about being in a bad spot mentally, and like you having to be the one that excuses yourself but also kicks yourself in the ass and saves yourself,” explains Lacasse.
Although the Phantom Dan EP release show already took place mid-November, you can catch Phantom Dan performing his full EP as the opening set of A Very Rad Pop Punk Xmas III at the 40 Watt Club on Saturday, Dec. 14. Also on the lineup are three tribute performances by That’s Rad (Blink-182), Murder the Mood (My Chemical Romance) and Nadia Vaeh (Paramore/No Doubt). There will be an ugly Christmas sweater contest, giveaways and other shenanigans, plus a toy drive.
For tickets and more info about the show, visit 40watt.com.
WHO: A Very Rad Pop Punk Xmas III
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 14, 8 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
HOW MUCH: $10 (adv.), $15
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