Casey

Casey is the name of multiple artists, including a Welsh melodic hardcore band, a French rapper, and a US singer-songwriter and guitarist.

Welsh melodic hardcore band

Casey is a melodic hardcore band from South Wales, United Kingdom, formed in 2014. It begins as a studio project under the name Well Wisher after vocalist Tom Weaver and guitarist Liam Torrance leave their previous bands, Continents and Hot Damn. Weaver and Torrance later add Toby Evans, Max Nicolai and Scott Edwards, and the group starts writing with the aim of playing live.

After a short break while Weaver auditions for Northlane, the project drops the Well Wisher name and returns as Casey. The name comes from Weaver’s admiration for the album Casey by The Rise of Science and from Torrance’s tribute to Hawthorne Heights guitarist Casey Calvert.

The band’s music is described in terms that place it across post-hardcore, melodic hardcore, hardcore punk, emotional hardcore, shoegaze and alternative rock. In December 2018, the group announces that it plans to split after a final UK and European tour and a one-off headline show in the United States in 2019.

In the years after that disbandment, members pursue other projects: Smith forms Asidhara and Mourn, the latter with members of Continents and Wilderness, and releases a debut single in 2021. Nicolai and Torrance form Exit Dream with vocalist Wesley Thompson, formerly of Napoleon and Climates, and session musician Rob Hawkins.

On 1 December 2022, Casey announces a reunion and books five tour dates in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe for January 2023. After those dates sell out, the band adds extra shows in London and Oberhausen and upgrades the Manchester date. In a January 2023 interview, Weaver says the reunion begins when Torrance contacts him about reforming only days after Weaver’s split from his fiancée. The final lineup then meets, starts writing again, and releases the single “Great Grief” on 6 December 2022, followed by “Atone” on 3 January 2023. On 15 September 2023, the band releases “Puncture Wounds To Heaven” and says it will appear on a third studio album.

French rapper

Casey is the stage name of Cathy Palenne, a French rapper born in Rouen on 28 June 1975 and based in Blanc-Mesnil, Seine-Saint-Denis. She describes her rap as the rap of the children of immigrants rather than French rap. Her lyrics often deal with racism, police violence, and France’s slavery and colonial history.

She works with the collective Zone Libre, a rock project involving Noir Désir guitarist Serge Teyssot-Gay, Marc Sens and drummer Cyril Bilbeaud. Hamé de La Rumeur also collaborates with her. Her album L’angle Mort is released in 2009, followed by a tour of France, and her last album with Zone Libre is Les Contes du chaos.

US singer-songwriter

Casey is also used by US singer-songwriter and guitarist Casey McQuillen, who releases the EPs The You Matter Tour: Live and Acoustic and Beautiful.