{"id":10832,"date":"2017-10-10T16:38:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T16:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=10832"},"modified":"2026-05-06T19:28:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T00:28:04","slug":"wares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2017\/10\/10\/wares\/","title":{"rendered":"Wares :: Creating Intimacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Charlie Fraser<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Creating intimacy at a live performance can seem like an impossible thing. There is this very distinct separation between the musician(s) on the stage and everyone else on the ground below them. The space where the audience members are is very dark so the musician(s) can\u2019t see them; meanwhile, the musician(s) are lit up with intense fluorescent lights illuminating every single one of their features and even, flaws.<\/span>It can feel like a very separated experience being at a show, the musician is above you almost on a pedestal and you\u2019re on the ground below them forced to look up at them through these heavy lights; it can be kind of unsettling. Cassia J.Hardy, creator of the musical project Wares does all she can to eliminate this dynamic of separation and instead tries to create an intimate connection at every live performance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Being a solo musician you are able to control all of the dynamics while playing live, one of these dynamics being level of intimacy, and that\u2019s one of the reasons Cassia enjoys playing solo sets so much. Cassia elaborates, \u201cIt\u2019s easier with a solo act to bring more intimacy to a show, if you\u2019re responsible for all the sound on the stage you can make it as quiet or as loud as you want. If you can control the dynamic you can turn your guitar to just a whisper volume level or you don\u2019t really need a mic, you can just sing right to people; that\u2019s how I really like to operate\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What Cassia does to create that connection is to ditch the bright fluorescent lights and bring her own. \u201cIntimacy is a big part of my set so I ask for all of the lights in the house to be turned off and it\u2019s just these four bulbs in each corner of the stage. It\u2019s mostly for my comfort; it makes the room, it makes everything feel a lot closer even if it\u2019s not. I have no problem playing big rooms or anything, that doesn\u2019t make me nervous, it makes everybody in the room feel more involved.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Intimacy isn\u2019t just about turning off the lights though, intimacy is about feeling safe, if you don\u2019t feel safe, you won\u2019t be able to achieve that connection. Cassia realizes this and always makes sure that the venue Wares is playing at is a safe space and that everyone can feel included and safe, free from hate or discrimination. Cassia says that the performer on stage should be cognizant of how everyone is doing and what vibe the crowd is giving off and if you see or hear something bad to call it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy for Cassia to do all of this because Wares has in the past primarily been a solo project and she is the person making all of these decisions. \u201cFor the longest time my earliest records were bedroom recordings and for the longest time the idea of this project was it would just be my songs and me on stage performing so it would be portable in a way that a band isn\u2019t and that\u2019s gotten me this far.\u201d But, Cassia has been thinking about adding more folks into this musical project. \u201cWares, as of just talking to you right now, it\u2019s starting to expand. I\u2019m entertaining the idea of involving other people in the level that I involve myself.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

One thing that Cassia finds difficult is how hard it can be when trying to organize a band and finding times that work for everyone\u2019s schedule to practice and do shows, and organizing a group of people who have the same level of passion as you. In that way being solo is portable and very easy to organize but, when you\u2019re solo you don\u2019t get to have the same songwriting experience, and working with other musicians to write a song can be a very rewarding and introspective experience; you get to look at topics and issues through not only your musical lens but also through someone else\u2019s. <\/span><\/p>\n

Wares has started playing shows with more people. \u201cWe did a couple (shows) over the summer. We played Sled Island together, that was a really fun show, we opened for the band Cloud Nothings.\u201d Wares is still continuing to grow and will be going on tour as a band October 11th and will be at the Good Will Social Club on October 22nd.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cassia proves that you don\u2019t have to keep doing the same thing just because that\u2019s what you started doing at the beginning of your career and that you are allowed to add more or less people into your projects. If it\u2019s your project, you have full control but it is always a good experience to work with like-minded people and be able to collaborate creative thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n

You should try both before sticking to one, and never stop doing what you are passionate about. Whether Cassia is playing with a band or by herself, she won\u2019t ever stop making music. \u201cI see myself making music and being creative musically for my whole life. Whether or not I am doing the band thing or criss crossing the globe and really pushing records or whatever, remains to be seen but I\u2019ll never stop writing songs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charlie Fraser Creating intimacy at a live performance can seem like an impossible thing. There is this very distinct separation between the musician(s) on the stage and everyone else on the ground below them. The space where the audience members are is very dark so the musician(s) can\u2019t see them; meanwhile, the musician(s) are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1739],"tags":[300,555,806,1153,1152],"class_list":["post-10832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-interview","tag-edmonton","tag-live","tag-rock","tag-show-preview","tag-wares"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10832"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10837,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10832\/revisions\/10837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}