Casey Sabol: Why You Should Embrace Failure and Not Be Afraid to Suck

As a part of our series about Nashville’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Casey Sabol.

Casey Sabol blends his affinity for cutting-edge production with soaring vocal hooks and agile guitar riffs that hark back to late 80's arena rock, all while summoning the symphonic, bombastic forces of modern melodic metal. His lyrics cut through the dogma and call into question the nature of authority.

Throughout his career Casey was the lead singer for Grammy-nominated Progressive Metal band Periphery and appeared as a guest feature on songs for Oh Sleeper, Volumes, Endure Studios: For Home, and JIA. For three years in a row, Casey’s song submissions were selected for inclusion into the annual ASCAP Music Expo, where he spoke on stage with a panel of renowned industry heavyweights. He interned for acclaimed record producer John Feldmann, and spent years on his own as a producer, writer, mixer and engineer for a variety of artists covering a broad range of genres.

In 2019 he decided to pursue a career as a solo artist, for which he partnered with co-writer Jay Denton. Casey is planning to consistently release new singles. He composes, produces, mixes, arranges, and performs all his original songs in his home studio in Nashville.

Thank you so much for joining us in this series! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit of the ‘backstory’ of how you grew up?

Thank you so much for the opportunity here, it’s an honor. I grew up outside of Philadelphia. Music was all I ever cared about growing up, and at the age of 12, I started learning various instruments. My persistence eventually landed me at Berklee College of Music in Boston, by which point I had decided to focus on singing, songwriting, and studio production/engineering. I majored in Songwriting and stayed at Berklee for nearly 4 years. I left Boston in 2009 to move to Los Angeles where I interned for an incredible pop/rock producer named John Feldmann. That internship blessed me with an ever-expanding network of wildly talented musicians, engineers, producers, and mixers…a handful of whom I regard as very close friends to this day. I used that network to make a living in Los Angeles as a writer/producer/mixer for a while. Eventually, I decided to release my own music as Casey Sabol, all of which I wrote, produced and mixed out of my home studio in Hollywood with my writing partner Jay Denton (of ENDURE Studios). I decided to move to Nashville in 2021, and so now that’s where my musical journey has brought me. I love this town more than any I’ve lived in before!

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

In my youth, my mother, father, and step-father had an enormous influence on me musically. My mom loved country and rock (she would blast it through the house all day), my father was an iconic filmmaker who loved bombastic orchestral music, and my step-father was an exceedingly influential and famous rock radio personality in Philadelphia. My mom and step-father noticed my obsession with music early on and became very supportive of it, buying me my first guitar when I was 12 years old. My step-father John brought home a Pantera album for me one night when I was in middle school, and to this day I remember the feeling I got when I first heard those guitars, drums, and vocals jump out of the speakers and grip me forever by the soul. It was official, I was bound to be a metalhead for the rest of my life. However, as a writer and producer, I’ve always enjoyed working in all kinds of genres. I’m open to pretty much anything as long as the intention feels powerful to me.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Mostly thanks to my amazing step-father John I was lucky enough to have met the majority of my musical idols growing up, and when he wasn’t able to facilitate such encounters I’d typically manage to get it done on my own. I landed the internship with producer John Feldmann back in the MySpace days, and all I did was send an overly eager (retrospectively probably downright absurd) private message to him, and within the week I was met with a strangely agreeable reply. I find that most people in the music industry are as excited to meet their admirers as their admirers are to meet them, you just have to act on the confidence to take ridiculous chances every time they arise.

Can you share with us an interesting story about living in Nashville?

The industry in Nashville is unique in that you’ll see world-renowned stars just casually hanging out at the same bars everyone else does. There’s an understood humility and respect for personal space in this town that I just ain’t seen anywhere else, especially having come from LA where anyone of even the most remote notoriety either begs for attention or runs from an unwelcome abundance of it.

Can you share with us a few of the best parts of living in Nashville? We’d love to hear some specific examples or stories about that.

My favorite thing about Nashville is how small it really is, socially. Everyone knows everyone else, and I feel that makes for an atmosphere that’s as productive as it is competitive and inspiring. Everyone I know who’s moved here ends up becoming the best version of themselves by virtue of the industry’s intimacy. People here seem to genuinely want the best for one another. It fills me with a constant urge to grow.

Another thing I absolutely love about this place is how quickly you can go from suburb to rural countryside, to raging party town. As an artist, writer, and producer, that variety of experience is really important for maintaining inspiration. Too much of the same thing yields stagnation, but in Nashville, you have the entire spectrum of environmental experience right at your fingertips.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I’ve paid my dues interning in recording studios for many years, making more mistakes than I could ever remember. Certain mentors responded less kindly to my ignorance and clumsiness than others. No matter the degree of adversity, I could always glean some kind of lesson upon which to move forward. Before I decided to stay behind the glass I did some touring with acts ranging from heavy metal (as the lead singer of the band Periphery) to pop (playing bass for the artist Lesley Roy). Honestly, no particular egregious mistake stands above the others I recall making (of which there certainly were many), but one thing I learned is that the audience is much more forgiving than our nerves tend to make us believe. Everyone who sees you err is just as fallible as you are, and so at the end of the day, there’s really no reason to be embarrassed or afraid. Just do your best and don’t be afraid to suck, because that’s the only way to improve!

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I’ll name a few. First, Brandon Paddock, I met him shortly after I started interning for John Feldmann. He was Feldmann’s engineer, and he was (and always will be) far beyond me as an overall musician, engineer, producer, you name it. We became best friends very quickly, and he was infinitely generous with his time as a friend and mentor. He spent countless hours with me sitting at ProTools, tweaking ideas, teaching me about all the different facets of mixing and production he’d mastered throughout his many years of experience. I wouldn’t be nearly who I am now had I not met him. Nowadays Brandon is on an impressively fast climb to the top of the industry as a writer, producer and mixer. Secondly, I’ll mention Nick Morzov. Nick and I met shortly after I met Brandon. He’s one of the most talented engineers, producers and musicians on Earth, and by some miracle, he’s as giving as he is gifted. He taught me more about making music and navigating my tools than I could ever put into words, and he always made himself available to help me when I needed him. He, too, is fast on his way to the top of the industry and couldn’t deserve it more. Last but not least I’ll cite my best friend and writing partner Jay Denton. Jay and I met in LA at a mutual friend’s show, and in no time we became writing partners. Jay really pushed me to find my own unique voice as an artist…and furthermore, to actually amplify that voice out into the world. For years he was exceptionally open-handed with his time, helping me write and refine my sound. He’s always the first one rooting for me to keep pushing and evolving past the boundaries I needlessly construct in my way. In fact, it’s thanks to him that this interview is even happening!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I will always be most excited about my own artist project as Casey Sabol. However, as a new resident of Nashville, I’m excited beyond words to bring my entire skillset to bear on this flourishing scene of brilliantly talented rock, country, and pop artists. I want to write for and produce every artist who makes me envision a better world.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

1. Don’t be afraid to suck. I know I said that already, but I let my insecurities get the best of me too many times in the past and I don’t want that for anyone else!

2. Figure out specifically what makes you unique, and crusade on that thing as far out as you can. If you want longevity you have to capitalize on the thing you have that no one else does.

3. It’s ok to say no to some things, sometimes. When you know who you are it’s important to keep your integrity intact because you don’t want to feel dirty when you look back on yourself. Learn who you are, and know when something isn’t right. Life’s too short to waste time where you don’t belong. Unfortunately, I have more than my fair share of regrets, but I value the wisdom I’ve gained therefrom.

4. When something scares you, it means you’ve gotta do it. When it comes to music, use your fear as a compass. As Dallas Smith says, “run full steam, close [your] eyes, and jump right in”. This industry necessitates learning to swim after having been thrown into the deep end. Revel in that!

5. There’s no “right” way to manifest your unique vision because it’s never happened before. For example, when I was studying engineering at Berklee I would sometimes hear that a particular technique was objectively wrong or bad, only to subsequently discover that Grammy-winning producers/mixers/engineers would *purposely* employ that technique in order to achieve the sound they were chasing. This taught me that breaking the rules is nearly always worth trying just to see if you like what happens.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

Inspiration comes from life. You’ve gotta take breaks, even just little ones, in order to discover a message worth sharing with the world. Often times I see my colleagues get stuck in a rut because they’ve *only* been working for months on end, but without fail I see them climb out full of inspiration as soon as they step away from work for a little bit. The perspective you gain from taking a step back is priceless and rejuvenating. Personally, my favorite way of processing and managing my experiences is meditation. I have a routine from which I almost never stray, and it includes meditation every single day for at least 15 minutes.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I feel that each individual is enormously influential in their own right. Through my art I seek to wake each person up to the power they must hold over themselves, but ought not to assert over others. This world needs less control and more compassion.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Be the change you want to see in the world”. I’ve learned that, for those of us with seemingly unrealistic ambitions such as “change the world”, results only come when you focus on being a better person than you were the day before…rather than trying to externalize that process by forcing the outside world to look how you want yourself to look. This is one of the highest moral values to which I subscribe.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

As a huge fan of movies, at this point in my life, I’d probably have to say Paul Giamatti or Will Smith. Sounds unexpected, I know, but they’re my two favorite actors. I always find the most revelatory wisdom I can apply in music emerges from other domains of art — not from people who do the same thing I do, regardless of how much more successful they are. I always find special insights within other artistic domains just waiting to be applied where you might not think they’re meant to be. As a musician, I find that the revelations of actors and painters are more useful than those of other musicians.

How can our readers follow you online?

I am most active on my Instagram account, @caseysabol, and all music can be found on all streaming platforms, though I currently prefer you visit my Spotify page, linked here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3JniwIVpts0foYidvkh0Yz?si=8nKYcyueTkaCu_P-ipxOOw

My LinkTree has the most comprehensive access to my internet presence: https://linktr.ee/caseysabol

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!