Interview: Caustic Waves (Written)

Launched in 2022, Caustic Waves is the musical outlet for Glasgow-based one-man-band, Neil Thomas. Embracing his love of 90s/00s alternative rock/metal, post-hardcore and grunge, Neil takes influences from bands of that era such as Incubus, Far, Deftones and Helmet.

With a nostalgic sound and title that both nod to 90s post-hardcore, ‘Quicksand’ is the lead single from the Caustic Waves album, ‘Echoes’. Melodic vocals sit atop a Helmet-esque groove of distorted guitar and rhythmic bass, backed by layers of harmonies. The album was produced and mixed by Neil at his home studio in Glasgow, Scotland. After mixing, it was given an extra layer of mastering beef by acclaimed producer Lewis Johns (earthtone9, Employed To Serve, Blanket, Oversize).

In this interview, we get to know Neil a bit better and find out more about the new album, and Caustic Waves overall.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

I’m Neil from Glasgow, and Caustic Waves is my musical outlet – I’m a one-man-band. I’ve been playing music for 25+ years now, with previous experience as guitarist in the alt-metal band Keitel and bassist in the harmony-driven power pop band, The Chinaskis. I launched Caustic Waves in 2022 after spending lockdown recording a 6-track EP in my home studio.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

My usual tagline is “melodic alternative rock / post-hardcore with a pinch of late-90s nostalgia”. My main influences are the bands I fell in love with as a teenager in the late 90s / early 00s – Helmet, Incubus, Deftones, Far, Kerbdog, Handsome, to name a few. It’s usually loud, distorted rhythm guitars mixed with melodic vocal hooks, underpinned by layers of harmonies.

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

At the moment I’m gearing up for the release of QUICKSAND, which is the lead single from the new album ECHOES. The single will be available on streaming platforms from 6th June 2025, with more singles dropping each month leading up to the album release in September.

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

I’m just really excited to have new music coming out! My first EP, ‘Full Circle’ came out in March 2023, and since then I’ve been busy writing and recording the new album. It feels like I’ve been working on it forever, and I’m so happy to finally have it finished. I’m really excited with how it turned out, and it feels like a good progression from the first EP.

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

I was writing and demoing for the album throughout 2023 and hit a bit of a streak, and actually ended up with two albums worth of material – 22 songs. I set aside half of the songs for later, then started working on the recording in early 2024. It was quite a big undertaking, as I’m doing everything myself – vocals, guitar, bass, programming, as well as the mixing. It’s quite a slow process adding all the layers, particularly with the amount of vocal harmonies on each song.

Although I mixed it myself (which was a challenge in itself), it was mastered by Lewis Johns, who is an amazing producer and engineer. He’s worked with so many great UK bands – Blanket, Oversize, Employed To Serve, Palm Reader and loads more. He also produced the last earthtone9 album, which was a phenomenal album – I’ve been a big fan of them for years. It was really exciting to have Lewis on board for the mastering, and he really helped elevate my mixes with an extra layer of beef.

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

I think it was particularly important during the pandemic. I started recording my first EP just after the first lockdown started, and the last track written (Invisible Enemy) actually captured a snapshot of that initial confusion and uncertainty in its lyrics. I was working away on the recording in my home studio, and having a project like that was a good distraction from everything that was going on and helped to keep my mind focused.

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

I think the biggest challenge for me is just balancing making music with my day job and family life. I’m married and have two kids, and there are only so many hours in the day. Working on the album was quite a slow process, and it definitely required patience in order to fully realise the vision I had for it.

It’s also quite a challenge doing everything myself. Every little detail takes thought – every guitar part, drum pattern, bass line, lyric, vocal harmony, mixing technique, etc. It’s really rewarding when it all comes together though, and I do love having complete creative control – there’s no one to tell me not to add that pinch harmonic when I feel like it!

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

For me it’s pretty much all online, as I’m not currently doing live gigs and just focussing on the recording.

When I first launched Caustic Waves, I had finished recording the EP but had absolutely no idea how to release or promote it. It was definitely a learning curve and I ended up staggering the release of the EP over a year or so, with individual single releases. This allowed me to take time to grow my online fanbase and figure out how best to do it – experimenting with different types of content on different platforms.

The only downside is that I spent a year solely focussed on promotion and wasn’t really working on writing new music. I think it was worth it in the end though… if I had just released the EP immediately, it wouldn’t have reached many people.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

I try to keep it creative, and one of the things I did was recording a series of vocal covers for my YouTube channel. That was a good way of keeping it interesting for me, but also giving people something familiar to help draw them in. I ended up doing loads of them – Silverchair, Taproot, Finch, A Perfect Circle, to name a few, and it was definitely a fun challenge. I actually have a couple more planned, now that I have a little bit more time since completing the album.

I’m also really grateful for the connections I’ve made with people through music and the whole online promotion thing. I love interacting with like-minded people, sharing music recommendations etc. I’ve discovered so many great independent / lesser known bands through these connections.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help you?

As an independent artist without a big PR campaign behind me, word of mouth is everything. If you like the music, then be sure to tell your friends with similar tastes to check it out. Interacting on social media is helpful too – a like or a comment on a post goes a long way to appeasing the algorithms, so it might get pushed to other people.

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

It’s maybe not relaxing, but my weekly ritual involves a 10K run at the weekend, accompanied by some good tunes. I pick a different album to listen to each week while I’m running – quite often an old favourite that I’ve not heard in a while. I do a quick post on my Facebook page afterwards, and I love hearing people’s thoughts on whatever album I picked.

12. Where can people find you?

You can find my music on Spotify and all the other major platforms, there are loads of videos on my YouTube channel and I’m active on most social networks too. There are links to everything from causticwaves.com.

Links

Linktree | Spotify | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | YouTube