Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Caustic Casanova
161 Plays3 years ago
Since forming as teenagers at the College of William & Mary in 2005, heavy rockers Caustic Casanova have experienced their fair share of ups and downs. Having weathered lineup changes, life threatening injuries and relentless DIY touring, the group’s highly eclectic sound has made them favorites in a crowded scene. Stereo Embers wrote of the Washington, DC based upstarts: “Caustic Casanova is one of the most excitingly innovative bands on the planet…the band’s at home in psych, prog, metal, punk, and seemingly every other genre in the galaxy.”
2013 saw the band almost fall apart when drummer/vocalist Stefanie Zaenker endured serious injuries to her wrists that put her ability to drum in jeopardy. However, Caustic Casanova persevered, and by 2014, Zaenker, alongside bassist/vocalist Francis Beringer and guitarist Andrew Yonki had opened for sludge titans Kylesa and were signed to their label, Retro Futurist Records, allowing them to take things to the next level. The band toured heavily in support of their critically acclaimed 2015 LP Breaks, slugging it out both with Kylesa and on their own. Between 2013 and 2018 they also released a trio of EPs for their Pantheon series, where they paired original material with classics by Pentagram, the Melvins and Weedeater. This hard work led to a deal with Magnetic Eye Records, who in October 2019 released CC’s latest record God How I Envy The Deaf, which won two Washington Area Music Awards in 2020, for best hard rock album and best hard rock song (“Filth Castle”).
As CC looks to the future, they’re already recording the next album with their longtime producer J. Robbins (Jawbox) at Magpie Cage Recording Studio in Baltimore. Newly a four piece with the addition of guitarist Jake Kimberley, this relentlessly loud band is excited to see what sonic alchemies their genre mashing and off the wall songwriting will conjure up next. Road hardened rock and roll warriors through and through, Caustic Casanova plan on showcasing their “muscular, riff-roaring, bass-fuzzed blend of metal and hard rock, flavored with doses of noise and stoned psychedelia” (Creative Loafing) all across the world.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCenW1uvNMHmLgQOpX2Oql5A
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Guests
00:00:03
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Kendall Ante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer.
00:00:18
Speaker
This is Ken Volante with the Something Rather Than Nothing podcast, and we have the band Caustic Cassin over here with Steph Zanker and Francis Behringer, and very happy to have you joining us from what I understand to be a stormy state of Maryland. Welcome to the show. Yes. Thank you so much for having us. Yes, thank you for having us.
Philosophical Discussion: Born an Artist?
00:00:42
Speaker
Yes, so I came in contact with your music, little known to the audience that something rather than nothing has hidden correspondence throughout the country and some of those to identify metal bands.
00:00:56
Speaker
and my friend Eric got to see you live and raved and so I got excited about your music and have you here and just wanted to chat about your music and the big philosophical questions and I'm gonna hit you Steph with the first one. When you were born, were you an artist?
00:01:21
Speaker
It's a really good question. And it's really awesome to be on a podcast like this that kind of delves deep into the philosophical side of things because Francis and I talk about this kind of stuff a lot. So that initially strikes me as kind of like a nature versus nurture question in a way. And I think it's a little bit of both. Like I think generally you can have natural talent, but then also do you have
00:01:46
Speaker
the space in your life to kind of cultivate creativity, right? That's like a little bit of both nature and nurture. And like for me, I sort of think it was both. So yeah, I mean, I'd have to think a little bit more deeply about that, but that's my like initial answer, I think. Yeah, yeah. So Francis, you're born into this wild world. Are you an artist then? Well, I think that, I mean,
00:02:16
Speaker
I think it's such a fascinating question. I mean, I think that the basic answer that goes to something about like nature versus nurture or fate or destiny is that I certainly, I feel like I was born with the capability
00:02:43
Speaker
and the tools and probably some sort of inclination or direction towards being an artist. But I could have seen myself definitely not being one. It's actually interesting because there's a pretty big difference in the way that like Francis and I sort of like grew up with or like sort of grew into our love of music and our playing of music. So that's like an interesting point that you bring up.
00:03:13
Speaker
And I think, you know, there's, you could go a lot deeper than that too into say something like, well, you know, there's only, you know, there's only one path that you go down and therefore the question answers itself that of course you are born to be an artist because it's self-evident that you become one, you know,
00:03:39
Speaker
But that gets into stuff that could be, you know, four hours of talking about what, how do we know what we know and all of that kind of thing.
00:03:49
Speaker
I don't know. Yeah. Well, well, we can drop back down there because I have the vague suspicion. I get a couple willing participants here. But let me let me jump. Let me let me jump to the big kind of the the big question as we talk about, you know, music and art. And I'm going to go with you, Francis.
Defining Art: Subjectivity and Intention
00:04:10
Speaker
And this is the this is the big one.
00:04:14
Speaker
I'm looking for a definition of art, like you're artists, you're creating music, you're piecing this together, you have a final product and you think about art, but what is art? I mean, Oh God, that's such a big one. I mean,
00:04:42
Speaker
It's almost like it's, I mean, it almost seems like it'd be easier to answer the question by negation to say like, what is not art? You know, I think there are people that say everything or anything is art that you say is art. And I'm not sure that that's necessarily true. Not necessarily. I don't know that a refrigerator is art. You mean a rotting banana stapled to a wall as an art? So I don't know, though. I mean, I don't know if I don't know if
00:05:12
Speaker
if that banana is art, it's almost like the legal definition of pornography that's like, I know it when I see it, but that's only internal to me. I mean, I think like a really normal, boring, uninteresting, not that deep answer is something that is some sort of creative, intentional,
00:05:40
Speaker
process or or product or result that has no that fulfills that that it's creation and That its creation is self-fulfilling so to to do it is is its reward is its its value is in its is in the making of it and and
00:06:09
Speaker
that's its highest value as opposed to like there can be value in making a door or a table that isn't art but that's not its highest value. I think intentionality really is a big one like and because art is so subjective you know like some people say it's the ultimate form of self-expression you know that's like
00:06:35
Speaker
So vague, but I think anything can qualify as art as long as it was intentional. Intended to be art. Intended to be art or like an expression of creativity. Whether you think that it's, you know, bullshit or something, it doesn't matter because it's the intentionality of the actor that matters. I guess if it's art to that person, then it is art. I don't know. Yeah. That's what I would say. I think yes. Sure.
00:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, we, in these discussions, intention comes up a whole lot, like, you know, the intention to be creating art. And Francis, that definition, I just had a conversation recently, the pornography definition is one commonly used for art. Like, you have this, like,
00:07:17
Speaker
a judicial decision that basically says, you know it when you see it. And it feels so unsatisfying as an answer, but there's been no better answer. And for some folks, it's art. I've named it as such, and therefore it is. I looked up one of the things I really become interested in
00:07:40
Speaker
is some of the language around this and saying something and nothing and using this language in philosophy. And I looked up Wittgenstein's comment on art, which meant a lot to me. And he said, in art, it is hard to say anything as good as saying nothing.
00:07:58
Speaker
So like we're in this territory sometimes where it's like, um, and particularly in that philosophy is like, there are things you should talk about and there's things you should show. And I think like it's like, uh,
00:08:11
Speaker
Here it is. I like the wall hall, what you get away with and what you show as being art. I've just been bumping into those themes. But I want to follow up on art, and you mentioned the intention to create art and to that process and to achieve it.
Functions of Art: Escape and Unity
00:08:29
Speaker
What's the role of art? I've asked this question through the pandemic and through great social upheaval, at least how I see it right now. So right now, what is art doing for people? What should it be doing for people? I mean, a lot of different things. For me, it does a lot of different things.
00:08:58
Speaker
a distraction, an enjoyment, an emotional escape, a mental escape, a stress reliever in terms of creating the art, but then also experiencing other people's art. I'd say the same kinds of things. Especially now, too, I think a really important element of it is that it's bringing people together because everybody's sort of in this pandemic
00:09:28
Speaker
all over the world at the same time together. And so that might inform people's like experiences of what any kind of art might be in a way that strikes them differently than it would have otherwise. That's like, I feel like that came out super vague. We're talking about the meaning of art, so. Yeah, the role, what's this, Francis, what, you know, you put out a song or somebody's put out,
00:09:59
Speaker
Is the role of art different now in our times or is it, you know, just kind of writ large? Like I don't think the role of art like as a blanket statement really ever changes because I think it's it's so or it's the net it casts should be so vast that it could be
00:10:23
Speaker
You're talking about things that are better shown than told or more impactful or more meaningful or more relevant shown than told. I feel like when we're talking about social and political upheaval or depression and isolation and the pandemic and all of those types of things,
00:10:47
Speaker
I think that the art is so, it seems to me like so self-evidently important to a lot of people, both creators and just consumers of it, but it's so vast. It can be, you know, it could be the way that someone gets into channeling their anger or their emotion or the way that they just can't seem to get into
00:11:17
Speaker
you know, a problem, whether it's personal or political or whatever, that they can't get into it in a productive way at all except via that. And then there's the complete other way that's, there are some people that can't seem to get out of these things, escape them in any meaningful way without art. So I mean, you have, it's like, it can be the way in and the way out of almost like anything, you know,
00:11:46
Speaker
or nothing in life or nothing or nothing, you know, but I mean, it can be it can be so it can be so big and so many different actions for a lot of different people. And I mean, anyone who's had a particular song or painting or book or whatever hit them in a particular way that just felt right for the time or perfect for the moment as a way of, you know,
00:12:10
Speaker
letting the gas out of the bag or finally focusing on something that had been eluding them. I mean, it's like, it's just, you know, I don't know. Well, that's no, that strikes me as a very, you know, that that very real feeling. I found like at the beginning of the pandemic, let me just
00:12:30
Speaker
Like I was doing, I'm doing the podcast.
Music Break: 'Memory King' by Caustic Cassanova
00:12:32
Speaker
I'd done some episodes. And then like my first reaction when the pandemic went down, I was like, why the fuck do a podcast? Like, you know, like the collapses upon us. And it was just like a visceral initial reaction, but that's where the question came up for me was like, all right, well.
00:12:47
Speaker
What do we do with our time now? And so I appreciate your comments on that. I want to go to a track. One of the things I don't do to audiences is introduce a great band, but then not play their music for too, too long. So for the listeners, we're going to cut to the track, Memory King. And we're going to be back in just a tiny bit and chat some more with Caustic Casanova.
00:14:59
Speaker
There are some things that just can't be understood
00:15:34
Speaker
That same deep feeling in my stomach
00:16:08
Speaker
Just remember, I'm forgetting
00:18:33
Speaker
Thank you for that song. You're welcome. You're welcome for making it. I love that song. And it's metal times for me right now. It feels very, very metal. And so I really appreciate that.
Maryland's Metal Scene and Cultural Roots
00:18:54
Speaker
When I talk to musicians, particularly in a scene or a metal scene from an area,
00:19:02
Speaker
I usually try to get a little bit of a taste for what it's like in the metal scene in the area. I know I've lived in Washington, DC. I have some background in DC punk, Washington, DC underground punk. And what's it like? Out here in the Pacific Northwest, metal grows from the soil, the wet, damp dune.
00:19:27
Speaker
cannabis smoke, wet, drippy rain. Doom grows from the ground here. Metal, what's the scene like for you over there? Well, you know, we have the DC punk stuff that you mentioned, obviously. Something that a lot of people that don't already love the Doom genre know about is that Frederick Maryland has an amazing Doom Metal scene.
00:19:55
Speaker
And, you know, was one of the progenitors of, you know, doom worldwide, essentially. People come from all over the world to the Maryland Doom Fest.
00:20:09
Speaker
which has been running for, I'm not sure of how many years, but I mean, the doom scene here in Frederick stretches back to what, I mean, the 70s or something at least. Yeah. I mean, the Maryland DC, you know, the Maryland suburbs and DC have a pretty historic connection to a lot of the Black Sabbath influence music for lack of a better word with pentagram and the obsessed
00:20:39
Speaker
you know, a lot of the bands that sprang from that, who were also all in their own way connected to the DC punk scene. I mean, it was such a small thing, the DC punk scene when it was starting in the 80s, that it co-mingled with the metal scene, especially the Maryland Doom metal scene that still exists to this day. And, you know, that was part of even what made Fugazi, Fugazi was their, you know,
00:21:08
Speaker
them going around saying, we love, you know, we love Black Sabbath and we love, you know, Ted Nugent and Aerosmith and stuff. And we're not afraid to take those riffs. And, you know, if people are angry, that doesn't sound like minor threat, you know, you know, and then there's a little bit of metal in Fugazi. And I mean, you know, so I think the D.C. scene is the D.C. Maryland scene is so interesting and has such an interesting history that
00:21:38
Speaker
people forget sometimes to go down like a couple levels into the basement and dig. It's even more interesting under the surface, especially with regard to the connections between some stuff that people don't necessarily make. And also just to, I'm sure you know about how small that group of people was in DC that made it into an internationally known punk rock capital.
00:22:07
Speaker
beginning is 35 or 40 people with, you know, we're talking about intentionality and art and making things happen and by sheer force of will. That never ceases to not inspire me. That never stops inspiring me.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah. And it's crazy, too, because Francis and I just moved to Frederick three years ago. We had lived in D.C. for years in Northern Virginia. And it's insane how many people in Frederick, including musicians, you know, that aren't like part of the heavy music scene and that the community itself isn't aware of the heavy music
00:22:44
Speaker
legacy, like legacy of Frederick and Maryland. Nobody, like nobody that isn't already a fan of metal or doom or heavy music doesn't like knows about the festival or the history. I know that it is planned for next year because I've kept track of the Doomfest out there in Maryland. I believe that is scheduled for next year.
00:23:14
Speaker
And I actually haven't been to it, but there used to be a very good metal fest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
00:23:22
Speaker
you know over a metal fest yeah yeah like three or four days or something and i remember that because i remember my windshield on my car was smashed apart it was a it's a true Milwaukee metal scene uh when that lasted for a few years but um hey so i wanted to um uh i wanted to to ask a couple more uh philosophy questions and um
00:23:50
Speaker
This is for each one of you. And you can answer it as a person, as an artist. And we'll start with you, Steph.
Philosophy of Identity and Existence
00:23:58
Speaker
One of the questions I ask is, what or who made you who you are? Well, aside from the obvious, I don't know.
00:24:20
Speaker
I don't know. It's just such a crazy question. We've been watching Closer to Truth. I don't know if you know about that show. I don't. You should definitely check it out. It's a philosophy show about anything. Multiple infinite universes, tunneling. Morality is an argument for God.
00:24:46
Speaker
like all of this stuff and, you know, Frances and I have been obsessed with it. But it's like the reason I'm having trouble answering this is because it's like the more that we watch the stuff and the more that, you know, we read about the stuff and talk about it, the more confused I am about, you know, what is life? Why are we here? Who am I? What like, what am I? What is consciousness? You know, am I even experiencing
00:25:11
Speaker
Everything or nothing what even is nothing my brain can't even grasp the concept of nothingness Because it has always subjectively experienced somethingness So yeah, yeah, I don't I don't know I don't feel equipped to answer that question Quite yet, and I may never
00:25:33
Speaker
Your philosophers either appear very humble or they're very arrogant, and humble is a good trait. Humble is a good trait. Take a look at the something, and we'll go to Francis in a second, but the something rather than nothing question, even part of the reason why the show ends up being such a variety is because of the approach of trying to answer
00:25:59
Speaker
an almost absurd philosophical question. It's either the most profound or the most absurd or both. And when we try to do that and we try to get the language to describe what's going on,
00:26:14
Speaker
We laugh a lot like in philosophy like you end up laughing being like oh isn't that the silliest stupid thing like I don't even know what I'm saying anymore and you just give up and Start you know and start laughing, but that's why it's great Yeah, I mean sometimes I just arrive at the lake and you know I'm just naturally curious And I just I'm overly analytical and sometimes I just throw my hands up And I'm like what what is the point of even thinking about all this stuff if you'll never know you know but then the next day I'm like I
00:26:42
Speaker
you know, spend two hours like thinking about, you know, intentionality and what's that term that we're just talking talking about yesterday? I don't know. I sleep like a baby when I think about this stuff too much. It's like it's just puts me into a blissful sleep because it allows me to not think about, you know,
00:27:05
Speaker
things that are paying a medical bill or something. Like if something is causal in sequence, what is that called? There's a term for that. It goes back and back and back and back infinitely. Well, it's that under the basis, the something questions, there has to be something at the beginning for things causally to happen after, right? And the answer to that is
00:27:26
Speaker
God. But why the beginning? We're still on a different question. There might not even be a beginning if something is just an infinite. So I asked what I did is sometimes philosophy is a little bit behind the times, let's say, as great as the discipline that it is. But science, science is this is the big question in science for a lot of cosmologists, right? Like as far as
00:27:56
Speaker
you know the big bang right like is it is right is is now now the some things have arrived or if there's always some things but
00:28:06
Speaker
I had a Dr. Aaron McDonald, who is a sci-fi geek and an astrophysicist, and asking the question of something rather than nothing. And I think even the approach or medium that question is supposed to mean. So I mentioned that to an artist, right? Something rather than nothing. They might not want to get into the God argument. They might say,
00:28:29
Speaker
I create something. It never existed before. And yes, there's all these pieces and these elements. But this something can only go through my hands, my brain, and this type of thing. So this is the something from the nothing. But Francis, we do have the question what or who made you who you
Impact of Life Events on Artistic Identity
00:28:52
Speaker
are. And I have to at least give you a chance to take a stab at that one, because Steph did.
00:29:03
Speaker
You know, I mean, I mean, again, like the boring non-suit non, like getting into, you know, possibility and infinite regress of conditionality and all that kind of stuff that's four hours of interesting conversations. You know, I mean, I think the regular, you know, the answer to me is just, is
00:29:32
Speaker
I think that you're born a certain way.
00:29:38
Speaker
that is set in a way that's probably pretty uncomfortable for a lot of people to realize because it violates a lot of their feelings of agency. But I think it's, I was a particular way. You mean like with your genes. I'm a particular way and then all of these, every little tiny experience
00:30:07
Speaker
creates a work in progress that is, you know, certain proteins and genes in my brain express themselves in relation to different events and things that happen and different foods I eat and all the little things make up this, you know,
00:30:31
Speaker
billions or trillions of little events happen to a way that you're gonna be, and then there's this infinite, almost infinite, not infinite, but this extreme amount of pressure and change on a basic template. And so, you know, I think that's at least a little more interesting than saying, you know, my parents really
00:30:57
Speaker
loved me or something which is which is true but you know and then there's of course like the the big things like you know in the in the in the you know and i don't know if this is the way that reality actually is but in the in the movie of like your life i think that everyone writes or has in their head you know there's the like big forks or whatever i don't think that
00:31:25
Speaker
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be an artist at the level that I've pursued it at. For instance, if my father hadn't died when I was young. And I think that's because not, I just think that I would have not, I just don't think that the pressures on my life would have probably led me to
00:31:51
Speaker
pursuing music and like art this fanatically. I just don't think my life would have gone that way. I think it would have caved into other things like not caved like in a bad way. I just think that the arc of my life would have gone into a different direction because my father's influence would have been.
00:32:14
Speaker
it just would have been a different thing it's not that he wasn't wouldn't have been supportive of me being in a band or anything but my parents were not are not artistic in any way and didn't even listen to music when i was growing up like they listened to the news on the radio like there was no
00:32:29
Speaker
no music or art of any kind really in my life growing up. And I think that I just, I think that I probably would have done something else probably really seriously with my life if he had been an influence on my life going forward as a young adult, which I really miss because as anyone who loses their father knows, you really miss having that person around. So I just think that's like the big,
00:32:58
Speaker
That's probably the big event in my life that made me the most what I am. Yeah. Yeah. And thank you for that. What's going on with Casanova
New Album and Band Dynamics
00:33:14
Speaker
now? I know you've done some touring, and I know the world is a little bit topsy turvy, but you want to kind of band update or kind of let listeners know what's going on and what to look out for maybe?
00:33:28
Speaker
Yeah, well, most recently and most excitingly, we just finished mixing our record. So yeah, our next full length is going to be our second on Magnetic Eye Records, and that's hopefully going to be out in June next year. So we just finished mixing that in its entirety, and it's going to be mastered very soon, and then it will be on its way.
00:33:52
Speaker
to the cue at the pressing plant, which may take a very, very long time. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's been the focus of a lot of what we've been doing for quite a while. And its ambition on this next record is pretty sky high. And it's been putting it together and executing it has been
00:34:19
Speaker
extremely challenging, and we're always trying to reach for that, which we can't really do, or play write music that's a little beyond our capabilities, or arrange stuff that's a little beyond our capabilities. It's definitely our most out there record, and we've had to put it together. Some of it was put together remotely during the pandemic, like contributing riffs and stuff online.
00:34:49
Speaker
especially with two covers that we can't really talk about yet that we recorded entirely remotely, recorded and fleshed out. They're not on the record. They're not on the record, but yeah. So that's been a particular challenge. And also, this will be the first record to feature both of our guitar players, because we added a guitar player, Jake Kimberly, in 2019. And so you're definitely going to hear that influence on the record. And yeah, we're really excited.
00:35:30
Speaker
15-minute song at the end. And if you go back into the archives, editor and producer, Peter Bauer, with his band, Blazer, there's got to be a 16 to 17-minute outro track on that one. So his band is called Blazer. Blazer, B-L-A-Z-A-R. And I'm doing it too. Check that out.
00:35:41
Speaker
It's got a 22 minute song on it. All right. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can.
00:35:55
Speaker
it's interesting because in my estimation it's been peter's good friend of mine but um it's really been good for him because him and the guys that are playing have come into contact with um a lot a lot of music that i listen to a lot of metal uh that i listen to and they're kind of like oh i didn't realize all this stuff was like floating out there so and you know you get on band camp and you start to disappear and into
00:36:23
Speaker
Polish doom and you're not going to come out for six weeks. Yeah, definitely gone down those rabbit. I mean, there's, you know, there's like, there are just, I almost like restrict myself to not doing it because like, there are, yeah, there, if you go on a band camp hole, and you're just really in a mood to listen to music, and
00:36:44
Speaker
have a glass of wine or something. I mean, you could just, I mean, I found a playlist, I found like just black metal bands that just do concept albums about World War I. I mean, that there's a lot of, there's just, there's a lot of just that. Like, you know, this band from Calgary only writes about the, you know, the European theater of, you know.
00:37:08
Speaker
only writes about the war in Belgium you know like the stuff is just you know the variety is like you know it's almost too much it almost makes you as an artist sometimes it's like oh my god there's so much amazing stuff out there and there's so much that you you know
00:37:28
Speaker
you can't believe more people don't know about. Sometimes it's depressing. That's why it really, yeah, it really annoys me when people say, cause I overhear people saying like, there's no good music around anymore. You know, they think that the music is what's on the radio, but it's like, you know, my answer to that is like, I guarantee you, you're not digging. You're not trying to find it because if you were, you just, there's no way that you would be saying this regardless of what kind of music you're into, you know, where I'm not just talking about metal.
00:37:56
Speaker
I really agree with that. You know what, I find that too, where there's scenes and things are going on, and the varieties of music, once you go belay or whatever you're being fed, is seemingly endless. And that's what we're talking about. But I also find within the culture, I do a lot of stuff. I'm a big comic book and graphic novel person. And I have artists and guests on.
00:38:22
Speaker
There is so much going on in the storytelling, the art, edginess, issues that don't show up in popular culture for a few years. But if you're in some of these cultures, you're reading about it like this stuff's out there. These issues are being talked about. There are different type of creators and persons of color and different artists from different countries. And you've just got to go looking for it a little bit because there's a whole lot.
00:38:51
Speaker
And I think medals like that, I think music and band camps such a great way for folks to connect to all
Why Is There Something Rather Than Nothing?
00:38:58
Speaker
those things. I want to pose the something rather than nothing question like just stated again. And it feels a little bit unfair because I believe you've been answering the something rather than nothing question throughout the episode and I don't want to
00:39:15
Speaker
discredit that, but I also have to provide you the proper opportunity to answer the big question. It's a thrilling conclusion. France has been champing at the bit to answer this, so I think it should be too personal, and I'll add. Yeah, yeah. Why is there something rather than nothing, France? Well... Prepare to have your minds blown, ladies and gentlemen. We have the answer to all of Lev's questions and why we're here. Yes.
00:39:44
Speaker
Well, there's there's what? There's there's a I claim of absolutely no originality in the John Leslie's five different. There's the question is absurd is one is that it is that it's it's absolutely unknowable and therefore ridiculous to even ask it. There's the argument from from chance that the world that the
00:40:12
Speaker
Reality, you know, has to be some way and this is it because it is because chance fixed it that way. There's that, you know, something rather than nothing because of value or prop, you know, or like prince, like principles or mathematics or something make it that way. Or like consciousness, mind, God, or something is, is the ultimate ground of being is the, is the fifth one.
00:40:41
Speaker
Now what I think is that it's either, why is there something other than nothing? I think it's either, I'm personally drawn to the question is absurd. Like the answer is that the question is ridiculous and absurd. Not like, oh, it's ridiculous for him to ask it, but that it's like, once you start teasing it apart, it becomes ridiculous because our minds aren't, our brains are not really even well equipped to handle numbers over like a thousand.
00:41:10
Speaker
much less the concept of infinity, much less the concept of actual nothing, and that whenever we are thinking about something from nothing, we're really thinking about something from something, and that our conception of nothing is a something.
00:41:26
Speaker
We're thinking, we can't really think of nothing. Cause like when you think of nothing, you're thinking of like black outer space or like that's what I think of when I think of nothing. I think of the color black and I think of outer space, but that's not nothing. That's like, there's a mathematical physics, you know, geometry, geometry, like explanation for that. Physics can explain that. So that's not nothing. So like, I think I mentioned earlier, you know, like you, like our brains and Fran just said it, like our brains can't really conceive of, of nothingness.
00:41:56
Speaker
And so like, what is nothingness? Like, if it even So I mean that to me, that's like what's attractive. And then on and then and then the other one that would be the most attractive to me is like mind, consciousness, God, whatever you want to call it is that that anything that starts to look like
00:42:20
Speaker
That infinite contingency, if that's what is attractive to people, that to me starts to look like a creative force. If you'll say the laws of physics or mathematics create, that's nothing and something comes from that.
00:42:38
Speaker
Where do those laws come from? That starts to look like omniscience to me, the harder you look at it. Infinite contingency, regress, you know, infinite anything in any direction starts to look like almost like an omniscient, all-powerful something if you
00:43:01
Speaker
start to take a fine-tooth comb look at what infinite causality or infinite contingency really is and then the whole concept of the concept of infinite contingency requires something non-contingent because it in itself is a contingent process. To me it's either the absurdity it's an absurd question or to me the concept of infinite contingency starts to look something like a
00:43:33
Speaker
an infinite supreme power of some kind, perhaps unknowable, but... Well, I think it has to be something like outside of time and space. And then like, so I would tend to agree with Fran and then, you know, I was raised
00:43:51
Speaker
Catholic I don't consider myself religious And I but I think I do think like he said like there Everything is pointing me in the direction of supporting like some sort of just infinite Being that's just there that always has been there, but I don't necessarily think of that as as God and I think like a lot of the conversations regarding like who God is or what God is are like
00:44:19
Speaker
misinformed or like people haven't even necessarily like agreed what they're talking about when they talk about God. And that's not an original like idea of mine. I'm in the middle of reading a book called The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart. The Experience of God being consciousness bliss. And again, it's not because I'm religious or anything. It's just like because I want to know more and I'm just so curious about this. And he's been a guest on that podcast or that show that we mentioned
00:44:46
Speaker
And so yeah, so then my question mainly becomes like, okay, so say there is this infinite there-ness that created everything, the Big Bang or was the beginning of the contingency regress or whatever, why does it have to be called God? Why can't we call it shoe or mic or something? And so I've been thinking about that a lot.
00:45:12
Speaker
Yeah. And I like how in the discussion. Or Stephanie. Call it that, too. Well, it sounds like a future track. You know, Stephanie is the something or something like that. Or Stephanie is the nothing. Right. Depending. No, I like the
00:45:39
Speaker
kind of like the inscrutability of the question that during the show over time, Buddhists look at this question and they say, you know, silly human being, don't spend too much time here. Like, it's fun. Like within Buddhism, they recognize, like, I think Buddhists recognize that it's fun in titillating to ask these questions, but driving for an answer, they caution against that. It's like, you know, where suffering beings, this might add more suffering if you get too
00:46:08
Speaker
I see that. That's why I have a limit to how much I can think about this stuff or read about this stuff or binge watch episodes of what's it called? Closer to truth.
00:46:26
Speaker
Closer to truth, that's my, I gotta do some more. There's 20 seasons of it. Oh my goodness. Yeah. At a certain point it just becomes like. Are they any closer though? I feel like really close. No, but there are three episodes about this question. Okay. Okay.
00:46:46
Speaker
All right. Well, I watched them to to retrain my mind to think about them. I don't have John Leslie's five principles of why there's something rather than nothing just on hand on my tongue.
00:47:04
Speaker
Well, um, hey, uh, I know you mentioned, uh, in, in, in wrapping up here, I know you mentioned, you know, we were talking a bit about band camp. Uh, could you just make sure the audience knows listeners know where to, you know, find your stuff, like your website and, you know, just, just, just to make sure they can find you no matter what.
Where to Find Caustic Cassanova's Music
00:47:24
Speaker
Yeah, well, we have a website. It's causticcasanova.com. And then from there, you can access basically anything that you need. But we're on Bandcamp, Big Cartel, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music, Twitter, all that stuff. And it's Facebook. It's all just slash Caustic Casanova. Yeah, it's very easy to Google. Very unique band name.
00:47:50
Speaker
that was coined in 2005, works to our advantage in that regard. Yeah. Very Googleable. We were ahead of the curve on that. There's no other one. There's no mistaking. You get all the results or the results. So we don't have to have a no vowel band name or anything like that. Well, I'm sure it's a little bit more direct in typing something rather than nothing.
00:48:17
Speaker
It's so odd that it might be hard for people to find. Well, thank you for that.
Conclusion and Appreciation
00:48:25
Speaker
And folks, I've released a music episode before. We're going to have a Metal Eat Track episode, so you get to hear a bit more from Costa Casanova.
00:48:38
Speaker
and some of their music on that episode. But I just want to let you know, for me, it's been a great pleasure to meet you. I really adore your music. I was happy to receive the report from my field correspondent who ran into your music. He saw us in Baltimore, right? What's that? He saw us in Baltimore recently.
00:49:07
Speaker
Yeah, he's in, um, he's based in, uh, outside of Philly. So I think it was, I think it was, must've been Baltimore, right? Was that with the last few weeks? Um, but, uh, in, in just being able to connect, uh, back to, um, Maryland, I hope, um, the storm blowing through that you stay safe and, uh, that, um,
00:49:30
Speaker
that we hear a lot more music from Costa Casanova. Thank you so much, Steph and Francis. Really enjoy the conversation. And it looks like I got 20 seasons of Closer to the Truth, right? Is that it? Yeah. Yeah. 20 episodes to get into it. Maybe after watching it, I can just wrap up the podcast and say it was on season 19, episode four. I just missed it. I answered it.
00:49:59
Speaker
Yeah, enjoy the trip. It's quite a journey. Thank you so much and hope to get to chat soon. Yeah, thank you so much for having us. This was so awesome and yeah. Absolutely. Talk to you soon. Okay, bye-bye. This is something rather than nothing.