Review Fix Exclusive: Casii Stephan Talks “Letters’ And More

December 25, 2018 Patrick Hickey Jr. Music 0

Review Fix chats with singer/songwriter Casii Stephan, who discusses her new album and “Letters” single.

Review Fix: How did your project start?

Casii Stephan: This project got started when I started to perform in Tulsa, OK and as I was performing, musicians would want to be a part of it and they would get added to the line-up. People kept asking what the band name was and so I settled on The Midnight Sun. They’re a talented group of musicians.

Review Fix: How did you get involved in music?

Stephan: My family is musical. My mom plays the piano. My aunt sings. My grandfather sang, played trumpet and wrote his own songs. It wasn’t an option for me not to play music at first.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Stephan: For me, songwriting is storytelling. So I like to know the story I’m telling, whether it’s mine or someone else’s. Then either the feel of the song comes or I wait for it to come. Usually, if it’s forced, it ends up sounding forced. So I think it’s a balance of waiting on the muse and waking the muse up to work. Knowing when to wait and to wake up is always a work in progress for me. Musically, the sound needs to fit the story and help communicate it. 

Review Fix: What inspires you?

Stephan: People. Hearing their stories, their perspectives. We all have such intricate, detailed lives with basic needs. It’s all so amazing to me. 

Review Fix: What makes this album special?

Stephan: This single is special because it’s the first single I’ve released that I’ve produced. At the time, it felt super risky to do it, but now on the other side, I’m super proud of what the band and I have accomplished.

Review Fix: What’s the standout track?

Stephan: Letters.

Review Fix: What’s on your musical bucket list?

Stephan: Besides playing at the Grammy’s or playing in a stadium? I’d like to write my own Broadway/movie musical.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14321 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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