The Casting Out is the new band featuring Nathan Gray, former singer of BoySetsFire, the only band from Delaware other than George Thorogood and the Destroyers to occupy a place on America's musical map any larger than Delaware's place on the geographical one.
BoySetsFire broke out of the tiny Newark, DE hardcore scene in 1997 with the release of The Day the Sun Went Out, an album which laid down the blueprint for the melodic punk/emo + thrash metal combo that would become inescapable five years later when everyone who saw them when they were 15 started bands. In hardcore, a subculture overfilled with machismo and bravado, Gray was one of the only openly gay male musicians, and save for Los Crudos/Limpwrist singer Martin Sorrondeguy, the most prominent.
Most importantly, they were great. The Day the Sun Went Out still stands as one of the freshest slices of the era, and one of the most influential. Anytime a band on MTV goes from the quiet melodic part to the double-bass + screaming part, I think "BoySetsFire did it first, and did it better."
Still based in Newark, DE, The Casting Out finds Gray and co. trading in Slayer's South of Heaven and Metallica's Ride the Lightning for Husker Du's New Day Rising and Seaweed's Spanaway, an exchange that suits these ears just fine. There are enough bands doing BoySetsFire now that we don't need another.
Every Monday, C&L's Late Nite Music Club will feature an up-and-coming act from every state, alphabetically by state, as part of LNMC's 50 State Strategy. Know a band or artist that you think is the best in their state? Email suggestions to latenitemusicclub [at] gmail.com.
