Caustic Casanova is…

Stefanie Zaenker – Drums, Vocals

Francis Beringer – Bass, Vocals

Andrew Yonki – Guitar

Jake Kimberley – Guitar

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’ve already recorded the next album with their longtime producer J. Robbins (Jawbox) at Magpie Cage Recording Studio in Baltimore, and it will be released on Magnetic Eye Records in the summer of 2022. 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.

Praise for 2019’s God How I Envy The Deaf:

“Few albums will make you as grateful for your hearing as God How I Envy the Deaf, the latest offering from Caustic Casanova. The Washington, DC area quartet’s inventive blend of stoner metal, noise rock, psychedelic, prog, and pretty much whatever else they want is so invigorating, listening to it feels like having ice water dumped over your head. They’re the kind of band who are perfectly at home in the metal world — they were previously signed to Kylesa’s Retro Futurist Records, and it’s easy to imagine them sharing a stage with the Melvins, Torche, or Big Business — but will also almost certainly have appeal outside of extreme music circles as well. Put more simply: they’re just great fucking songwriters, and God How I Envy the Deaf is a total goddamn blast.” – Metal Sucks

“This D.C. band doesn’t bother itself too much with genre labels, and it tends to identify with each and every one of its disparate influences. The driving force is the intensity of the writing and the performance. Not one single note is played halfway. It is my pleasure to listen to any number of artists who embody the “nobody else sounds like this” ethos. Caustic Casanova sounds like a thousand different bands at different times, and that sound morphing ability is what makes these folks stand apart. Well, that and the fact that stuff is so, so good.” -Aiding and Abetting

“…there is no mistaking the challenge that Caustic Casanova are putting forth on God How I Envy the Deaf. It is in the winding riffs and hardcore-born punch of “Filth Castle,” in the riffier groove of “If Your Brain is Properly Oiled” and in the lumber and shouts of “Boxed and Crated,” which pushes to the furthest extremes of any of the material here. To listeners, the challenge is to step outside of expectation for the limits of genre. There is no reason rock can’t be metal, punk can’t be heavy and all of it can’t be both progressive, shredding and fun.” – The Obelisk

“Caustic Casanova won’t be going full-on metal anytime soon, but their brand of quirk rock is noticeably heavier on their third album, God How I Envy the Deaf. The performances have an aggressive edge overall with the guitar tone picking up some extra girth, the bass boasting more grit, and the drums hitting harder while still maintaining those unorthodox rhythms.”  –Indy Metal Vault

Praise for 2015’s Breaks:

“Breaks is an inspired piece of audio art. It excels not only as an attitude injected punk rock album but as a hefty platter of doom wielding hard rock, an instrumentally impressive lost 70s prog masterpiece, a late 60s/early 70s psych rock freakout, a brazen post-punk wall of majestic white noise, a landmark example of how you can combine metal’s ruthlessness with slick pop sensibilities and as a true heavy album that defies categorization.” – Teeth of the Divine

“The fact that the band can evoke the vibe of the Melvins, Rush and U2 within a couple of minutes without sounding stitched-together or disjointed is a testament to their skill and to the painstaking way the trio assembles their material.” – Yes! Weekly

“Caustic Casanova is pushing genre and style in some of the most original ways we’ve seen in 2015. Blending space rock reverberation and echo with post-punk attack and a dismantle-it-all-and-solder-it-back mentality, their September release, Breaks, is a fascinating listen.” – Connect Savannah

“Breaks is a surreal and psychedelic out-of-control sludge riff fest…one of the most innovative albums of the year.” – Outlaws of the Sun

“CC crosses just about every genre in existence in its quest for a unique sound. And I think it’s fair to say that has been accomplished…I can envision a setlist that might include In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, The Trooper, Slack Motherfucker and Surprise, You’re Dead. And maybe a really twisted version of Yours Is No Disgrace. No one plays songs like this. Nobody.” – Aiding and Abetting

“Caustic Casanova is one of the most excitingly innovative bands on the planet. And, as evidenced on Breaks, the band’s at home in psych, prog, metal, punk, and seemingly every other genre in the galaxy.” – Stereo Embers

Live Press:

“Imagine the musical intensity of Rated R paired with the girl-boy harmonies of Surfer Rosa. Neil Peart-inspired drum fills, driving fuzz bass and lilting vocal melodies rumble-tumble forward, like a barreling freight train verging on derailment.” – Tucson Weekly

“Caustic Casanova wasted no time in tearing into my skull, with an instrumental sound laden with sludge and abrasive guitar screeching…ironic lyrics along with the near schizophrenic tempo changes, [and] counterpoint moments of odd, trippy psychedelic-infused beauty.” – Bucketlist (Montreal)

“CC…presented a noticeably eccentric set of what could be described as organized chaos, showcased undeniably great musicianship and ripped the stage to shreds.” – Metal Assault (Los Angeles)

“This trio has long been a favorite of mine as they’ve graced many stages in the DC area for several years with their creative, twisted psychedelic metal.” – DC Rock Live

“I have seen a lot of bands over the years, and I am sure that Caustic Casanova is one of the loudest I have ever witnessed.” – NewsWhistle (Minneapolis)

“For me, the thing that sets CC apart from a lot of heavy rock and metal bands is that their songs are so various — they manage to surprise with different rhythms and textures, avoiding one continuous dark, thrummy sound that blurs from one song to another.Their delivery is pretty flawless — you hear the craft and care that have gone into the songs, which also feature some thoughtful, literate vocals.” – Louisville.com

Praise for 2012’s Someday You Will Be Proven Correct:

“Nobody does intellectual hard rock music better right now than this band…[this record] will surely serve to teach those who listen how to create something unique from ancient building blocks. This is a cleverness to be celebrated and an inventiveness that shall inspire. If progressive, forward thinking rock music is something you’d like to explore further then this album is currently the best place to go and find it.” – Subba-Cultcha

“Heavy yet clever in a Torche-meets-Dismemberment Plan kind of way—yes, it’s that addictively strange—Someday You Will Be Proven Correct leaves a complex, acidic aftertaste.” – The Onion AV Club

“Literary, political and tangentially astral, Someday You Will Be Proven Correct is an energetic blast of sci-fi postpunk.” – Caught In The Carousel

“With a base stock of classic power-trio rock, the mad chefs of Caustic Casanova went wild in the kitchen mixing their cuisines, alternatingly adding some big chunks of meaty stoner riffs, some delicate flavorings of prog-esque space-rock passages, the occasional fire of punk pepper, and some indie spice, turned the whole thing up as high it would go and let it boil over.” – The Ripple Effect

“…their penchant for volume and eccentricity is a winning combination. [Caustic Casanova] churn out unclassifiable rock with mechanistic precision.” – Chybucca Sounds

“Album of the month, April 2012” – The Deli Magazine