CAROUSEL

Interview

Ein Interview mit den Amis von CAROUSEL ist nie verkehrt, sind es doch lustige Burschen, die nie um eine Antwort verlegen sind. Daher kamen wir nicht umhin, nach ihrem neuesten Werk, das mit seinem Titel ´2113´ etwas provokativ ausgefallen ist, die Jungs in die Mangel zu nehmen.

Hier könnt Ihr das Interview im Originalwortlaut nachlesen:

Hi guys, how are the reactions to the album so far?

Cool people think it rules, dumb people think it sucks. So far there seem to more cool people than dumb people.

What is the biggest development from the first to the new album?

Changing guitar players was the biggest change. I think we tried some new things on this album… a couple major key sections, different approaches toward arranging the songs, etc. The recording process was entirely analog, all the way through the mixing process, as opposed to ´Jeweler’s Daughter´ being a digital recording. But yeah, the biggest thing was the addition of Matt. His ability as a soloist allowed us to have a more improvisational approach, and the songwriting has become more of a collaborative affair.

Which song of the new album should I recommend to someone who has never heard of CAROUSEL?

I would suggest the title track. I think it synthesizes the sound we established on ´Jeweler’s Daughter´ with our newer style very well.

Is the title of the album, ´2113´ more than a joke?

Yes it’s more… so very much more. It’s actually the street address of an apartment in Pittsburgh that has been home to many musicians and artists over the past 20 years. Jake used to live there years ago, and Jim and I currently live there. It’s an homage to that apartment. Of course, we get the Rush connection too.

Did you grew up with RUSH? I cannot hear it in your sound…

I love Rush but never really aspired to emulate their music. I’ve seen them almost every time they’ve been to Pittsburgh since the ´Test For Echo´-Tour which i believe was in 1997. Over the course of 5 concerts in almost 20 years I think I counted a total of 18 women in the audience.

The artwork for the new album was inspired by the BLACK KEYS, right?

I don’t think I’ve ever actually looked at a Black Keys record, but based on your question it sounds like they have really cool album covers.

How did you find your new guitarist Matt Goldsborough?

We opened for Pentagram on our 2013 European tour and we met Matt backstage at our first show as support. It turned out that he lived in Philadelphia which is not far from Pittsburgh and we actually had some friends in common. A couple months later Carousel opened for Pentagram in Pittsburgh and Matt and I went to a diner with some friends for crappy fried chicken after the show. I guess Matt saw a Facebook post announcing that our first guitar player Twiz was quitting in the summer of 2014, and he contacted me about joining us for some touring and now we can’t get rid of him.

Will he bring a harder impact á la Pentagram / Trouble in the future?

Well I think the thing I liked most about Matt’s playing was that he was obviously not exclusively a heavy metal guitarist. His playing had qualities that I associate more with rock n roll; it seemed intuitive and spontaneous. He was going onstage with Pentagram wearing a vest with a Neil Young back patch and I thought, “this guy gets it.” We all obviously love metal etc., but I think of Carousel as a rock n roll band in spirit, and the heavy music that I like tends to exist in that space where metal and rock n roll overlap. We’re certainly not a doom band, and I can’t see us moving in that direction. I think we’d be more likely to cover The Raspeberries than The Obsessed. Or ´Freedom ’90´ by George Michael. That might be the best song ever written.

Who has influenced you musically over the years?

I grew up on MTV of the mid 80s to mid 90s. I liked the popular music of the time like Def Leppard and Bon Jovi but also gained an appreciation of older music through listening to my Dad’s records, but I have to say being turned on to rap music at around the age of 10 had a profound influence on me. I still think many of the heaviest songs of all time are rap songs. Like ´Wicked´ by Ice Cube. Listen to that and tell me it’s not insanely heavy. I was fascinated by the way the songs were put together like a collage and I became obsessed with finding where the samples came from. That’s how I discovered James Brown and stuff like that. I would say Sly and the Family Stone is first band that made me want to perform. I saw some live footage of them as a teenager and I thought “that’s what I want to do.” I think they are one of the most important bands of all time, right up there with The Beatles and anyone else that gets mentioned in that conversation. So when I started singing I was emulating that kind of thing, along with my other favorite at the time, Led Zeppelin. When I began to teach myself how to play guitar at age 18, I had begun to listen to heavier music like Black Sabbath. Bands like The Stooges were very influential as well. I obviously love Thin Lizzy and they are a huge influence, but the band that actually inspired me to begin messing with guitar harmonies is a little known American band called The Fucking Champs. Killer band consisting of two guitars and drums.

Do you prefer KISS or THIN LIZZY?

Hmm … Well it’s tragic that Phil died young, but it saved the band from going through a hideous we’re-a-70s-band-trying-to-play-hair-metal-and-sucking-at-it phase, a stage KISS seems to still be going through (although I’ll admit ´Tears are Falling´ rules). I’ll go with Thin LIzzy.

And the best band ever is …

… Sly and the Family Stone

What are your touring plans?

We’ve got an American tour in the works from the end of November through December and there will be more to come. We really want to hit the road hard.

Will you come to Europe too?

European tour plans are in the works for spring 2016 but nothing is definite yet.

Thank you, see you …