Interview: Carridale

Meet Carridale, the energetic pop punk quintet from Decatur, Alabama. With two previous releases: ‘Attack of the BRO-Bots: Redux’ (2009) & ‘Relapse in the River City’ (2011), not to mention the recently released ‘Your Shoes Don’t Match Your Skeleton’, Carridale are a band to watch out for.

Gracing the UK for the first time, Already Heard managed to catch up with the band to talk about their current tour and the well-anticipated new EP, ‘The Wandering.’

Already Heard: So you’re in the middle of your UK tour, is this the first time you guys have played over here?
Wayne Wilson (bass): Yes, first time ever and it’s been a blast. I’m pretty sure I can speak for everybody when I say that we love it and it’s the best thing that has happened to this band, in my opinion at least. It’s incredible, definitely different, a culture shock.

Already Heard: What do you find is most different when you play shows in the UK compared to the US?
Wayne: Walking everywhere and definitely the road systems.
Kyle Thorstad (rhythm guitar): But as far as playing goes it’s just like a mirror image really. I mean everybody looks the same, acts the same you know; when they see a fresh band they’re into it. But yeah, playing here is awesome.

<a href=“http://carridale.bandcamp.com/album/relapse-in-the-river-city” data-mce-href=“http://carridale.bandcamp.com/album/relapse-in-the-river-city”>Relapse in the River City by Carridale</a>

Already Heard: Have you had the chance to do any sightseeing whilst you’ve been in the UK?
Kyle: Yes we went to where Tolkien wrote ‘The Hobbit’, we went to C S Lewis’ grave and we went to Oxford.
Wayne: We went to the bar where C S Lewis and Tolkien hung out and pretty much just shared stories. Me and Nathan love ‘Lord of the Rings’, we love ‘The Hobbit’, so we kind of nerded out on that and I don’t think anybody else really cared!
Kyle: We ate Turkish Delight at the graveside…
Wayne: It was not good.
Kyle: I loved it; I thought it was super good.
Wayne: It tastes as if you’ve eaten the biggest piece of petroleum jelly and it’s disgusting, it’s terrible.

Already Heard: You’ve been touring with Hot Damn, have you created a good bond with the guys?
Kyle: Yeah they’re awesome, their music is great as well and I would definitely recommend checking those guys out, they’re from South Wales.
Wayne: I’m not sure how to pronounce their hometown but they’re from South Wales.

Already Heard: How would you sum up a Carridale show in three words?
Wayne: I’ll let you get this one!
Kyle: Three words. Let’s see…I guess like super funny and entertaining.
Wayne: That’s four!
Kyle: (pause) ‘and’ dang-it. Okay, funny and entertaining.

Already Heard: What is your favourite song to play to get the crowd going?
Wayne: Over here, everybody knows our new CD ‘Relapse…’ Back home it seems that everybody kinda likes the old record ‘Attack of the BRO-Bots’ so it’s a lot different. I guess as far as what gets the crowd going I would say ‘Relapse in the River City’ or ‘Circular Logic’.
Kyle: Yeah we usually close up the set with ‘Relapse in the River City’, that’s pretty energetic, I just really like it ‘cause it’s really upbeat and real catchy.

Already Heard: What do you have planned after you finish this tour?
Wayne: I unfortunately have to go back to work, I owe a lot of money to my parents who I love to death, but yeah, the plane ticket was pretty expensive. So I’m pretty much going to be working.
Kyle: As far as the band goes we’ll be at home for about a month and then we’ll leave with a band called The Tired & True and Latin for Truth and these bands are super awesome too. We’re going to do about a month long tour with them and that’s just going to be in the States.

Already Heard: You’ve recently released a new track called ‘Your Shoes Don’t Match Your Skeleton’ and you’ve announced you’ve been writing a new EP, can you tell us more about that?
Wayne: We have announced that we have a new EP and it’s out on May 1st.

Already Heard: Would you say you’ve progressed musically with these new songs?
Kyle: Like 100%.
Wayne: It’s a lot different, it’s darker almost and to me, it kind of shows more emotion and I love music that shows real, raw emotion. Whether you can connect with it or not it shows that somebody actually cares about it and that’s shown in the new stuff.
Kyle: It’s still very energetic though and there are a lot more notes played than chords so it’s a bit more progressive.

<a href=“http://carridale.bandcamp.com/album/the-wandering-ep” data-mce-href=“http://carridale.bandcamp.com/album/the-wandering-ep”>The Wandering EP by Carridale</a>

Already Heard: Where are fans able to get hold of the new track?
Kyle: Yes, ‘Your Shoes Don’t Match Your Skeleton’ is on iTunes and it’s only 79p!

Already Heard: Are there any bands or experiences that inspire you when you write music?
Wayne: I’m a lot different from the band.
Kyle: But collectively we like The Swellers, Secret Lives! Of The Freemasons.
Wayne: You’ve got to get down to Hatebreed, I think everybody should like Hatebreed.
Kyle: We also like The Deftones.
Wayne: I’ll just go ahead and throw this out there ‘cause I know Nathan will, Bayside.

Already Heard: What do you hope to have achieved as a band in the next few years?
Kyle: We want to do a lot more tours outside the US, because this is too much fun. I want to tour Japan and Australia for sure, and that’s within our grasp, we can do that. And we want to find a record label where we can mutually benefit from each other.
Wayne: Definitely still doing full US tours and getting hooked up with some of the best bands out there, whether they’re yet to be discovered or the biggest bands right now. Pretty much meeting new people and new bands, we still want to do that.

Already Heard: Finally, for those who haven’t listened to you before, why should people check you out?
Nathan Edwards (vocals): We write songs without trying to pigeon-hole ourselves into a genre, and what comes out is sometimes fast, sometimes heavy and always at least a little bit fun!

‘The Wandering’ by Carridale is released digitally on May 1st.

Pre-order ’The Wandering’ here.