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I was recently privileged with the opportunity to ask Cory and Taylor of Carucage Records some questions. Carucage is a small diy record label ran out of St. Louis, MO / Memphis, TN by a group of friends with a passion for music. They’ve been extremely successful so far, releasing Innards / The Reptilian 7″, Innards / Two Knights 7″, and Adaje / Shark Bait Split Tape. There are many more in the works. To top it off they’re amazing dudes, so support them when you have the chance.
Check them out here:
SYLO: How did the label get started?
Cory: Taylor and I started a label when we were back in high school, but lack of communication and distance kind of left us on different pages. So I decided to start up a new label and sort of be label buddies with Tay. He visited one weekend and we got to talking, and decided that we could do much better as a team, and decided to combine. Then we stuck with the name Carucage and it kind of happened from there.
Taylor: Cory and I started a label called Birdseye Recordings in winter 2008. Due to inexperience and an unintentional habit of working with inactive bands, it failed miserably. Early last year, Cory informed me that he was starting Carucage and we made the decision to team up and give running a label another shot. Not long after our first release, my friend Zo, who plays guitar in Adaje, decided to start helping out.
SYLO: Where did you get the name “Carucage”?
Cory: When I started the label, I wanted a name that I thought sounded cool, but I couldn’t think of anything that stuck or was interesting. Luckily that day, Wikipedia’s featured article of the day was on Carucage, which is a British land tax implemented some hundreds of years ago. I thought it was sweet as hell and just kind of took it from there. Most people (99.9%) probably have no idea what it means.
SYLO: What was your first physical release and how well was it received?
Cory: Our first physical release was a tape, the Bigfoot “Folklore and Myth EP.” That was the release that sort of started the new label. I guess it was well received? I mean, Jordan Fein (Bigfoot) never played shows so nobody really got familiar with him or his music. They didn’t sell much, we mostly give them out for free now. But every once in a while someone buys one, which rules.
Taylor: I think that the tape was received fairly well. We had a couple of orders when we first released it, and people still seem to randomly tack it on to their orders.
SYLO: You’ve also released some things as “digital only.” Why digital only?
Taylor: The digital only releases are basically stuff that we put up for download on our Bandcamp, but can’t really call a real release. So far, it’s just been my old band Close to Me’s discography, Mouth of Man’s discography with songs that our old label was going to release, and demos Bigfoot recorded before Folklore & Myth.
Cory: I think it’s great. We can’t afford to put out everything, especially when bands break up and it’s hard to get the albums around. And the releases we have as download only (aside from the Bigfoot demos, which are just kind of an add on to downloading his EP), we would want to press on vinyl, which is so damn expensive.
SYLO: There are a couple of members in the label. That can be a good and a bad thing. How do you balance what each member wants to do? Are there communication issues?
Cory: I hate them all. Just kidding, it works out really well. Taylor and I talk all the time anyways, so we squeeze label stuff in to our conversations. As for Zo and Will, I rarely ever talk to them. But somehow it all just works, you know? Sometimes we might not be 100% in the same place but we don’t let it really affect us.
Taylor: Cory and I are cousins and have been really close throughout our lives, so it’s super easy for us to communicate. Zo has been one of my closest friends for the past four years, so we communicate very well. As far as releases go, the three of us might not always agree 100% on everything, but we respect each other’s needs and opinions no matter what. The three of us have a similar understanding and taste when it comes to music, so it’s very rare that we don’t see eye to eye. I wouldn’t want to run a label with anyone else.
SYLO: Do you release one specific type / genre of music (i.e. screamo/emo)?
Cory: We will release anything. Granted, we do have more emo and screamo acts right now, we also have some folk punk, some indie acoustic stuff, some retro 80′s Depeche Mode sounding jams; we really don’t care, as long as we like it. That’s why we started the label ultimately: to have physical releases of music we love.
Taylor: Yeah, the three of us listen to a lot of screamo and emo bands, so we’re somewhat partial to those styles of music, but we’re honestly down to release anything.
SYLO: How important is “DIY” to you? Does a band have to be “DIY” to be on your label?
Cory: DIY is very important to me, because it’s really opened my eyes to a new world of music; bands who love what they’re doing enough to be broke all the time and who put so much effort into their music as well as their scene. DIY is a big fucking family, and I think that’s the closest of any scene of music out there. A band doesn’t have to have a DIY ethic for us to like them and want to work with them, as long as they’re passionate about their music, and not just trying to use us to make money. That’s never cool.
Taylor: I really enjoy the sense of community and humbleness that comes with everyone involved in the DIY community. It really makes me happy that people are making honest music and involved in music for the right reasons. A band doesn’t have to be DIY for us to work with them, but the three of us like to see bands that take a sense of responsibility, play honest music, and don’t see music solely as a means of monetary or popular gain.SYLO: How do you choose what format you want a release to be on?
Cory: Whatever we can afford at the time, how many other labels are on board, etc. Personally I like tapes, cause they’re cheap and they’re practical. Vinyl is much more expensive, harder to ship, damaged easier, and can just be difficult. I guess the deciding factors are the bands work ethic, the amount of money we have, and just those types of things, really.
Taylor: It’s really dependent on each individual’s financial status at the time any given opportunity arises. The band’s work ethic is also a huge factor. We feel like a band should be able to hold their own weight if we are going to dedicate time and money to their music.
SYLO: What are your favorite current releases?
Taylor: I honestly like everything we have put out so far.
Cory: All of them. They’re like children to me. I love them, I’m proud of them, and they all put a huge fucking smile on my face.
SYLO: What are some releases that are coming up soon?
Taylor: We should have the Innards/The Reptilian split 7″ and the Adaje/Lizards Have Personalities split 7″ out within the next few weeks.
Cory: We also are planning a Tubetops EP, along with Dads and Loud? tapes, then two tapes from Sailor Heart, Old Gray/Girl Scouts split tape, Family Might, Montpellier’s self titled EP, and a few others. Time will tell!
SYLO: Anything you want these SYLO nerds to know that we didn’t touch on?
Taylor: Everyone check these labels out:
Sea of Tranquility (http://seaoftranquility.bandcamp.com/)
Sometimes I Get Drunk (http://sometimesigetdrunk.blogspot.com/)
Ash from Sweat (http://www.ashfromsweat.com/)
Count Your Lucky Stars (http://www.cylsrecords.com/)
Init (http://initrecords.com/)
Melotov (http://melotovrecords.bigcartel.com/)
The Ghost Is Clear (http://theghostisclearrecords.com/)
Stiff Slack (http://stiffslack.com/)
Flannel Gurl (http://flannelgurl.com/)
Lilla Himmel (http://lillahimmel.wordpress.com/)
Strictly No Capital Letters (http://sncl.collective-zine.co.uk/)
Ödebygd (http://odebygd.bigcartel.com/)
Mayfly (http://www.mayflyrecords.net/)
Keep It Together (http://keepittogetherrecords.com/)
State of Mind (http://www.stateofmindrecordings.com/)
Square of Opposition (http://www.squareofopposition.com/)
Fat Sandwich (http://fatsandwichrecords.com/)
Tape Deco (http://www.tapedeco.com/)
Black with Sap (http://blackwithsap.wordpress.com/)
Inkblot (http://inkblotrecords.net/)
Plastic Smile (http://plasticsmilerecords.tumblr.com/)
Cory: We love you if you read all this or if you like/support our label. Feel free to send us your music, we’re always down to plan new releases! And thank you Andrew, we love you most of all.
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country: USA
genre: Hardcore.
JxV is a straight-edge hardcore band from Frostburg, MD. Their mission in life: get their friend Jake out of jail and beat up edge breakers. So good. “Life is a fucking war! What the fuck are you fighting for? I live and die for the cause. On the battleground of Straight Edge there can be no remorse. No prisoners. The Straight Edge Warrior.”
You can also download their older EP, Beatdowns On Bowery Street, here: download
xEnjoyx
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genre: screamo/holyfuck
country: USA
notes: If you don’t know Burn Idols…may Satan have mercy on your soul. This is the new full length from one of California’s finest. It brings a chaotic, but melodic, grime that will paralyze you with delight. This album will rip your genitals through your mouth and make you eat them for breakfast. Definitely scumcore at it’s best. -
genre: screamo/emo
country: USA
notes: Adaje (from Memphis, TN) opens the split with a heavily post-rock influenced introduction called “Caveman” that sets the mood for the entire split. The bass is thick, the guitars are melodic and the drums build in a perfect crescendo. The song suddenly explodes, giving a sort of “If These Trees Could Talk” vibe. The only lyrics are “I have singled you out.” But the intensity with which they’re screamed is enough to invoke an emotional response. “Caveman Not Cometh” displays Adaje’s more usual style. The song begins with a haunting bass line and is followed by guitar riffs that would make Hot Cross pee themselves with delight. The rest of the song pulls at your heart strings, changing tempos and style to keep you on the edge of your seat. The song ends with the line: “Enter the realm of another man’s soul and ask him if his lungs are functional and use them to scream yourself into another world unlike your own.” Heavy. They have a split 7″ coming out with Lizards Have Personalities next year, so watch out for that!In contrast to Adaje’s heavy riffage, Shark Bait (from Lafayette, LA) plays a short of emo/screamo fusion made famous by Make Me / Merchant Ships. In general, they’re a very versatile band. The beginning of “High Horse” is an upbeat screamed emo jam. The middle has a post-rock interlude that reminds me a bit of “The Appleseed Cast”. The end of the song changes from screaming to singing: “Fold your arms and make a joke. Your ego will begin to choke you out.” “Something Old, Something New” shows Shark Baits ability to pump out some twinkly jams. The guitar work is awesome and the melodies are super catchy.
Adaje and Shark Bait make a great duo. Both bands are musically and lyrically talented. In addition, they’re both very versatile and don’t play the same chords with the same melody for 4 minutes. This provides some much needed relief to the screamo/emo community. This is certainly made my “best of the year” list. Make sure to pick up the cassette tape from Carucage Records!
buy (Carucage Records)
facebook (Adaje)
bandcamp (Adaje)
facebook (Shark Bait)
bandcamp (Shark Bait)
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MNMNTS is a really amazing post-hardcore/screamo band from Germany. I originally heard of them through my best friend Benny. He asked me to interview them so here it is! Please check out their album “The Good Life”
You can download The Good Life HERE.
Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the band. Who are the other members of the band?
Hi! Ok, here we go: This is André and Seb, we both play guitar. Besides us, there is another Seb (vocals), his brother Jonas (bass) and Jan (drums).
Where does the name MNMNTS come from?There is no secret meaning behind our name, neither are we megalomaniacs. We just thought it sounds nice. We dropped the vowels some time ago, due to the simple circumstance that there is a shitload of bands with exactly that name out there.
The latest release is The Good Life, correct? Amazing record. Tell me about the process of creating that masterpiece.
Correct! And thank you! The album is more or less a conglomerate of both new and old songs. For example, ‘the cross’, ‘giver’ and ‘whoregasm’ have already been released on our d.i.y. 2008 demo. Change is a maybe the only constant in this band, we’ve already had a couple of line-up changes and we are, above all, five individuals with different backgrounds and musical influences. We didn’t want to hide this constant ‘struggle’, but turn our heterogeneity into something creative. To put it in simple words, ‘The Good Life’ is pretty much a ‘best of’ of the first three years of MNMNTS. It is the fair sum of all the experiences that we’ve made so far as a band, as well as a witness to our personal developments during that time. So to speak, ‘The Good Life’ finally made us a band, it completed us.What are you planning to next, musically? Any splits or EP?
To write new songs in the first place! And yes, we are planning to record a second album next summer, which will hopefully be released in fall 2012.
Do you guys mostly write in German or English? What do you write about?
Besides ‘A day of only nights’, which contains a short passage in German, we write in English. We don’t have any reasons for doing so, it just felt right until today. Maybe this will change one day in the future, dunno… Our singer generally writes about personal stuff, about growing up in this country as a white middle-class kid and stuff like that. We don’t consider ourselves as a ‘political band’, although we all are political individuals with clear-cut standpoints and attitudes. We try to avoid being too boldly political in a know-it-all manner, but suggest that everyone starts thinking for themselves.
How is the “D.I.Y. scene” in Germany?
We are glad to say that the d.i.y. scene in Germany is somehow booming in these days, or has at least improved compared to three or five years ago. Especially young people seem to have an interest in making shows and in the whole d.i.y. idea as such. Most of the girls and guys that booked our tour were at the age of about 20, sometimes even less. In Germany, the d.i.y. scene is closely related to a lefty self-governed background, which is cool, because those kids have access to squats or other non-profit venues, which are often tolerated by the city administrations. However, from time to time there are police raids against squats, which have the consequence that open spaces for any kind of alternative culture are destroyed.
Personally, we fully identify ourselves with the d.i.y. thing; the whole idea of a creative network of people on a fair and responsible basis is very important to us.Speaking of, I know you just back from tour. How was that? Did you get to play with any rad bands?
Yes, sir! We played three shows together with the amazing Trainwreck (which already have been to the US). Furthermore, you should definitely check out Aslov Kinski and our good friends from Torpedo Holiday!
Are there any German record labels for hardcore/screamo that we should know about?
To name the most prominent ones: Adagio 830, Vendetta and Zeitstrafe.
What music do you guys listen to? Have you listened to any good records lately?
André digs the Alpinist/Masakari split-LP and is, apart of that, fully into rap music. Seb most of the time listens to calm, melancholy stuff, folk or classical music. Right now, the latest Feist album is on heavy rotation is his bedroom.
When are you coming to the USA? Seriously!
As soon as we won the lottery! But seriously, we are working on it. If we’ll get the chance, we’ll go for it!
Thanks so much for the interview! If you have anything else you want to say or want people to know, go ahead!
We would like to send hugs to our best friend Benny, who makes all our designs and pays all our bills!
Check out his stuff at druckwelledesign.blogspot.com. Last but not least, we would of course like to thank you, Andrew! <3.You can download The Good Life HERE.
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country: England
genre: screamo/post-hardcore
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country: USA
genre: screamo
notes: old school screamo band from Milwaukee, WI. -
Introduce yourself and tell me what you do in the band. Who are the other members of the band?
We’re Kazan, from Dijon, France, a bunch of forever-friends making music together since we were kids, we’re 5 and we try to play some heavy and melodic music coming straight from our guts. We have released one album, 2 splits and a demo (you can download everything for free on our website if you like), and we had the chance to make around 80 gigs, half in France, half across Europe. I play guitar in the band, and I also scream my lungs out when needed! The drummer (Vincent), the first guitarist (Judicaël) and I, we met in kindergarten at the age of 3 I think ! Now we’re 26/27 years old, so you can see it’s a long partnership going on. We met our singer Pierre-Mathieu in high school when we were around 17, when we started a band together (we already played some undefined noise for months in our parent’s basement, learning our instruments). We had a bass player with us called Etienne, also a good friend from high-school, but he left the band around 2005. That’s when we met Steve, he was standing alone in a bar with a large beer so we made him learn bass ! And he became a really close friends of us during all these years. We’re kind of proud to still make music between long-time friends, at least I am, it’s like a strength somehow. So who does what in the band .. I answer interviews, Steve and Vincent bring beers to rehearsals, Pierre-Mathieu makes spliff while we’re composing and Judicaël brings his own swag. Basically.
Where does the name Kazan come from?
We picked this name from a character from a science-fiction movie called Cube. Some people are trapped in a tricky prison, they all die in the end, except Kazan who’s an autistic young guy, but who ends to be the most “human” person trapped there. So you can roughly see the message here.
After creating the band we found other funny meaning of “Kazan” in other languages : I think it means “volcano” in Japan, or “cauldron” in Russian, so you can see unwanted links to our music which tends to be abrasive sometimes. But is also means “benefits” in Turkish, and here, there’s absolutely no link with our activity as a non-profit-DIY band hehe..
I love the splits with Downfall of Gaïa and After Taste. How did you get to know those bands and how did the splits come to be?
After Taste is a band from our hometown, Dijon. we all started making music together 10 years ago, so they’re really close friends, even today we share the same place for rehearsal. So the idea of a common disc came naturally. We didn’t want it to be a classical “split”, with one band on one side and then the other on the other side, but more like a whole musical piece where you can barely define which band is playing, and which has a logic in its evolution. So it’s more a mix-cd than a split-cd, I played piano and guitar on some of their tracks, Damien their singer sings on one of ours, we have friends invited on some other tracks, we all played together on intro/outro, etc.A few weeks after we had released this split, we were asked by Downfall of Gaia, through the almighty internet, to make a split tape with them. We didn’t know them at first, but we were glad to make something with a foreign band and we enjoyed their music. Unfortunately we didn’t have new songs at this time, so we put the same tracks as on the split with After Taste. We haven”t played shows with DOG yet, but were looking forward to it. We often take the same roads, so i hope it can happen one day. We’re still following their music, and I’ve to say their disc (a split with In the hearts of Emperors) is a really good one, pretty epic crust, love it !
The last Kazan release that I remember is Maslow 0 (which an amazing record, btw). Have you done anything since then? If not, do you plan to record any new music soon?
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. It took us quite a long time to give birth to this album, as we’ve all done by ourselves (helped by friends from recording/mixing). We compose songs quite slowly, so for now we don’t have enough matter to record a new disc, but we plan to do this maybe next year. We won’t have a new album ready, but maybe a few songs to share a split with a new band or something like this. Can’t really tell you more for now.
Does Kazan mostly write in French or English? What are the subjects/themes of the bands lyrics?
Funny you ask, some dude from a German fanzine asked us recently why we didn’t sing in french in our songs. But we DO sing in french hehe, not easy to get the words on screams I think. We’ve always written in french cause it comes more naturally, it’s way easier to express feelings and thoughts in our native language. In the last cd booklet, we put all our lyrics, coming with explanations in several languages : we didn’t want to translate the lyrics, it could have lost all its meaning, so we translated little texts we wrote to explain what songs were about. It’s important for us that people get keys to understand a piece of our music.Concerning the lyrics, they’re always a bit metaphoric, sometimes uneasy to understand, but the themes are always linked to human being behavior. On the album, most songs are about modern society’s flaws : a tendency of being self-destructive, disrespect of our planet, remaining inequality between men and women, alienation, financial accomplishment taking over on self-accomplishment, etc ..
How is the “D.I.Y. scene” in France? Do you get to play a lot of shows?
There’s a small DIY punk-hardcore microcosm in France, which has been pretty active for years (maybe a little less these last years). It evolves with time, people come and go, places to make gig close and new ones open (even if it seems easier to close than to open nowadays). We’ve bounded with lots of people and make really close friends these last 6 years we were in Kazan. We have a few connections which permit us to tour in France, but it’s not really easy to find gigs : people who make shows have tons of bands asking for it in their mailboxes, depending on the city you’re in it’s sometimes hard to motivate people to come to the shows, and venues become more and more rare for underground music. If I had to compare, we had the feeling that it was easier to find gigs in eastern Europe (poland, baltics, even Germany) and there are often more people attending.
Are there any French record labels for hardcore/screamo that we should know about?
There are plenty of those .. Among quite ancient and really active ones, I could name Purepainsugar (who released a lot of classical screamo bands as Amanda Woodward, Iscariote, Daitro but also a few american bands such as Sinaloa, Off Minor, Ampere, etc..) and our beloved Impure Muzik, who help us with Maslow 0, a 10-years-old label with lots of awesome bands from Europe and US (check their website : impuremuzik.fr). We also have a lot of nice distros in France if you want to find unknown jewels : Orchidscent, Dream Comes true, Emotionally Unstable, etc (we have a bunch of links on our website if you wanna dig in ..)
What music do you guys listen to? Have you listened to any good records lately?
We really don’t listen to Hardcore exclusively. We play lot of hip-hop, metal, electro in the van aswell.. as long as it moves your guts it’s good, whatever style of music it is. Concerning hardcore, I’m really into Defeater lately (I think you know), Alpinist (german neo-crust) or Nine Eleven (best punk-hardcore band from France ever). I don’t know much about recent emo/screamo records, I’m pretty stucked in the bands from 2000′s like old Envy, french scene, etc.Do you have any plans to tour soon? What about to USA?
Unfortunately, it’s not easy to find time to go on our. We have to get holidays all together at the same time, and it’s been really difficult these last months. So we mostly have gigs on week-ends, and no tour plans for now. But we’re looking forward to it. Concerning a tour in the US, it would be a dream, but we have to find someone there to book, and a lot of money for buying our plane tickets ! So if anyone is interested in this, feel free to get in touch !
Thanks so much for the interview! If you have anything else you want to say or want people to know, go ahead!
Many thanks for your interest ! We’re always happy to share with people, so this interview was great. I hope your webzine will go on, with tons of bands to discover ahead. I’ll just end saying that people who want to know more about us can visit our website www.kazan-band.com. All our music is downloadable for free there, so enjoy yourself and share it with your friends ! Thank you Andrew, take care, and hope tomeet you someday in the US or anywhere else !
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