Cartel (02/07/2012)
Hi Will, It’s Casey from the 59th Sound.
Awesome, How are you?
Good Thanks; How are you?
Not too bad, not too bad; I’m actually producing a band over the last couple of weeks and we’re actually recording vocals tonight. So I’m just stepping in and out of the studio.
You’ve said you are recording a full-length Cartel album over summer, has that process started yet or will it be happening in the next few weeks or months?
We want to start recording by August 2nd, so next month is our phase of getting all of us in the same room and playing the songs and working them out as a band. Right now we’re still all in the creative phase; kind of huddled in our corners working on our ideas and everything before we come together and pick what we’re going to do and what we’re going to work on. So we’ve begun, we just haven’t started tracking it.
When will the album be released?
We plan on putting it out physically in October.
Can Australian fans look forward to hearing new songs when you tour in September?
Absolutely. Well if we have the record done by then; actually we’ll have it done right before we come to Australia. We’re probably going to play two or three of our new songs, then stuff from our EP that came out last year [In Stereo EP] and then a good mix of everything else. We’re going to try have an online survey, probably through twitter or something like that, and ask them [fans] which songs they would like us to play. We never really know what songs different places want to hear; we kind of have a general set list of the songs people mostly know. Especially coming to Australia is more rare for us so we really want to make sure we play the songs people want to hear because it’s not like we’ll be back in a couple of months.
So it’s Cartel’s first time back to Australia since 2008; is there any city on the upcoming tour that you’re particularly looking forward to?
I’m only going to say Melbourne I have a great time in Australia when we were there with Soundwave so I’m really looking forward to actually playing in the city rather than on festival sites where you’re not really in the city at all. I’m very excited to experience more.
Recently there was the news that you’ve entered the studio with Audiostrobelight as a producer, is that right?
Yep, producing and engineering it.
Ok, How was that process? How is it comparable to being on the other side as a musician?
Well I’m not playing anything so that’s the biggest difference; I mean that’s the obvious difference. As far as coming from the perspective that I have had mostly in the studio being a musician, I’ve always had a big hand in overall production; not necessarily producing them though. It’s a totally different art form you have to learn and I’ve learnt it over the course of making records, which I’m very thankful for because it’s been a lot of fun. It’s mostly different in trying to convince people into what you’re trying to get out of them. Normally with Cartel we’ve been working on it for months and you’re in the band so you can be like ‘nah man you’ve got to play the part a little bit more like this’. Producing a band you’ve never heard the songs before, so you come to start recording and it’s kind of like ‘ok’. You work from a totally different perspective. You have to kind of coach people into what you can hear is the best form of the music rather than actually knowing exactly what they’re going for. It’s this cool creative process that happens by being on the outside hearing it and saying ‘I think it sounds better like that’ and hearing a whole new version of the song being created. It’s a very enlightening experience, very new kind of a crash course in the process of creation. I already knew how to make it sound good but when you’re trying to get other people to make it sound; It’s a little bit interesting. It’s a lot of fun, I’m really enjoying it and I hope I get to do a lot of more of it in the future.
It sounds like a really rewarding experience
Very much so.
At the beginning of the year Cartel headlined a tour with Set Your Goals, how was that tour experience?
It was a lot of fun they have very different fans. A lot more of the punk in pop-punk and we’re more pop. It was really cool being around those crowds and all that energy with all the moshing and stuff. There’s not really a whole lot of moshing going on at a Cartel show. We were very excited to be on that tour. We had a lot of fun with those guys. It was a very cool experience.
Any particularly crazy tour stories you could tell fans about?
[laughs] I think that depends on what you can tell fans about so not really…
The best one we have that anyone can hear is definitely in 2007 we ended up touring with Cobra Starship and Boys Like Girls back when Honestly was doing well in the states. We had a radio show in Muhammad of all places. We were in the middle of touring and had a day off between Charlotte and Atlanta. We ended up flying from Atlanta to Muhammad and playing the show that one night. We were going to get up the next morning at like six am and fly to Atlanta to play at the next show. Well we did the show and we had open bar so all of us were having a drink at the bar, like we should and ended up having a really good time till about three in the morning and our lobby call was six in the morning so everybody kind of gets back and passes out for a couple of hours till getting up getting on a plane and doing it all over again. So we knew we could not miss the flight because we were international and we could not drive. So we ended up having to leave the hotel without Nick, who is our guitar player. We knocked on his door, he never answered so we went to the hotel and we were like ‘listen this guy is with is we gotta go and you need to open that door’ and they’re like ‘we can’t open that door it’s illegal to do that’ and it’s like no you don’t understand he is going to be left in a foreign country without any clue what’s going on because his phone doesn’t work; can we leave a message for him? It was a situation where we all miss our flight or one person misses their flight so it’s like alright we have to leave him. I can play guitar on the songs he normally plays on. It ended up where he woke up at 9:30 and caught the next light to Miami then flew to Tampa. We got to Tampa about 1:00pmand sound check was three pm. He winds up getting there fifteen minutes before sound check totally well rested and we’re all looking haggard and terrible because we got no sleep. He’s like ‘yeah I feel great’. So I can’t believe that actually worked out. Oh! and our taxi on the way to the airport actually ran over a guy, they hit a pedestrian, he had injured his knee or something so we dropped him off at the hospital on our way to the airport, then went to the airport. It was the most insane experience of our lives.
Do you have a particular city you love to visit while on tour? This is a worldwide question.
Wow. Every place we go is just so different and new. Every place has a place in out heart. I mean I love London but I really would say Melbourne and Australia. I mean we didn’t really get to spend a whole lot of time anywhere besides Melbourne because we had a day off there. Well, Melbourne and Brisbane. Because we got a chance to really explore the city a little bit and kind of fall in love with it but I’m really excited on this tour because we actually get to be in the city in a professional base so its going to be a lot of fun to get to kind of explore a little bit.
Everyone seems to really like Australia, do you think there is any reason for that or just because we’re really far away?
Well if you’re in a band I would say it’s probably because the women in Australia are absolutely beautiful and I’m not just saying that. Everywhere else we’ve been on the planet Australia has the best-looking women. Just saying. I’m married so it’s different experience for me; it’s more of an appreciative thing but the rest of the guys really enjoy it. The professional answer, I would say because it’s really pretty there, there’s not a lot of people, I mean in the cities obviously there are but the states feels really crowded sometimes and New York is really crowded There’s a lot of space there were nobody is; you get to appreciate the country and the landscape a little bit more. I think it’s just refreshing. The climate is nice too.
It’s currently freezing! Hopefully it will warm up.
Yeah you’re on the opposite side of the meridian line.
Yeah It’s winter at the moment. Finally I’ll finish with, what can fans or someone who has never seen you live expect from the upcoming tour?
People always tell us that we sound a lot better live than we do on record and I don’t really know how to take that. it’s like ‘ok cool’, I don’t really knows how it goes. I think it’s just something different, we always think our songs on record sound like they do live, I mean obviously we can’t reproduce everything we do in the studio. It has it’s own... different personality live than on record so I think it’s a lot of fun to see us live. I think people will see our songs reproduced live and have a lot of fun, we do our best.
Casey Cunningham
Awesome, How are you?
Good Thanks; How are you?
Not too bad, not too bad; I’m actually producing a band over the last couple of weeks and we’re actually recording vocals tonight. So I’m just stepping in and out of the studio.
You’ve said you are recording a full-length Cartel album over summer, has that process started yet or will it be happening in the next few weeks or months?
We want to start recording by August 2nd, so next month is our phase of getting all of us in the same room and playing the songs and working them out as a band. Right now we’re still all in the creative phase; kind of huddled in our corners working on our ideas and everything before we come together and pick what we’re going to do and what we’re going to work on. So we’ve begun, we just haven’t started tracking it.
When will the album be released?
We plan on putting it out physically in October.
Can Australian fans look forward to hearing new songs when you tour in September?
Absolutely. Well if we have the record done by then; actually we’ll have it done right before we come to Australia. We’re probably going to play two or three of our new songs, then stuff from our EP that came out last year [In Stereo EP] and then a good mix of everything else. We’re going to try have an online survey, probably through twitter or something like that, and ask them [fans] which songs they would like us to play. We never really know what songs different places want to hear; we kind of have a general set list of the songs people mostly know. Especially coming to Australia is more rare for us so we really want to make sure we play the songs people want to hear because it’s not like we’ll be back in a couple of months.
So it’s Cartel’s first time back to Australia since 2008; is there any city on the upcoming tour that you’re particularly looking forward to?
I’m only going to say Melbourne I have a great time in Australia when we were there with Soundwave so I’m really looking forward to actually playing in the city rather than on festival sites where you’re not really in the city at all. I’m very excited to experience more.
Recently there was the news that you’ve entered the studio with Audiostrobelight as a producer, is that right?
Yep, producing and engineering it.
Ok, How was that process? How is it comparable to being on the other side as a musician?
Well I’m not playing anything so that’s the biggest difference; I mean that’s the obvious difference. As far as coming from the perspective that I have had mostly in the studio being a musician, I’ve always had a big hand in overall production; not necessarily producing them though. It’s a totally different art form you have to learn and I’ve learnt it over the course of making records, which I’m very thankful for because it’s been a lot of fun. It’s mostly different in trying to convince people into what you’re trying to get out of them. Normally with Cartel we’ve been working on it for months and you’re in the band so you can be like ‘nah man you’ve got to play the part a little bit more like this’. Producing a band you’ve never heard the songs before, so you come to start recording and it’s kind of like ‘ok’. You work from a totally different perspective. You have to kind of coach people into what you can hear is the best form of the music rather than actually knowing exactly what they’re going for. It’s this cool creative process that happens by being on the outside hearing it and saying ‘I think it sounds better like that’ and hearing a whole new version of the song being created. It’s a very enlightening experience, very new kind of a crash course in the process of creation. I already knew how to make it sound good but when you’re trying to get other people to make it sound; It’s a little bit interesting. It’s a lot of fun, I’m really enjoying it and I hope I get to do a lot of more of it in the future.
It sounds like a really rewarding experience
Very much so.
At the beginning of the year Cartel headlined a tour with Set Your Goals, how was that tour experience?
It was a lot of fun they have very different fans. A lot more of the punk in pop-punk and we’re more pop. It was really cool being around those crowds and all that energy with all the moshing and stuff. There’s not really a whole lot of moshing going on at a Cartel show. We were very excited to be on that tour. We had a lot of fun with those guys. It was a very cool experience.
Any particularly crazy tour stories you could tell fans about?
[laughs] I think that depends on what you can tell fans about so not really…
The best one we have that anyone can hear is definitely in 2007 we ended up touring with Cobra Starship and Boys Like Girls back when Honestly was doing well in the states. We had a radio show in Muhammad of all places. We were in the middle of touring and had a day off between Charlotte and Atlanta. We ended up flying from Atlanta to Muhammad and playing the show that one night. We were going to get up the next morning at like six am and fly to Atlanta to play at the next show. Well we did the show and we had open bar so all of us were having a drink at the bar, like we should and ended up having a really good time till about three in the morning and our lobby call was six in the morning so everybody kind of gets back and passes out for a couple of hours till getting up getting on a plane and doing it all over again. So we knew we could not miss the flight because we were international and we could not drive. So we ended up having to leave the hotel without Nick, who is our guitar player. We knocked on his door, he never answered so we went to the hotel and we were like ‘listen this guy is with is we gotta go and you need to open that door’ and they’re like ‘we can’t open that door it’s illegal to do that’ and it’s like no you don’t understand he is going to be left in a foreign country without any clue what’s going on because his phone doesn’t work; can we leave a message for him? It was a situation where we all miss our flight or one person misses their flight so it’s like alright we have to leave him. I can play guitar on the songs he normally plays on. It ended up where he woke up at 9:30 and caught the next light to Miami then flew to Tampa. We got to Tampa about 1:00pmand sound check was three pm. He winds up getting there fifteen minutes before sound check totally well rested and we’re all looking haggard and terrible because we got no sleep. He’s like ‘yeah I feel great’. So I can’t believe that actually worked out. Oh! and our taxi on the way to the airport actually ran over a guy, they hit a pedestrian, he had injured his knee or something so we dropped him off at the hospital on our way to the airport, then went to the airport. It was the most insane experience of our lives.
Do you have a particular city you love to visit while on tour? This is a worldwide question.
Wow. Every place we go is just so different and new. Every place has a place in out heart. I mean I love London but I really would say Melbourne and Australia. I mean we didn’t really get to spend a whole lot of time anywhere besides Melbourne because we had a day off there. Well, Melbourne and Brisbane. Because we got a chance to really explore the city a little bit and kind of fall in love with it but I’m really excited on this tour because we actually get to be in the city in a professional base so its going to be a lot of fun to get to kind of explore a little bit.
Everyone seems to really like Australia, do you think there is any reason for that or just because we’re really far away?
Well if you’re in a band I would say it’s probably because the women in Australia are absolutely beautiful and I’m not just saying that. Everywhere else we’ve been on the planet Australia has the best-looking women. Just saying. I’m married so it’s different experience for me; it’s more of an appreciative thing but the rest of the guys really enjoy it. The professional answer, I would say because it’s really pretty there, there’s not a lot of people, I mean in the cities obviously there are but the states feels really crowded sometimes and New York is really crowded There’s a lot of space there were nobody is; you get to appreciate the country and the landscape a little bit more. I think it’s just refreshing. The climate is nice too.
It’s currently freezing! Hopefully it will warm up.
Yeah you’re on the opposite side of the meridian line.
Yeah It’s winter at the moment. Finally I’ll finish with, what can fans or someone who has never seen you live expect from the upcoming tour?
People always tell us that we sound a lot better live than we do on record and I don’t really know how to take that. it’s like ‘ok cool’, I don’t really knows how it goes. I think it’s just something different, we always think our songs on record sound like they do live, I mean obviously we can’t reproduce everything we do in the studio. It has it’s own... different personality live than on record so I think it’s a lot of fun to see us live. I think people will see our songs reproduced live and have a lot of fun, we do our best.
Casey Cunningham