Carrollhood Interview with Nathan Young, Reed Murray & Tim McTague

Newly formed , Carrollhood, just released their first song titled "Remission" which can be heard on their website (http://www.carrollhood.net/). The band, consisting of Tampa, Florida natives Nathan Young(Anberlin), Tim McTague(Underoath) and Reed Murray(Marksmen), set aside a few days in between separate hectic touring schedules for some face-to-face collaboration and writing. "Remission," recorded in a matter of days, features vocals from each of the three members, shows incredible promise and a good bit of diversity. I had a chance to chat with each of the guys briefly on their new side project and discuss their instant chemistry, future plans and even the age old question of how their band name came about....

Cliche one to begin... How the name Carrollhood come about?
 Young: I grew up in Carrollwood my whole life. Carrollhood was the neighborhood gang that used to spray paint their name all over the rich peoples cars and mailboxes. I was terrified of them. Every time I'd ride my bike around I was scared they were going to kill me. Then when I was older I realized they we're all probably the rich people's kids that were my age that discovered their dad's spray paint in the garage. A solid gang name though for sure.
How did you guys originally meet up?
 McTague: We are old friends in the Tampa scene. Played in different bands together and just hung out. 
 Young: I've known Tim since I was a kid playing in other bands around Tampa. Then later on in life, we married sisters and became brother in laws. I met Reed when I was younger too and have been best friends ever since. Where did the idea for the project begin?
 Young: Tim &; I had been trying to do a side project for like the last 6 years. We messed around with a few different things, but due to separate busy schedules it never happened. About 6 months ago I asked Reed to start writing with me & throwing around ideas. Tim basically started with us right after that and the ideas came fast as crap. Reed was the missing link to getting Tim and I to finally jam together.
 McTague: Nate and Reed were jamming on some demos and I got looped in on the production end etc. We all started riffing on ideas and all of a sudden we had a band going. Chain emails, emailed demos and 48 hours in the studio we had Remission and a bunch of other ideas that will be recorded later this year.
What would you say are your goals for this project thus far?
 Young: To write jams together that we all would want to listen to. Because of nature of this project, we'll be able to avoid a lot of the "conventional band" stuff. We'll just write and record as much as we can, and put it out as soon as we can.
McTague: To spread our music and ideas as far and wide as humanly possible. I hope to play some shows sometime soon and hopefully muster up a tour or two somewhere in there as well.

Young and McTague recording studio

I read that you guys began writing in January of this year. How has the writing process panned out for you guys thus far? Do you find that it varies from past projects you have been involved in?
Murray: The interesting aspect of our writing process is that we have yet to sit down together and write out these songs face-to-face due to our busy, conflicting schedules. Instead, we've been writing numerous demos on GarageBand and sending them back and forth to each other in an effort to nail down the best structure and melody to shape potential songs. The result has been so open and natural - we couldn't be more excited!
 McTague: The writing process has been awesome. I have never been in a band where there are so many co-writers/collaborations. In my current band I usually end up heading up the writing side for the most part, and it is crazy to have full songs dropped in my lap without me working on anything. It makes things super productive and creatively freeing. Everyone is pulling weight and contributing. It's awesome.
 Young: It's been great! It's been way more natural than I thought it would be. We never sat down and said, "lets sound like this. Or write a certain way". We just started demoing songs and it came out the way it did. I think with the next few songs people will see how eclectic all of it will be. And yeah, definitely different from our other bands.
Do you guys plan on touring anytime soon? Or will this stay a studio project for now?
 Young: For now, just writing and recording songs. When we have enough jams I'm sure we'll play live at some point
 McTague:I would love to play out when it is possible. It's just so hard with conflicting schedules.
How would you describe your sound, in comparison to the other projects that you have been involved in?
Young: Not sure really. I'd like other people to decide our sound for us. But they'll probably need more than 1 song. So I'll let you know in a few months.
 McTague: This is way more raw. WIth Underoath everything is taken, then retaken and pondered over. Carrollhood is just all about " what do we want and what feels good." which is super freeing.

Murray in studio

How did the song "Remission" come together? What would you say inspired the song?
 Young: Just by us throwing around ideas. Reed brought the base of the song, then we all just kept adding and adding until we thought it ruled. The lyrics are inspired by Reed's sister going through and recovering from cancer. Hence the name, Remission. She's been cancer free for over 4 years now, which rules beyond belief!
 Murray: "Remission" started as one of the first few demos we had written for this project. I wrote the foundation of the song and with the great help of Nate and Tim, we constantly made revisions until it felt right. When it came time to write lyrics, they were inspired by my sister having cancer in the past, overcoming it, and being in remission for over 4 to this day, which is nothing short of a miracle and a blessing!
Any idea when the debut EP will be released? Do you have a time frame you are shooting for yet?
McTague: We hope to record end of the year and see what happens from there. As soon as possible is our goal. We have tons of songs and just need to set the appropriate time aside to make them happen.
Young: This fall we will definitely do the majority of the recording though. So maybe the end of this year to have an EP. But hopefully more songs and such before then.
Perfect day, driving with the windows down, what are you listening to?
Murray: Peter Bjorn & John!

Young: Right now, Cults.
McTague: Bon Iver...new record, Kanye West...new record.....that's it!